Five people have now committed suicide while participating in tests for Eli LIlli’s new anti-depressant Cymbalta. (Hat tip to nutz’so for the link.)
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« Reason & revelation
» I’m sorry. Our time is up.
» I’m sorry. Our time is up.
Keeping up with my people
02.16.04 | 7 Comments
7 Comments
« Reason & revelation
» I’m sorry. Our time is up.
hmmmm. I sense some media misguidance here.
It was observed in the UK that SSRI’s increased suicidal behavior in children treated for depressive symptoms, but depression is not an indication for SSRI’s in kids or adolescents- this was simply under investigation. SSRI’s are only indicated for obsessive compulsive type symptoms in children (They don’t kill themselves, they are too busy washing their hands). This person was not an adolescent- on the borderline maybe, but not an adolescent as portrayed.
Obviously to have qualified for this trial the unfortunate patient must have clearly met criteria for Major Depression. This type of trial was a cross-over trial: in the middle of things the type of medicine and placebo are switched, unkown to the patient or observers. This is to quantify placebo effect, which you need to do with psych illness.
Setting aside quality of life issues, suicide is the reason depression is addressed, treated, and monitored. It is sad a depressed person killed themselves, but they do it all the time.
Are we glad this drug was in testing before it was unleashed?
You want your drugs safe or cheap?
Hmm. Don’t know what to say about this one. Just sucks.
Maybe patients should be monitored around the clock to prevent them from committing suicide? Or would that mess up the tests somehow?
Sure, it’s unlikely that he was still an adolescent, physically anyway. (Some of the developmental psychology I’ve read extends psychological adolescence well into the twenties for the upper-middle classes.)
It’s just sad that people died while they were testing this drug out for Lilli. Perhaps if they had been on regular meds they wouldn’t have killed themselves–although I know that’s probably too optimistic. I just wish there was some way to test them out without this happening. In the meantime, I won’t be volunteering for any studies.
My son died July 11, 2003 after receiving zeprexa and remeron and many other medications while in the hospital. I believe the zeprexa and the remeron caused him to have tachycardia and the started to treat heim for the tachaydea and on the 6th day his brain started to swell and he died.
I have been on zeprexa and several other medications. While I was on zeprexa I started smoking and could not control my behaviors. I have always had behavioral problems and impulse problems because of my learning problem but zeprexa seemed to heighten the reality. I have auditory processing. My brain has dulled down.
i have an auditory learning disablity. I was on zeprexa and it made my behavior problems from my disability worse. I could not control my impulses. I started smoking because of the apetite it gave me. My mind is really slow. It has always been kind of slow because of my learning disability but now. I just feel dull. I never smoked a day in my life until i started taking zeprexa. I also became bulmic at the time too. I am a recovering anorexic.