Here’s what I found looking up the SSRI my mom suggested me to try 3 years ago, during one of my first episodes of depression:
For 10 years, GlaxoSmithKline’s marketing of the drug stated falsely that it was not habit forming. In 2001, the BBC reported the World Health Organization had found paroxetine to have the hardest withdrawal problems of any antidepressant. In 2002, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States published a new product warning about the drug, and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations found GSK guilty of misleading the public about paroxetine and breaching two of the Federation’s codes of practice. The British Medical Journal quoted Charles Medawar, head of Social Audit: “This drug has been promoted for years as safe and easy to discontinue…. The fact that it can cause intolerable withdrawal symptoms of the kind that could lead to dependence is enormously important to patients, doctors, investors, and the company. GlaxoSmithKline has evaded the issue since it was granted a license for paroxetine over 10 years ago, and the drug has become a blockbuster for them, generating about a tenth of their entire revenue. The company has been promoting paroxetine directly to consumers as ‘non-habit forming’ for far too long.” Paroxetine prescribing information posted at GlaxoSmithKline now acknowledges the occurrence of a discontinuation syndrome, including serious discontinuation symptoms.
A British Government parliamentary inquiry into a number of prescription and over the counter drugs noted problems with SSRI antidepressants including withdrawal, suicidal thoughts and other adverse effects. The inquiry found that paroxetine (Paxil, Seroxat) has, more commonly than other SSRI antidepressants, a very devastating impact on some users’ lives. Since the FDA approved paroxetine in 1992, approximately 5,000 U.S. citizens have sued GSK. Most of these people feel they were not sufficiently warned in advance of the drug’s side effects—particularly the withdrawal syndrome discussed above, after GSK had specifically advertised the drug as non-habit forming
In the UK since 2001 lawsuits have been filed representing people who have been prescribed Seroxat. They allege that the drug has serious side effects, which GlaxoSmithKline downplayed in patient information.
In early 2004, GSK agreed to settle charges of consumer fraud for $2.5 million (a tiny fraction of the over $2.7 billion in yearly Paxil sales at that time). The legal discovery process also uncovered evidence of deliberate, systematic suppression of unfavorable Paxil research results. One of GSK’s internal documents had said, “It would be commercially unacceptable to include a statement that efficacy [in children] had not been demonstrated, as this would undermine the profile of paroxetine”.
On January 29, 2007, the BBC broadcast a fourth documentary in its Panorama series about the drug Seroxat. This programme, entitled Secrets of the Drug Trials, focused on three GSK paediatric clinical trials on depressed children and adolescents. Data from the trials show that Seroxat could not be proven to work for teenagers. Also, one clinical trial indicated that adolescents were six times more likely to become suicidal after taking it.
I confirm the withdrawal problems, when I forgot to take the pills I felt so bad I wished I was dead even more. Then I asked myself why, and took the damn pills. In retrospective, deciding to stop taking Paroxetine after a few weeks of treatment (slowly decreasing the intake to reduce withdrawal symptoms) was a wise decision. People struggling to get off this drug have all my support and respect.
I know this is capitalism and the other systems have failed and shit like that, but hell, we’re talking about children and suicides here!
And while an unlucky man could be sentenced to death because he’s supposedly a murdered, the people working on that company are still there and they’re still making billions. So someone tell me what’s the difference? They’re both murderers. No, wait, the former might even be innocent!
I know, this is only a simple example of the twistedness of this world, but the point I’m trying to make is: are depressed people really sick? Refusing in participating to this massacre we call life is really a sign of insanity? Or do I see things this way because I’m depressed?
Damn, I wish I could know what’s wrong and right without even thinking, as religious people do, but most of the time I’ll be lying myself.
The way politics and economics are exploited to drain money from the poor and bring even more wealth to the rich really drives me mad, so this will not be the first time I’ll complain about that.
Anyway, today I feel somewhat better than yesterday, the depressive thoughts are still here, but they’re easier to suppress. The lack of something interesting and challenging for my mind to wonder about clearly leads to boredom, and boredom leads to depressive thoughts. So I need a new obsession, even though I’m not dropping my previous one, guitar: I always loved rock and metal music and someday I might be able to play in a band. But given my current problems with mood, memory and social anxiety, it’ll be all pointless. You can’t just be in a band and keep forgetting your songs and panic when you’re on the stage…
Hopefully my new obsession will come soon, as always. I tried to make this blog my new obsession, but it worked for about 10 hours, as I should have expected, I’ve never been much passionate about writing. Though lately I started to suspect how my “ability” to get bored might be growing exponentially with time; I just hope this isn’t true, because if that’s what’s really happening, I’m screwed.
So if I’m going to be screwed, I need to be prepared for that, and even if I hate to say this, I’m tempted to take some of that Paroxetin. I still have a couple dozen of pills here at home. But you can’t take that fucking stuff as it was a serotonin candy, it’s fucking addictive and you got to be prepared for the whithdrawal when you stop taking it. If only I could afford some weed or such…
