Active Shooters and Psychotropic Drugs

Taken from the much larger article which is a book review of "Active Shooters and Psychotropic Drugs SSRI’s" by Chris Grollnek and Chris Magee. Without quoting the full review, all we really need to is to cite this list of deaths and "the coincidence" of all these shooting associated with psychiatric drugs.

• Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public.
• Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.
• Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.
• Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.
• Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.
• Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.
• Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.
• Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.
• A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school.
• Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded..
• A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.
• Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.
• TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.
• Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.
• James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.
• Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania
• Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California
• Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.
• Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.
• Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.
• Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.
• Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.
• Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.
• Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself.
• Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002.
• Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”)
• Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002, (Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.)
• Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage.
• Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet.
• Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.
• Woody __, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms.
• A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.
• Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.”
• Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.
• Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.
• Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.
• Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.
• Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his New York high school.

California suspends license for Fairfield psychiatrist

From a much larger report in the Daily Republic

The state has temporarily suspended the license for Dr. William Munn after the Medical Board of California said the psychiatrist, in private practice since 1972 at his Travis Boulevard office, put public health at risk by excessively prescribing drugs to five patients.

Munn disputes any risk to public health and says his suspension is detrimental to his 250 patients, who can’t be absorbed by the limited number of psychiatrists in private practice in Solano County.

The Monday suspension follows a hearing in Oakland and the filing by the state Attorney General’s Office about Munn’s prescriptions for the five patients.

Munn referred to providing one patient “telephone psychotherapy,” said the state filing, which describes the therapy as consisting almost entirely of the psychiatrist refilling prescriptions for large quantities of hydrocodone, a semisynthetic narcotic analgesic, as well as amphetamines and alprazolam, often sold under the trade name Xanax.

Another patient was prescribed large doses of alprazolam even though the doctor saw the person only once and continued to prescribe the drug for almost two years, according to the state.

Treatment of the five patients includes numerous extreme departures from the standard of care, added the state, which sought the license suspension until the Medical Board can ensure Mann safely practices psychiatry.

My Trip Through the Polypharmacy Blender

A long story by Rory Tennes on the Risx website, describing his descent into psychiatric hell.

We only present a few snippets, and recommend reading the full article.

I was asked by David Healy to write my own story after he read my comment on another RxISK story. I agreed but have been surprised how hard it was to sit down and do it. I knew the story, the words were in my head. Yet I avoided getting started. Perhaps it was because of the painful emotions I knew it would bring to the surface. Or maybe because it reminds me of the pain and suffering my family had to endure, how much we lost and the fact that I may not be able to do anything about it. Or it could be my frustration from the cognitive difficulties I still have, making writing a difficult task that drains what little energy I have.

My trip started this way: I was ill, injured and in pain. I went to my doctors for help, and they proceeded to drug me into oblivion. My PCP or “family doctor” diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. I don’t think he really knew what I had, but once he put a name on my symptoms, he started throwing drugs at them. I was in constant pain, chronically fatigued and began to have severe bouts of anxiety. For four years I saw doctor after doctor but none of them could tell me what was wrong, or why I was getting worse not better despite all the drugs. It turns out I had autoimmune arthritis. I’d had it for 30 years, and since it was misdiagnosed and untreated for so long, my spine was a total wreck.

I have worked in construction for 38 years, as a skilled tilesetter with my own business. I love the work but it can be rough on the back. I am now on disability due to a combination of my disease and the multiple toxic “treatments” I was put on.

[...]

Before my trip through the Pharma looking glass began, I had quit drinking altogether. I had been sober for five years, solidly sober and liked it. In October 2010 I was on Trazodone and Wellbutrin. When Flexeril and Naprelan were added, within weeks I suddenly had strong urges to drink, which had been totally absent until that point. I now know that Flexeril (cyclo-benzaprine) acts just like a tricyclic antidepressant and should never be mixed with trazodone or Wellbutrin. The urge and the thoughts of drinking came on suddenly and very strong.

I made two trips to alcohol rehab, attended AA regularly but could not stay sober to save my life. I had numerous run-ins with the law as well. My behavior had become so bizarre, unpredictable, unstable and dangerous that I thought I had lost my mind and myself completely. I had no control over my thoughts, emotions or behavior, no matter what I did or how hard I tried. I watched my family suffer horribly in fear and confusion at what was happening.

Now I know why. Drugs can drive people to drink for relief from the agonizing akathisia that they cause. Couple that with the disinhibiting effect of the drugs, and it’s a recipe for alcoholism. That’s not just true for the antidepressants, but Lyrica too. The warning on Lyrica says that “People who have had a drinking problem in the past may be prone to abuse Lyrica.” It really should say: “If you take Lyrica you may have strong, uncontrollable urges to drink.” Lyrica can cause alcohol abuse, I have no doubt. So can Cymbalta, Zoloft and several other drugs I was on. I didn’t have a chance in hell to stay sober on those drugs.

[...]

Top Five Psychiatric Drugs Linked to Violence

To assert psychiatry is careless in prescribing drugs for its various diagnosed disorders is a monstrous trivialization of the problem.

Many of their drugs have been directly linked to suicide and violent behavior, sometimes resulting in murder on a grand scale. In a 2011 study based on data from the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System, 31 drugs were linked with violent behavior.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

• Varenicline (Chantix) – Some of the side effects listed for this smoking cessation drug, which is 18 times more likely to result in violence, includes:

• Seeing things that are not there
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Anger
• Behavior Changes
• Irritability
• Mood swings

An Oregon woman found her husband and son dead, both killed by her husband (who had been prescribed Chantix by his dentist.) There have been many other instances of homicide traced back to this drug. Why Chantix has not been withdrawn from the marketplace is hard to fathom.

