do antidepressants make you worse and cause permanent brain damage? what do you think of this?

Question

http://www.labelmesane.com/about/brain_zaps.htm this is just one of many articles asserting this. I read years ago that SSRI drugs like zoloft and paxil etc cause the neurotransmitter receptor sites to vanish and they may not return resuilting in permanent brain damge.

Furthermore, it is my belief that in many people even adults they make you more depressed and suicidal. Here is a FDA warning saying that. Drug companies make so much money on antidepressants--I think they try to withhold this knowledge to the public.

This is borne out in my own observations about myself. I suffered from severe cinical depression the last 20 years and took 14 antidepressants, most of them SSRI drugs like paxil. prosac, wellbutri, effexor. etc and the WHOLE TIME I was on them I was extremely and persistently suicidal having tons of suicidal ideation and thoughts nearly every day. It was living he-- on earth and caused enormous suffering. I am here by the grace of God nearly following through

three times and having all the materials to kill myself. Suicide prevention, crises counseling, people who talked to me and sheer andstrong willpower all helped me survive those years. After having a bad reaction to one of the drugs that necessitated hospitalization, I decided to stop taking them (plus they never helped only one helped minimumally and I was more depressed but I ddi not associate it with the drugs that were supposed to alleviate (not exacerbate) the depression.

That is a recent realization...that news stories helped me realize by p[ointing out the higher rates of suicide in some people espcially teenagers. A doctor talked me into taking Neurontin (an antiseizure drug even though I do't have seizures for off the label pychiatric use but I decided to discontinue it 4 months ago as I do not generally take allopahtic drugs and just read there are lawsuits with neurontin for off the label uses and increased risk of suicide. It makes me mad I suffered all those years due

to greedy drug makers *(likely suppressing info they had) anfd that my kids came so close to losing their mom and helping them suffer lifelong effects. It makes me scared if there are permanent damage damages as I feel I will never be totally the person I once was due to all this altering of brain chemisty..maybe we are guina pigs of barbarity like the lobotomy and Electric shock therapy victims of old. It upsets me that some people likely killed themselves (and devastated their families) due to trusting the people who were supposed to help them and instead make them more suicidal.

What do you think?

forgot the fda warning--they now have black box warnings on SSRI drugs

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/2004-03-22-FDA-SSRI-warning.htm

for yout information, I am still seeing the doctor (but she is uncertain what to do since I refuse drugs and they have a drug mindset..luckily she is into some natural things as well) and I am in counseling (but don't feel it helps at all..been in it for years).

furthermore, bmac...didn't use internet in the years ago when I took antidepressants..the info about it causing suicidal ideation was not out then nor was there much on the permanent brain damage.

I did not say FDA was hiding info..in fact, I published a link to their info about the dangers and the black box warning, but I do think drug companies new..in fact, I read this when I first heard abour the permannet brain damge--that they were afraid of having tons of class action lawsuits as so many are on atidepressants and they hushed up info..drugs companies have faked study results or hideen data in the past you know.

Also doctors did not know about this possibility when I was suffering all those years. I was responsible and id ask questions. Had I dided a large art of that would have been on the drug companies that knew people were killing themselves on these fdrugs and hid it. I have every right to be mad. The people I trusted let me down and so many americans who are on these and have no idea of the dangers.

despite the rudeness of your answer, pang the drugs companies have an obligation in addition to making money that their drugs which they recevie money for do what they say they will do and re safe. If someone prescribes sugar pills and says it will help a medical illness or sells an unsafwe sustenace to millions of Americans, this is not permitted by our government regulatory agencies. These are not conspiracy theories, the FDA has put a black box warning now on all SSRI drugs due to the very real statistics of a great many suicides and increase in suicidal ideation, class action lawsuits have been one based on real not conspiracy theories and the permanent brain damage was proven in testing so there is at least a strong possibility this is the case. For your to treat me so rudely was certainly uncalled for and although antidepressants do hjelp some people, what about the ones, like myself that they ruin their lives or the people who are dead due to them? What about their familes?

