FDA evaluates suicide risk of medicines

[flashl]

Making Sense of the Great Suicide Debate

AN expression of true love or raw hatred, of purest faith or mortal sin, of courageous loyalty or selfish cowardice: The act of suicide has meant many things to many people through history, from the fifth-century Christian martyrs to the Samurais’ hara-kiri to more recent literary divas, Hemingway, Plath, Sexton.

But now the shadow of suicide has slipped into the corridors of modern medicine as a potential drug side effect, where it is creating a scientific debate as divisive and confounding as any religious clash.

...

After a years-long debate about whether antidepressant drugs like Prozac and Paxil increase the risk of suicide in some people, the Food and Drug Administration in recent days reported that other drugs, including medications used to treat epilepsy, also appear to increase the remote risk of suicide. The agency has been evaluating suicide risk in a variety of medicines, and more such reports — and more headlines — are expected.

Many doctors who treat epilepsy patients said they were bewildered by the recent reports and concerned that regulators were scaring patients away from valuable medications based on limited evidence.

NY Times

[fed-up]

1. article author fails to note that some anticonvulsants are now also used to treat bipolar-

I believe Lamictal caused me to have increased suicidal thoughts, along with a severely painful swollen lymph node and crying jags in the afternoon. I stopped after nine days.

I also was NOT told that anticonvulsant hypersensitivity was genetic. I belated realized both my sister and mother both have adverse reactions (one used it for seizures, the other for MS related muscle spasms-knew about my mom, but found out about sister after I had bad reaction).

Also adverse effects are only reported VOULUNTARILY after the drug has been test marketed usually done only with small samples of a few thousand. Which then misses adverse effects that only affect one or two or three or 30 in 100,000. This makes no sense especially when the adverse affects can include DEATH by hypersensitivity or suicide...

Something is terribly wrong with the system for testing and releasing and reporting of adverse effects...

[flashl]

2. Its been so long, I can not remember the name of the medication ...

because of long and erratic work hours, I had difficulty sleeping. The doctor prescribed a medication that not only had me feeling 'spaced out' there were also other alarming feelings that I later learned were bouts with suicidal ideation. Each time I reported my 'feelings' the doctor increased the dosage and advised me to 'hang on'.

Three weeks of 'hanging on' and living in terror I have never known before was enough for me.