Posted by yxibow on June 24, 2008, at 20:32:21
In reply to FDA SAYs Seizure Meds May Or Can Lead to Suicide, posted by Phillipa on June 22, 2008, at 20:27:12
Its the politics of fear. I'm sure lots will disagree with this statement, but that is what sums up FDA warnings on not just one, but EVERY medication prescribed for sleep including OTC medications, EVERY antidepressant, and I guess now EVERY seizure medication.
Yes, in adolescence we have to watch out for suicidal behaviour not seen before by someone with a medication. Yes, we have to watch that, especially in the older population, that people don't wander sleepwalking on a sedative. And yes, I suppose we have to also monitor suicidal behaviour never seen before in an individual on an AED.
But, in a way, this is "*ss protecting". Solvay dropped Luvox like a hot potato when Columbine happened.But if one remembers the gory details of the case, this was a suburban family not monitoring and perhaps even contributing to their behaviour (I forget, there have been several revolting incidents like this) by the lack of proper monitoring of their children due to workload and the passe nature of suburban life.
(And I'm sure there will be tons of posts of opinions, its impossible not to make one's own personal generalization of this case because of their own strong beliefs and social morays)
This wasn't even the first incident like this in the country. The Bath Township School disaster in 1927 in combination was actually the deadliest incident involving a school in the US, but was not attributable to a pupil.
One will choose their own belief in how medications should have warnings. Of course, there should be informed consent, but that lies in the very practice of outpatient work itself -- one agrees to take medication based on an opinion, since they are not locked in an institution.If one saw "Depression: Out of The Shadows," which in my opinion though dark at times and giving false hope because of lack of medical parity access (discussed briefly) to cutting edge technology, was in the end a good documentary.
It had the support of doctors of NIMH as well as NAMI, which I scarcely hear anything about on Dr Bob in fact -- the National Alliance For the Mentally Ill, a long standing advocate organization for those marginalized by mental (now known more as biochemical imbalances)-- it mentioned the notion of increased warnings and how they may actually contribute to decreased use of potentially life saving medication.
Sure, when SSRIs first came on the market, the idea of downing one for a panacea of disorders could be predicted in the US, as the FDA does not regulate off label use by doctors for almost all substances except investigational ones that must have a license, but for numerous people they gave the first hope for a lessening of their symptoms.
One has to remember that biochemical disorders come with the psychodynamics and psychological components of ideation of suicide. It is no surprise that they occur.And that is my point of argument -- for the largest part, suicides of people, even those "protected" in part by medication, occur anyway, because if one is determined to do oneself in, there really is no way for a doctor to prevent it other than to restrict the amount of medication available to the patient.
Suicide really is the fear of living, living with an illness that is a daily struggle, at least in part. This could be a projection -- other people have probably a completely different ideation. As noted in the documentary, patience is also something that is so important in reaching a goal of finding what works for oneself.
That doesn't come as an easy statement for people who have been through a number of medications and may have TRD (which is of course a moving target as we slowly plod towards more knowledge, which falls behind work on other diseases in this country, which, naturally cause major mortalities, e.g. heart disease, etc.)I guess I conclude its an open argument, and one to be examined in place with one's doctor and situation, but it is a huge generalization. When enough medications are used for a particular disorder class, one of two things happens, a) legitimate flaws are discovered, and b) the medications... are... prescribed, simply, which leads to a whole loop of possibly unnecessary danger-will-robinson for everything.
-- a viewpoint
-- tidings-- Jay
poster:yxibow
thread:835977
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080617/msgs/836293.html