if these drugs cuase permanent and possibly severe brain damge, people have a right to know this..if they increase the chance of suicide and suffering, people have a right to kniow this so that they can make an informed decision.

abs may I reiterate that I took these under a psychiatrist's care and stoppd them the correct way tapering off not cold turkey and I still had near daily suicidal ideation and NEVER had a days suicidal thoughts after stopping them permantly despite going through several horrible exeriences in my life since.

adrixia and abs..thanks for being voices of sanity...totally agree. I rarely take allopathetic drugs and am a big believer in alternative health, herbs, foods, exercise, supplements. etc. I see results from these and they treat the cause not the symptoms without the dangerous side effects. Thanks.

also find it hard to believe panolin is a doctor due to the unprofessionalism expressed in the answrer.

here are a few more wesites that show the danger of antidepressants I mentioned

http://www.breggin.com/AntidepressantSuicideLoophole.html

http://www.breggin.com/


http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/toxicity-brain-damage.htm

thanks Violet

Answer 1

Pharmaceuticals are very dangerous especially ones that interfere with your body's chemistry. I will never never never take a drug that alters my brain chemistry, there are other ways to deal with depression. Exercise, meditation, acupuncture/pressure, just realizing that your worries are not worth your time,......

It is hard, but it takes will power.
Any major change in your life takes will power and I believe even depression can be cured with enough effort combating it. You have the power to change your brain chemistry, do not rely on a "quick fix" drug to do it because no one knows how you will react to it and what adverse effects it will have on you in the future.

See the movie " What the bleep do we know?"

there are many insights about your bodies chemistry and addicitons we have to emotions and outside chemicals.

Answer 2

Do Antidepressants Cause Brain Damage

Answer 3

There are 3 amino acid supplements that can help with emotional disorders. Most prescription medication for these disorders are intended to treat the symptoms instead of the causes. I take SAMe, 5-HTP and L-Tyrosine daily to replenish the depleted neurotransmitter chemicals in my brain. I haven't had an anxiety attack in over 5 years. When I took Prozac, I had side effects that were worse than my disorder. I was considering going on disability, but now, I'm working successfully and have no symptoms.

Answer 4

Overcome your Depression Without Medication

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Any medication CAN be dangerous if it doesn't interact well with a particular person's system. Most medications, however, that have received FDA approval and are marketed and sold are helpful to at least a small number of people. As with anything, psychiatric medications need to be taken under the proper supervision of a physician and absolutely should not be stopped cold turkey unless the doctor expressly directs this (with many medications, the problems with suicide have arisen when patients have stopped taking their medications suddenly). There are definitely some people who receive no benefits whatsoever from any medications - but this is more the exception than the rule.

Answer 7

Brain-bending, mind-altering drugs are a $20 Billion business that is motivated by profits, not health. The term "chemical imbalance" is an invented little phrase that is meaningless and false. You should read the book called "Prozac Backlash"
http://www.prozacbacklash.com/prozacBacklash.html

Answer 8

I think you should STILL be getting therapy/counseling because I can tell from your post that you still have a lot of issues to resolve. The FDA warnings are there on almost ALL antidepressants. The FDA isn't hiding the information, your doctor is the one who is supposed to talk to your about it. Also, in this day and age, you have access to the FDA website....go in and do your own research. I don't work for the FDA, I work for a company who watches THEM.

Remember, too. Not everyone can take antidepressants. You are one of them. The medications are NOT the answer. They are only supposed to be used while you are getting therapy/counseling. You have to work through the issues you have with your therapist and then medications wouldn't be necessary anymore.

Answer 9

Every drug is not for every person.

These drugs have helped many people and saved many lives.
It doesn't make sense to deny help to the people for whom the drugs work just because you had a bad experience.

Is your conspiracy theory part of your illness?

REALITY CHECK: Pharmaceutical companies are businesses, not charities. They are in business to make a profit, not to give you a warm fuzzy feeling.

Answer 10

Yea, and what about the millions of people and their families that have been saved by anti-depressants?