Posted by LostBoyinNC1 on June 26, 2002, at 1:27:29
In reply to Effexor Dangerous? Ask Andrea Yates?, posted by Terri C. on June 19, 2002, at 10:45:51
> After watching the news media regarding the Andrea Yates story, as this is the one-year anniversary of her killing her children, I was curious as to which antidepressant she was on when she committed this horrific crime. I wasn't too surprised when I found that she was on Effexor. My own living nightmare with Effexor also happened one year ago. I experienced blackouts for periods of 24 to 48 hours, and I am still trying to clean up the mess I made during those blackouts. I'm not alleging that Effexor was the culprit causing Andrea Yates to kill her children, but I can certainly empathize more now than before I found out she was on Effexor.
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> In my opinion, based on my own personal experience, this drug is dangerous. After my life-changing experience, I started researching this drug on the internet and found that the side effects I was experiencing had been upgraded from "rare" to "frequent." In trying to discontinue this medication, I suffered through nightmares, night sweats, electric shock-like feelings, and the list goes on and on. It took four months of gradually decreasing the dosage and finally making it through the discontinuation process. Being on this drug was horrible, but getting off it was just as bad. Being depressed was a cake-walk compared to the ups and downs of being on the wrong medication. Because of those experiences, I will NEVER use another antidepressant medication.
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> I'm not saying that this medication doesn't work for some people. I'm not trying to discourage people from trying medications to help ease depression. I am saying that we need to be proactive in our own treatment and research the side effects. I am also suggesting that use of these medications should be followed by specialists, not just your primary doctor. MD's are not psychiatrists and should refer patients with depression/mental illness to specialists for diagnosis and treatment.
You are a very confused person. Effexor did not contribute to any murders in the Yates case. What did was severe post partum psychosis. Yate's wasnt medicated when she committed the murders.As for primary care doctors not being able to prescribe meds, thats a bunch of bunk. There are many advantages to using a primary care physician over a psychiatrist. A primary care physician will not be as likely to do the usual psychiatrist overanalyzing thing on you, which tends to lead to being overmedicated. A primary care physician will be more likely to keep things simple and not use polypharmacy...which believe it or not can be a BIG advantage in many cases of straightforward depression and anxiety. Simple is good when it comes to medication.
Now in a severe case like Yates, a psychiatrist is necessary. Actually what Yates really needed was a Neurologist, a brain science expert. But most cases of depression and anxiety can be handled adequately by family doctors and internal medicine doctors. In fact, most prescriptions for SSRIs are written by non psychiatry doctors.
poster:LostBoyinNC1
thread:110267
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020617/msgs/110782.html