• Prozac – This antidepressant is 10.9 more likely to be associated with violence than other medications. This drug has over 80 side effects, ranging from merely uncomfortable, to deadly. Here a few of the worst:

• Use of extreme physical or emotional force
• Suicidal thoughts
• Paranoia
• Violent behavior
• Mania
• Panic Attacks
• Abnormal thoughts

By the year 2000, Eli Lilly had paid $50 million dollars to settle 30 prozac lawsuits involving suicide and murder by those at the mercy of this drug.

• Paxil – This antidepressant is linked to birth defects and severe withdrawal symptoms. It has a 10.3 likelihood of violence associated with it. Some other Paxil side effects include:

• Auditory Hallucinations
• Suicide attempts
• Aggravated Nervousness
• Acting aggressive or violent
• Acting on dangerous impulses

Donald Schell had been on Paxil for only 48 hours when he shot and killed his wife, daughter, his granddaughter and himself. The case came to trial, and a jury found GlaxoSmithKline liable for the deaths, and ordered the drug company to pay 6.4 million dollars to the relatives of Schell.

• Amphetamines – This includes Adderall, used to treat ADHD in children. It has been linked to suicide and violent behavior. Just a few Adderall side effects include:

• Aggression
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Suicidal thoughts

Kyle Craig’s parents are living with the horrendous loss of their son, a victim of this drug’s suicidal side effects. At the age of 21, while a college student at Vanderbilt University, he stepped in front of a passenger train and ended his life.

• Fluvoxamine (Luvox) – This drug is used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder, and has been linked to violent behavior. Here is a partial list of its side effects:

• Impulsive behavior
• Irritability
• Agitation
• Hostility
• Aggression
• Hyperactive
• Suicidal thoughts

Eric Harris, perpetrator of the 1999 Columbine school shooting tragedy in which 12 students were murdered and another 21 were injured was on Luvox.

Why are these drugs still on the market?

It seems a mystery, since the vast number of people would be happy to see these violent inducing drugs disappear forever.

But psychiatry maintains a fondness for these drugs and their unholy alliance with big pharmaceutical companies keep violent inducing drugs in production.

It is up to each of us to educate ourselves on the side effects of these drugs. There is often a medical reason behind a so-called mental disorder, and examination by a competent (not psychiatric) medical doctor can often trace back the problem to a physical cause.

Treatment with psychiatric drugs is very much playing Russian roulette with the lives of our loved ones.

SOURCES:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/07/top-ten-legal-drugs-linked-to-violence/

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/chantix-side-effects.html

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/prozac-side-effects.html

http://www.theroadback.org/paxilsideeffects.aspx

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm088676.pdf

http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/drug-injury-press-releases/paxil-maker-held-liable-in-murder-suicide.php

http://www.drugwatch.com/prozac/lawsuit.php

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-1089/luvox+oral/details/list-sideeffects

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/adderall-psychosis-suicide-college-students-abuse-study-drug/story?id=12066619

http://www.drugs.com/mtm/luvox.html

RX Dangers

How prescription drug abuse is helping to fuel violence in America

Local Column by "Dr Manny" on violence in America

My heart aches and my soul is full of sadness for the nine innocent lives lost in Charleston, South Carolina, and the community left reeling due to yet another senseless crime. This horrific mass murder will no doubt be remembered in American history, just like the many others that have come before it, and unfortunately the probable ones yet to come.

While we know that accused killer Dylann Roof was fueled by hatred and racism, I wonder if there is a pattern in some of these tragedies. In conjunction with what other experts will tell us, I believe that an epidemic of drug abuse in this country is helping to fuel the violence. I am not talking about marijuana, cocaine or heroin – I am specifically singling out prescription drug abuse.

It is alleged that Roof was taking Xanax and Soboxone. A high school classmate even referred to him as a “pill popper.” The Wall Street Journal reported that in a police incident report from February, Roof was found to have strips of Suboxone -- a pain drug used to treat opiate addiction -- on him, but did not have a prescription for the drug. From what we know thus far, Roof was not under any kind of psychiatric care, either.

Now, I don’t know for sure whether or not Roof had a prescription for Xanax, or if he purchased it off the street like his former classmate inferred, but the drug has been linked to many potential dangerous side effects without careful monitoring. Xanax may cause a person to become depressed, irritable, an insomniac, to have difficulty concentrating, and to act in an aggressive manner. When psychiatrists and physicians prescribe Xanax, they are aware of these side effects, and determine the proper dosage to prescribe to patients based on any underlying mental illnesses. However, when the drug is purchased off the street, there could be undiagnosed disorders like bipolar disorder or another mental illnesses that could cause the above-mentioned side effects to come to life, often in tragic ways.

Suboxone is another powerful drug that requires a degree of professional monitoring. This is typically prescribed for narcotic addiction because it contains both a narcotic element, along with an anti-narcotic ingredient. The combination of this drug and Xanax could create a poisonous cocktail that may spell trouble for the user.

