Overview of SSRI Antidepressants
(continued)
Drug companies withheld information showing antidepressants were ineffective and could be harmful to children and should have issued warnings on their products. Health authorities in Britain and the United States have voiced concern or advised doctors not to prescribe the drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to children under 18 because of a potential suicide risk.
Scientists who conducted a review of six published and six unpublished trials about their use in children say companies had been aware of problems but did not reveal them. See Unpublished data reverses risk-benefit of drugs on this website
There is also recent research that clearly demonstrates that drug research is biased
Long-term effects
Long-term effects of SSRI 's are largely unknown. Though a series of
studies in humans has shown no
connection between antidepressant use and
cancer, there are concerns about whether antidepressants promote tumor
growth in cancer patients or in those exposed to cancer-causing substances
(such as nicotine in cigarettes). This concern is primarily due to a small
study published in 1992 that found that after being injected with cancer
cells or cancer-causing substances, rats subsequently injected with
antidepressants had more tumors than control rats.
Pregnancy and Lactation:
Safe use of SSRI's during pregnancy and lactation has not been established. Therefore, it should not be administered to women of childbearing potential or nursing mothers.
SSRI Dependency
All SSRIs can cause dependency. What this means in simple terms is that when a person stops taking the drug or even reduces the amount of the drug, i.e., going from 40 mg to 20 mg, they experience adverse physical and/or psychological events. This is one area where the different SSRIs part company. By far the worst dependency-producing SSRI is Paxil. Followed fairly closely by Zoloft and more distantly by Prozac.
That SSRIs cause dependence has been thoroughly documented, One Pfizer scientist, Dr. Roger Lane, who, until early 2001, was the Medical Director of the Zoloft Product Strategy Team at Pfizer, freely discusses this problem with SSRIs in his 1996 article published in the Journal of Serotonin Research, entitled Withdrawal symptoms after discontinuation of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). As Dr. Lane states in rather technical terms:
The central nervous system (CNS) adapts to the presence of psychoactive drugs. Such adaptation commonly involves the adjustment of neuroreceptors to compensate for the pharmacological actions of the drug. These compensatory changes may only occur gradually, which may explain the delayed onset of therapeutic effects of antidepressants. This adaptation theory also explains why withdrawal symptoms and signs can occur on the discontinuation of such medications as clearance of drug can occur at a rate faster than the brain can readjust to the absence of medication. Thus, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic factors contribute to the risk of withdrawal symptoms.
The effects that people feel who have become dependent include:
jolting electric "zaps," dizziness, motor instability, extreme nausea, vomiting, high fever, abdominal discomfort, flu symptoms, agitation, anxiety, insomnia, aggression, nightmares, tremor, seizures and confusion.
The downside is that they cause moderate to severe gastrointestinal discomfort for many people who use them and they also cause sexual side effects such as loss of libido and inability to achieve orgasm. As many as 40 percent of people experience some negative sexual effects, including delayed ejaculation, impotence, decreased desire, or problems reaching orgasm. Patients cite loss of sexual interest as one of the biggest problems.
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Ritalin
Adderall
Strattera
Concerta
Metadate
Dexedrine
Focalin
Attenade
Cylert
Paxil
Prozac
Wellbutrin
Zoloft
Trileptal
Remeron
Celexa
Lexapro
Effexor
Anti-Hypertensive
