Posted by Devastated Mother on January 31, 2006, at 16:08:31
In reply to Re: Suicide on Effexor, posted by simon levane on January 31, 2006, at 15:41:27
> > Simon,
> >
> > Your comments helped more than anything else could. Did you know of the notice on the insert (I don't know how long the note has been there, but from my perspective, it requires the doctor to at least ask the person if they can inform the patient's relatives, or friends, or someone with whom they have regular contact of the dangers of Effexor. My son had no real suicidal tendencies. He was just reasonably sad because of some difficulties he had had in months leading up to his death. I believe that, in addition to being given really dangerous medication, he was mis-diagnosed. But proving that .... yeah, well, I have so little respect left for doctors, especially hearing how they treated you and your daughter.
> >
> > --DM
>
> Dear DM...
> if I tell you the madness of it, you would hardly believe this is possible. When I took the prescription for Effexor to the pharmacist two days before my daughter's suicide, he asked me to delay till the next day so he could speak to the doctor about the high dosage. I went back the next day to get the drug not realizing it had ANY risk. The pharmacist told me that the doctor said it was OK.. so I left there feeling very very re-assured and glad that he had taken the trouble. I found out later that there was an existing caution for Effexor and that on that very day there had been an alert issued by Health Canada for the drug. When I asked my family doctor about this after my daughter's death, he simply told me that he did not read the monograph for every drug he prescribes. He was relying on the psychiatrist's recommendation as the validation, and the psychiatrist never told us anything EITHER!!!!
> In all the years of my daugher's troubles, no one sat us down and gave us a clear understanding of the risks of her illness. I later learned that for comorbid factors such as drug abuse, the risk of suicide for patients like my daughter was 50%, and the risk for suicide without those factors was 10%..
> I never knew that.. no one told me.. and I had this belief that she would never do such a thing. I still don't believe she intended this end, but that the drugs simply enabled her to act out her impulse not truly realizing it was a finality.
> I still feel more guilty than anyone..
>
> SL
>Medical Boards should be told when doctors do not live up to the "do no harm" that they are sworn to uphold. Talking to a doctor is impossible for a lay person, since doctors always think they know more than we do. Medical Boards are their peers, and should at least investigate this. Even at this point, I do not think it is too late to make that report. I urge you to do so. Doctors should have to be answerable to someone when they do something that takes a life.
--dm
poster:Devastated Mother
thread:601406
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060129/msgs/604887.html