Many of these drugs are sold on the streets by people who have obtained them illegally. A National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicated that an estimated 36 million U.S. residents aged 12 and older abused prescription drugs at least once in their lifetime. In breaking that number down, it found that 2.7 million of those individuals were aged 12 to 17, and 6.9 million were aged 18 to 25. Those purchasing the drugs are unaware of potential side effects or the dangers that they may pose to others while on the medications.

Make no mistake about it, these are powerful drugs intended to treat many mental illnesses. Most of them, if they are taken as intended, do provide great relief to patients. However, there are instances of violence that have occurred while suspects were under the care of a psychiatrist and were taking the prescriptions legally.

Let’s look at James Holmes, the accused killer who opened fire on a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and wounding 70. Holmes had been prescribed a generic version of Zoloft, which is used to treat depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Clonazepam, which treats anxiety and panic attacks. Zoloft has the potential to cause suicidal ideation, while Clonazepam also carries the potential for serious side effects.

Next, let’s consider Eric Harris, who along with Dylan Klebold, opened fire on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School, murdering 13 classmates before killing themselves. Harris had been prescribed the powerful antidepressant Luvox.

One in 10 Americans now takes antidepressant medications and many others illegally acquire these drugs for recreational use. I am certainly not suggesting that one in 10 of us is a killer. What I am saying, is that when these powerful medications are given, they must be medically supervised, and all of the side effects must be considered by the prescribing doctor. When there is no medical supervision, or lax guidance, these drugs can enhance aggressive behavior and further fuel irrational thinking. The illegal prescription drug abuse on the streets is far too great for us to ignore.

As the nation once more looks for answers to an unthinkable tragedy, many will race to call for better gun control and background checks. Others will want social answers and call for better ways to mend the racial divide that exists in some of our communities. But what I ask our leaders is to also address the epic level of untreated mental illness in our country, which when paired with illegal drug abuse, has only left us reeling time after time.

We all need to work together. Just recently the Justice Department arrested 243 people across the country and charged them with submitting fake billing for Medicare which totaled $712 million. Among those arrested are 46 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals. In one case, a doctor in Michigan prescribed unnecessary narcotics in exchange for patients’ identification information to generate false billings.

Uncontrolled drug abuse in people that already possess racism and hatred in their hearts makes for an incredibly dangerous situation.

Each and every one of us will play a role in righting this wrong, and it begins with caring for each other. If you notice changes in any of your loved ones, friends or colleagues, then you must speak out. Too often after the fact we hear of all the warning signs that were there for us, whether it was the lack of compassion for your fellow man, drug abuse or mental illness, it is our responsibility to get them help. Let us hope that this hate crime will make every single American know how to love and respect and care for each other, because that will be the definitive cure that will make us stronger and better people.

Psychiatrist who practiced in Nashua allegedly used fake prescription to get drugs

Report from the Union Leader

A Nashua psychiatrist has been arrested by state narcotics investigators and charged with using a bogus prescription to obtain a scheduled drug, N.H. State Police said.

Robert C. Vidaver, 50, of Henniker, was arrested by Henniker police, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Narcotics and Investigations Unit of the state police.

State police said the arrest followed a four-week investigation, which started after the NIU’s Drug Diversion Section received a complaint about Vidaver.

He is charged with obtaining a controlled drug by fraud.

According to an online listing at the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, Vidaver is a psychiatrist who works at Harbor Homes, a Nashua organization that provides housing, health care, employment, job training and supportive services to the poor and disabled.

Vidaver’s license was issued in 2007 and is set to expire on June 30.

After his arrest, Vidaver was released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear in Hillsborough District Court on July 28.

Patient killed by 'massive overdose' of anti-psychotic drug after nurse 'mistakenly gave him 21 times what he needed'

From a much longer report in the MIRROR.

A patient died from a massive overdose of anti-psychotic drugs after being given 21 times the medication he needed by a nurse, a court has heard.

Joshua Gafney was handed 4,200mg of clozapine instead of just 200mg by Amanda Young after the nurse visited him at his home.

Mr Gafney, 22, was handed a glass containing six bottles of the drug by 40-year-old Young when he needed just under a teaspoon-worth, just hours before he died on February 8 2012.

Bristol Crown Court heard how the nurse claimed she "did not see" crucial labels on Mr Gafney's medication, causing her to confuse the dosage.

She mistakenly believed each 14 ml bottle contained 50 mg of the powerful drug - when in fact this figure was per millilitre meaning there were actually 700 mg in the bottle.

His mother immediately raised concerns, which Young, from Summerlands Hospital, Somerset, attempted to resolve by putting some water in the solution.

Just two hours after the nurse left the family home in Yeovil, Somerset, Joshua was found unresponsive in bed by his mother, Tina Marren.

In spite of desperate attempts by his sister, Jasmine Gafney, and paramedics, to save Joshua, he was declared dead that evening.

A postmortem examination found Mr Gafney had died as a result of acute clozapine toxicity - an overdose.

Psychiatric drugs do more harm than good, says expert

From the Guardian

Psychiatric drugs do more harm than good and the use of most antidepressants and dementia drugs could be virtually stopped without causing harm, an expert on clinical trials argues in a leading medical journal.

The views expressed in a British Medical Journal debate by Peter Gøtzsche, professor and director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark, are strongly opposed by many experts in mental health. However, others say the debate around the use of psychiatric drugs is important and acknowledge that there has been overuse of antipsychotics to quieten aggressive patients with dementia.

Gøtzsche says more than half a million people over the age of 65 die as a result of the use of psychiatric drugs every year in the western world. “Their benefits would need to be colossal to justify this, but they are minimal,” he writes. He claims that trials carried out with funding from drug companies into the efficacy of psychiatric drugs have almost all been biased, because the patients involved have usually been on other medication first. They stop their drugs and often experience a withdrawal phase prior to starting the trial drug, which then appears to have a big benefit. He also claims that deaths from suicide in clinical trials are under-reported.

In trials of the modern antidepressants fluoxetine and venlafaxine, says Gøtzsche, it takes only a few extra days for depression in the placebo group – given dummy pills – to lift as much as in the group given the drugs. He argues that there is spontaneous remission of the disease over time. Results from trials of schizophrenia drugs are also disappointing, he argues, and those for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) are uncertain. “The short-term relief seems to be replaced by long-term harms. Animal studies strongly suggest that these drugs can produce brain damage, which is probably the case for all psychotropic drugs,” he writes.

“Given their lack of benefit, I estimate we could stop almost all psychotropic drugs without causing harm – by dropping all antidepressants, ADHD drugs and dementia drugs … and using only a fraction of the antipsychotics and benzodiazepines we currently use. This would lead to healthier and more long-lived populations. Because psychotropic drugs are immensely harmful when used long-term, they should almost exclusively be used in acute situations and always with a firm plan for tapering off, which can be difficult for many patients.”

[...]

The rest of the article was filler from doctors saying "but wait, we need MORE drugs"

Psych Meds Put 49 Million Americans at Risk for Cancer

Psych Meds Put 49 Million Americans at Risk for Cancer
Written By: Kelly Brogan, M.D.

With 1 in 5 Americans taking a psychiatric medication, most of whom, long term, we should probably start to learn a bit more about them. In fact, it would have been in the service of true informed consent to have investigated long-term risks before the deluge of these meds seized our population over the past thirty years.

You may be unaware of a literature that suggests long-term treatment with all psychiatric medications is more likely to leave you with a lesser quality of life. Here's one more reason to reconsider life partnership with your psychiatric medication – it may contribute to your cancer risk.

What if I told you that this cancer data came from pre-clinical trials conducted for FDA licensure of these medications? That these trials are documented in the package inserts themselves.

Because of the inherent challenge of studying cancer at the population level, using these rodent studies was felt to be important by Amerio et al because they are not subject to publication bias – a major issue in psychiatry – and the methods are consistent across drug class.

Reasonably, even the IARC/WHO back this up, stating:

"although this association cannot establish that all agents and mixtures that cause cancer in experimental animals also cause cancer in humans, nevertheless, in the absence of adequate data on humans, it is biologically plausible and prudent to regard agents and mixtures for which there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals as if they presented a carcinogenic risk to humans".
(International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and World Health Organization, 2000).

What does the data show?

A signal of harm. Plain and simple. In their paper, Carcinogenicity of psychotropic drugs, Amerio et al. found:

• 63.6% of antidepressants were associated with carcinogenicity, specifically mirtazapine, sertraline, paroxetine, citalopram and escitalopram, duloxetine and bupropion.
• 90% of antipsychotics agents were associated with carcinogenicity. All agents were associated with carcinogenicity except clozapine.
• 70% of benzodiazepines/hypnotics were associated with carcinogenicity, specifically clonazepam, zolpidem, zaleplon, diazepam, eszopiclone, oxazepam and midazolam. 
• 25% amphetamines/stimulants were associated with carcinogenicity, with methylphenidate specifially associated.
• 85.7% of anti-convulsants ("mood stabilizers") were associated with carcinogenicity. The only agent not associated with carcinogenicity was lamotrigine. Specific agents associated with carcinogenicity were valproate, carbamazepine, gabapentin, pregabalin, oxcarbazepine and topiramate.

Cancer? How could psych meds cause cancer?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, and again. There's no free lunch with pharmaceuticals. We must disabuse ourselves of the notion that we can yank only one thread out of the spider web. When you pull it, the whole thing moves.

When you expose your body to pharmaceutical grade chemical influence, it is forced to adjust.

We think of these medications as "fixing" brain problems, but we are just beginning to learn some of the many effects they have on the body as a whole, and the unmapped individual differences in metabolism and toxicant threshold effects, on the body's mechanisms for survival in adversity – aka cancer.

Researchers today, including research in pregnant women, are asking the wrong safety questions. They are asking questions that made sense two decades ago, before we learned about the microbiome, epigenetics, and transgenerational effects of these individual variables. Particularly the differential effects on female vs male physiology.

Look what happened when they bothered to ask about the effects of Zyprexa on gut bacteria:

This study furthers the theory that gender may impact on the nature of, and susceptibility to, certain side effects of antipsychotics. In addition, we demonstrate, what is to our knowledge the first time, an altered microbiota associated with chronic olanzapine treatment.

The challenge is, that the population-level effects can take decades to emerge and the incentive to limit study of adverse effects is very high. In the meantime you may have been entered into an uncontrolled and unconsented experiment. Take this information for what it is, an invitation to take a different, safer path to healing.

Note: "© [2015] GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter."

Psychiatrist Dr. William Lewek given max sentence for burying body in his own back yard

Taken from a Report From the Democrat and Chronicle. there is more informtion and a video at this link.

Monroe County Court Judge Christopher S. Ciaccio cited Arendt on Friday as he sentenced a Rochester psychiatrist to up to four years in prison for burying a body in a Park Avenue neighborhood backyard.

While William Lewek has numerous substance abuse and physical and mental health issues, Ciaccio said, none of those are adequate explanation for why he kept Matthew Straton's body hidden for nearly three months, even as police and increasingly frantic family and friends looked for him.

Instead, Lewek "simply put his needs and fears above others'," Ciaccio said as he gave Lewek the maximum sentence on the felony charge of tampering with physical evidence.

That physical evidence was the body of 32-year-old Straton, who died in October 2013 at Lewek's Rowley Street house and who Lewek then dragged outside and buried. The county Medical Examiner's Office was never able to ascertain what killed Straton, though during sentencing Friday there were numerous references to it very likely being of a drug overdose.

"Matt had been thrown out like a bag of garbage," Straton's mother, Kym, told the court prior to sentencing, as she described the family's frantic efforts to try to find him for more than two months. "I have nightmares of what Matt looked like when he finally was discovered."

{...]

We also have this video from the initial arrest

Psychotropics Lead List for Youth-Related Drug Poisoning Calls

As Reported by the Psychiatric News section of the American Psychiatric Association Website

The Referenced Report is available here in PDF Format

A new report shows that almost half of the calls made to United States poison control centers on behalf of those aged 19 and under are related to medication—with psychotropic drugs representing 50 percent of the top 10 medications contributing to unintentional poisoning.

Safe Kids Worldwide, in partnership with the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), conducted a study to identify the types of medications that contribute to the volume of calls made to poison control centers for drug poisoning in children and teens.

Safe Kids said in statement that the study was designed to “take a deeper look at two specific groups of calls related to medicine: unintentional-general exposures, when kids get into medicine without intending to take it (such as when a young child takes medicine on a nightstand); and unintentional-therapeutic errors (such as when a child is given too much medicine or the wrong medicine).” The study did not include cases in which medications were taken intentionally.

After evaluating data generated from the National Poison Data System of calls made to poison control centers in 2013, analysts from Safe Kids found that 1.34 million calls were associated with poisoning of a child or teen, with 547,042 of those calls related to unintentional-general exposures or unintentional-therapeutic errors. Though 75 percent of the calls made for unintentional drug poisoning involved young children aged 1 to 4 compared with 3 percent for teens, serious health outcomes resulting from unintentional poisoning were six times greater in those aged 15 to 19. The most common mistakes made by teens were forgetting to take a medicine and then doubling up or taking two medicines with the same ingredients, the study found. Atypical antipsychotics and amphetamines intended for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were the top two medication classes for serious health outcomes in teens.

Other psychotropic medicines commonly reported for unintentional poisoning throughout all studied age groups included benzodiazepines, clonidine, and methylphenidate. Nonpsychotropic drug classes included antihypertensives such as beta blockers and analgesics such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

AAPCC Executive Director Stephen Kaminski, J.D., said the current report points to an urgent need to continue to educate families on using medicines responsibly.

“Our nation’s 55 poison centers play a crucial role in keeping Americans safe by providing poison prevention and free, expert information and advice,” said Kaminski. “In addition to the public, emergency clinicians and pediatricians rely on poison-center professionals to help treat their patients. In fact, about 20 percent of all poison-center exposure calls come from health care providers. It’s good to know that expert help is just a phone call away when the unthinkable happens.”

Florida Psychiatrist Mark Agresti sued over treatment of West Palm Beach woman who killed daughter and herself

Here is the Local TV WPBF News Reports



with this related report

Bradley Brooks was so concerned about his 10-year-old-daughter Alexandra, on Sept. 12, 2013, he asked the police to check the home she shared with her mother Pamela Brooks. Police went to the home located at 139 Gregory Place and found Alexandra and Pamela inside, both stabbed to death. Pamela Brooks was found with 130 self-inflicted stab wounds. Her daughter was found with 30 stab wounds. Police ruled the case a murder-suicide.

The girl's father is now suing a psychiatrist and a substance abuse counselor who were treating Pamela Brooks.

According to the lawsuit, Pamela Brooks had a lifetime of alcohol abuse. Beginning in 1999 her alcohol abuse began causing problems in her life. The lawsuit also states, Bradley Brooks filed an emergency request for custody of their daughter back in May of 2013, just weeks after her mother was arrested for DUI. The lawsuit states, Pamela Brooks was ordered to a comprehensive psychological evaluation and was seen several times by the doctor. Her next scheduled appointment was for Sept. 13, 2013. She and her daughter were found dead inside their home Sept. 12, 2013.

According to the lawsuit filed last week, Brooks doctor is accused of "Failing to clearly communicate that Pamela Brooks was at risk of inflicting harm to herself or to others," and "Failing to refer Pamela Brooks to a physician trained in the management of patients suffering from severe depression," the suit states.

Both the doctor and counselor are accused of negligence.

And as reported in the Palm Beach Post

A psychiatrist and a substance abuse counselor who were treating a West Palm Beach woman who killed herself and her 10-year-old daughter in September 2013 have been sued in connection with the deaths that stunned the community. In the lawsuit filed last week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, family members of Pamela and Alexandra Brooks blame Dr. Mark Agresti and counselor David Dashev for the murder-suicide.

The two “knew or should have known that Pamela Brooks was at risk of inflicting harm to herself, or to others,” according to the lawsuit filed by attorney Glenn Crickenberger, who works for the Stuart law firm of famed lawyer Willie Gary. “However, (they) failed to refer Pamela Brooks to a physician trained in the management of patients suffering from severe depression.”

Brooks, 48, was found dead in the living room of her Gregory Place home with 130 self-inflicted stab wounds. The body of her daughter was found in the kitchen with 30 stab wounds, the suit says. The deaths so shocked the community that the city’s then police chief took the unusual step of calling a press conference to announce they had been ruled a murder-suicide. The grisly scene was discovered by Brooks’ ex-husband, Bradley, who broke into the home because he was concerned about his daughter, a King’s Academy student.

Dashev, former chief operations officer of the Mental Health Pavilion at what is now West Palm Hospital, declined comment on the suit. Agresti couldn’t be reached.

Pamela Brooks had been ordered to seek treatment from Agresti and Dashev by Circuit Judge Thomas Barkdull in May 2013 after Bradley Brooks filed an emergency request for custody of the couple’s daughter. The request came weeks after Pamela Brooks was arrested for driving under the influence.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Bradley Brooks and his ex-wife’s parents, Martin and Evelyn Hewson, details Pamela Brooks long struggle with alcohol abuse. It also indicates she initially responded to treatment by Agresti and Dashev. Treated daily with Antabuse, a drug designed to reduce cravings for alcohol, medical records in June and July 2013 showed she was “compliant and that her spirits were good,” the lawsuit says.

In August, the tenor of the notes changed. They indicate she had resumed drinking. Questions were raised about whether she needed residential care. “There was a discussion with Ms. Brooks regarding depression and the presence of suicidal ideation,” the suit says.

From Aug. 16 to Sept. 6, 2013, she was seen about 10 times by Agresti and Dashev. “During several of these visits Pamela described her overall condition as being characterized by anxiety and tension,” the suit states. “She described herself as feeling overwhelmed, angry and upset stemming from her DUI and all the changes in her life that the DUI has caused.” A day before her next appointment, she killed herself and her daughter.

The suit accuses Agresti and Dashev of negligence. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

More Evidence Antidepressants Might Induce Sexual Dysfunction Even After Stopping Them

From the Website "Mad In America"

A retrospective study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry identified 183 possible cases of people who suffered sexual dysfunction that endured even after stopping taking SSRI antidepressants. Of these, the Israeli researchers identified "23 high-probability cases" of "Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction" (PSSD).

"Possible cases were subjects with normal pretreatment sexual function who first experienced sexual disturbances while using a single SSRI/SNRI, which did not resolve upon drug discontinuation for 1 month or longer," wrote the researchers. "High-probability cases were also younger than 50-year-olds; did not have confounding medical conditions, medications, or drug use; and had normal scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale."

"Limitations of the study include retrospective design and selection and report biases that do not allow generalization or estimation of incidence," noted the researchers. "However, our findings add to previous reports and support the existence of PSSD, which may not be fully explained by alternative nonpharmacological factors related to sexual dysfunction, including depression and anxiety."

The website RxISK has been tracking cases of apparent post-SSRI sexual dysfunction.

Ben-Sheetrit, Joseph, Dov Aizenberg, Antonei B. Csoka, Abraham Weizman, and Haggai Hermesh. “Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction: Clinical Characterization and Preliminary Assessment of Contributory Factors and Dose-Response Relationship.” Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, March 2015, 1. doi:10.1097/JCP.0000000000000300. (Abstract)

Of course, this side effect has become another medical condition to treat.

"Psychiatry has destroyed my life"

A 4 part series in the Canada Free Press about the devastating effect of the Marketing of Abilify

Part 1: “Psychiatry has destroyed my life”
Part 2: A medicinal lobotomy
Part 3: “Works like a thermostat”
Part 4: “Chemically lobotomized”

Snippet from the series

“Psychiatry has destroyed my life in so many ways.”

So says Jarrett, a young man from Orange County, who for the past three and half years has been taking a cocktail of various psychiatric medications, including America’s best-selling drug, Abilify.

Less than four years ago Jarrett was a newly minted university graduate with a bright future ahead of him. But he hit a bit of a rough patch. Discouraged by his failure to find a job, he went into counseling, which dredged up some painful memories he now believes would have been better left alone. He confronted his father one night with some old hurts, in his own recollection tearful and angry and out of control, and his father called the police. Jarrett was taken away in handcuffs to a mental hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed Risperdal and BuSpar.

Jarrett was subsequently released but found his depression worsening. He checked himself back into the mental hospital, and this time he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed on BuSpar, Seroquel, Geodon, and Celexa. Shortly after his release, he attempted suicide (he says he had never experienced suicidal ideation or behavior before starting psych meds) and was hospitalized for the third time. This time his doctor doubled the dose of Seroquel, replaced the Celexa with Lexapro, and added Depakote and Cogentin. He also discontinued the Geodon and, at Jarrett’s request, prescribed a new drug Jarrett had learned about from watching television.

“It was that cartoon commercial with the woman who says her antidepressant isn’t working,” Jarrett recalls. “She went to her doctor and her doctor said there’s a medication you can take with your antidepressant that can really help.”

And that was how Jarrett became one of untold thousands who succumbed to the siren call of the advertising copywriter to “Add Abilify.”

Patients who take antipsychotic and antidepressant medications frequently experience sexual side effects

From a report in the Pharmacy Times

[...]

Recently, researchers set out to determine the incidence of treatment-emergent sexual dysfunction with lithium and identify potential management approaches. By conducting a systematic computerized literature search of preclinical and clinical studies, they examined 13 relevant papers and published their results in Human Psychopharmacology and Clinical Experience.

The preclinical studies shed light on the etiology of lithium-related sexual dysfunction, noting that the drug could significantly reduce testosterone levels and impair nitric oxide-mediated control of male erectile tissue. Additionally, 6 clinical reports suggested that lithium might reduce sexual thoughts and desire, worsen erectile function, and reduce sexual satisfaction.

Lithium-treated patients who reported sexual dysfunction also demonstrated a lower level of overall functioning, higher rates of lithium-related adverse effects, and poor medication adherence.

Those who received concurrent benzodiazepines had a significantly elevated risk for sexual dysfunction.

Only 1 study addressed how to manage lithium-related sexual dysfunction. In that placebo-controlled study, men who took lithium and 240 mg aspirin daily reported less overall sexual dysfunction and improved erectile function.

[...]

GAO Finds Major Overuse of Antipsychotic Drugs by the Elderly

From the Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

In late 2014 we blogged about the accusations levied against Dr. Michael J. Reinstein about his improper use of antipsychotic drugs prescribed to patients in abundance, as well as taking kickbacks from the drug maker to prescribe it, and making 140,000 or more false billing claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid for those treatments. This activity landed him in both civil and criminal hot water, and in more recent news he pled guilty to criminal charges as well as settled civil claims with the Illinois and federal governments.

The companies accused of providing those kickbacks and receiving Medicare and Medicaid dollars from the business Reinstein generated by prescribing their antipsychotic drugs. Reinstein exemplifies a holdover of a slowly diminishing practice of using antipsychotic medications, which now is viewed more as the easy way out and a method of chemical restraint when there are other methods that could more humanely calm and care for a patient, particularly dementia and Alzheimer’s patients who have historically been the recipients of antipsychotic medications. Nursing homes historically used these especially when they kept low staffing levels and did not have the manpower to aid patients. Yet antipsychotic drugs can create a cycle of drug dependency, and can even lead to death.

Changing Tides?

While the movement to eliminate the use of antipsychotic medications has gained steam in recent years, the federal government reports that elderly Americans have been overusing psychiatric drugs such as clozapine (Dr. Reinstein’s apparent drug of choice), Abilify, and others. Such drugs are meant to calm down and sedate patients that are prone to violence or outbursts, which those suffering from dementia or psychosis may be particularly prone to exhibiting. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report stating that elderly adults who live outside of nursing homes and long-term care facilities overuse antipsychotic drugs which are prescribed to them by doctors, though residents in nursing homes also fell into such dependency and overuse, and efforts to curb over-prescription and overuse must continue there as well.

Notably, according to the report, about 86% of Medicare enrollees who suffer from dementia and live outside of nursing homes are prescribed antipsychotic medications, which is a staggering statistic. It is even more remarkable when considering that only approximately 6% of total Medicare enrollees living outside of nursing homes suffer from dementia. Thus the choice of treatment has predominantly been geared toward chemical intervention. For those in nursing homes, of the elderly dementia patients living in nursing homes for over 100 days in the year 2012, approximately a third of those patients were prescribed antipsychotic drugs (and 14% of those outside of nursing homes during 2012).

Part of the problem, according to the GAO report, is the lack of oversight by the government. Medicare and Medicaid specifically take responsibility for such oversight on behalf of the federal government, and states typically have Medicaid fraud units that look into not only financial fraud related to health care, but also investigate when issues include abuse or misuse of medications (which can result in unnecessary and excessive, and thus fraudulent, payments to providers and pharmaceuticals with federal dollars). Those agencies and offices, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the report notes, should be vital in promoting awareness of the dangers of antipsychotic drugs and reducing that use far more than the government has in the past.

Are pharmacists turning into salespeople? Internal company emails show push on pharmacists to keep ‘driving those numbers’

From an extensive report on CBC. While it is a general article, it is interesting to see how big pharmacy chains are transforming into your local corner drug pusher. worth reading.

Internal emails from top Canadian chain drugstores show the pressures that pharmacists say they get from companies to push billable services in order to boost revenue. The emails were shared with CBC’s Marketplace by pharmacists who are speaking out about increasing business pressures to perform extra services that can be billed to patients or to provincial governments. These services include medication reviews, flu shots, smoking cessation programs and food intolerance testing kits.

“I think as a pharmacist, it’s embarrassing,” Derek Jorgenson, a pharmacist and professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, told Marketplace co-host Erica Johnson. “I think it makes you feel like you're not a health professional. It makes you feel like a door-to-door salesman or a used car salesman,” he said. “We as pharmacists didn't go into this profession to do that.”

[...]

The pharmacists approached Marketplace after the initial investigation to show how corporate pressures negatively affect their work.

“What we're becoming is salesmen,” one former Rexall pharmacist told Marketplace. Marketplace agreed to protect the identity of the pharmacists who spoke out because they fear retribution in the industry. “They want us to sell med checks, flu shots, Hemocode tests, A1C tests, things that don't cost the store anything, but make money for the store,” she said. The pharmacists shared internal emails from management that discuss daily targets for medication reviews.

Long Island woman says psych ward doctors believed she was delusional for insisting Obama follows her on Twitter

From the New York Daily News

A Long Island woman’s insistence that President Obama follows her on Twitter made doctors at the Harlem Hospital psych ward think she was delusional and suffering from bipolar disorder — but she was actually telling the truth, a lawsuit charges. Kam Brock’s frightening eight-day “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” ordeal at the mental facility included forced injections of powerful sedatives and demands she down doses of lithium, medical records obtained through her suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court show. They also indicate that doctors didn’t believe the leader of the free world followed her on Twitter — though @BarackObama follows over 640,000 accounts, including hers. They were also skeptical she worked at a bank, records show.

“I told (the doctor) Obama follows me on Twitter to show her the type of person I am. I’m a good person, a positive person. Obama follows positive people!” Brock, whose Twitter handle is @AkilahBrock, said.

A “master treatment plan” from Harlem Hospital backs up the Astoria Bank worker’s story.

“Objective: Patient will verbalize the importance of education for employment and will state that Obama is not following her on Twitter,” the document reads.

It also notes “patient’s weaknesses: inability to test reality, unemployment.”

Adding insult to insanity, the hospital hit Brock with a bill of $13,637.10, she charges in her suit seeking unspecified damages.

The bizarre experience began Sept. 12, when the NYPD seized her prized 2003 BMW 325Ci in Harlem because they suspected she was high on weed, her attorney, Michael Lamonsoff, said. Cops found no marijuana but confiscated her ride anyway, he said. The NYPD declined to comment.

The following day, Brock walked into the NYPD’s Public Service Area 6 stationhouse in Harlem to retrieve her car, her suit charges. Brock — an eccentric 32-year-old born in Jamaica with dreams of making it big in the entertainment business — admitted in an interview she was “emotional,” but insisted she in no way is an “emotionally disturbed person.” Nevertheless, cops cuffed her and put her in an ambulance bound for the hospital, her suit charges.

“Next thing you know, the police held onto me, the doctor stuck me with a needle and I was knocked out,” Brock said, tearing up. “I woke up to them taking off my underwear and then went out again. I woke up the next day in a hospital robe.”

Lamonsoff said race may have been a factor in the way Brock was treated. “How would you act if you were being told you were crazy?” he said. For eight days, she attended group therapy, endured injections of sedatives, and took lorazepam and lithium, medical records show, according to Lamonsoff.

When she was finally let go, the doctors didn’t tell her why she was being allowed to leave, Brock said. Harlem Hospital declined to comment. The city Law Department said the suit would be reviewed.

Five arrested in East Cove Psychiatric Services investigation

As seen here

Agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants Tuesday morning at a Kinston psychiatric facility. That afternoon, authorities arrested East Cove Psychiatric Services’ owners and operators Joanna Wolicki-Shannon and Walter Shannon. Shannon, 64, faces 12 felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery and received a $180,000 bond. Wolicki-Shannon, 50, received charges of six felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery and took a $90,000 bond. According to the SBI, “The doctors wrote bogus prescriptions for phentermine, hydrocodone, Percocet, Adderall, vyvanse and Ritalin using their psychiatric practice employees and members of the office staff’s families to submit them to pharmacies to be filled. The employees picked up the prescribed drugs and delivered them to the doctors.” Agents arrested three others in connection to the case. Lisa Renay Lankford, 53, faces 18 felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery and received a $279,000 bond. Candice Raegan Hill, 35, and James Howington, 31, were charged with 10 felony counts each of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery along with 10 felony counts of trafficking opium. Hill received a $650,000 bond, while Howington received a $659,000 bond. Hill and Lankford are both former office managers at East Cove, and Howington is Hill's boyfriend. East Cove’s main office is located in the 1300 block of North Queen Street, while an additional facility is open Thursdays on Limehouse Road in Kenansville. East Cove serves Eastpointe region clients who require mental health, developmental disability and/or substance abuse services. State agents are being assisted by the FBI in the case. Throughout the day Tuesday the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office also lent assistance at the scene. The suspects should make their first appearance in Lenoir County District Court on Wednesday.

Johnson & Johnson pleads guilty, pays $25M tied to metal-tainted Children's Tylenol

Via this report on the Fierce Pharma Website

Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) McNeil Consumer Healthcare may have cleaned up its act over the past 6 years, but the company is again being bit in the behind by the problems that sprung from the mess that its OTC plant in Pennsylvania once was. The company has pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge and will pay a $20 million fine and forfeit another $5 million for allowing Infants' Tylenol, Children's Tylenol and Children's Motrin products into the market that were tainted with metals.

The plea agreement announced by Justice Department and FDA officials today stemmed from a complaint that McNeil's plant in Fort Washington, PA, received May 1, 2009, that there were black specks in some of its children's pain medicines. But instead of starting an investigation to find out why, Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) let it slide, according to the DOJ release.

The particles were later determined to be "nickel/chromium-rich inclusions" and not ingredients that should have been in the products taken by children throughout the world, court records indicate. The FDA would later get from McNeil a list of 30 OTC drug batches with "non-conformances for particles" that occurred in roughly a year's time. In April 2010, McNeil recalled all lots of certain unexpired OTC drugs made for infants and children that it had shipped worldwide.