Posts Tagged ‘sudden death’

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Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs (yeah, ya think???)

Monday, March 14th, 2011

Note from CCHR:  We added the “yeah, ya think?” to the title because of the word “may” in the headline.   Children are being prescribed Ritalin and Ritalin-like drugs which are categorized as schedule ll by the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration as “highly addictive” in the same class as cocaine, opium and morphine.  The US FDA warns  ADHD drugs cause hallucinations, stroke, heart attack and sudden death to name a few (watch Drugging Our Children: Side Effects http://3.ly/atyH.)   Studies also prove that ADHD drugs do not improve children’s academic performance, they simply make the kid sit still and “behave.”   So which is better, diet or drugs? Is there really any question?  Given the fact that ADHD is not a disease, and the fact ADHD drugs are deadly,  we think the the may help kids more than drugs is a bit ridiculous.   Not to mention the fact that just because a kid acts like a kid, (ADHD ‘criteria,’ also known as childhood) they do not deserve to be labeled with a mental disorder and stigmatized mentally ill for the rest of their life.

NPR March 12, 2011

Hyperactivity. Fidgeting. Inattention. Impulsivity. If your child has one or more of these qualities on a regular basis, you may be told that he or she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. If so, they’d be among about 10 percent of children in the United States.

Kids with ADHD can be restless and difficult to handle. Many of them are treated with drugs, but a new study says food may be the key. Published in The Lancet journal, the study suggests that with a very restrictive diet, kids with ADHD could experience a significant reduction in symptoms.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands, writes in The Lancet that the disorder is triggered in many cases by external factors — and those can be treated through changes to one’s environment.

“ADHD, it’s just a couple of symptoms — it’s not a disease,” the Dutch researcher tells All Things Considered weekend host Guy Raz.

The way we think about — and treat — these behaviors is wrong, Pelsser says. “There is a paradigm shift needed. If a child is diagnosed ADHD, we should say, ‘OK, we have got those symptoms, now let’s start looking for a cause.’ ”

Pelsser compares ADHD to eczema. “The skin is affected, but a lot of people get eczema because of a latex allergy or because they are eating a pineapple or strawberries.”

According to Pelsser, 64 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD are actually experiencing a hypersensitivity to food. Researchers determined that by starting kids on a very elaborate diet, then restricting it over a few weeks’ time.

“It’s only five weeks,” Pelsser says. “If it is the diet, then we start to find out which foods are causing the problems.”

Teachers and doctors who worked with children in the study reported marked changes in behavior. “In fact, they were flabbergasted,” Pelsser says.

“After the diet, they were just normal children with normal behavior,” she says. No longer were they easily distracted or forgetful, and the temper tantrums subsided.

Some teachers said they never thought it would work, Pelsser says. “It was so strange,” she says, “that a diet would change the behavior of a child as thoroughly as they saw it. It was a miracle, a teacher said.”

But diet is not the solution for all children with ADHD, Pelsser cautions.

“In all children, we should start with diet research,” she says. If a child’s behavior doesn’t change, then drugs may still be necessary. “But now we are giving them all drugs, and I think that’s a huge mistake,” she says.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/12/134456594/study-diet-may-help-adhd-kids-more-than-drugs?sc=emaf

For more information on psychiatric labeling of kids, watch Psychiatry: Labeling Kids with Bogus Mental Disorders http://www.cchrint.org/videos/

For more information on documented side effects of drugs, watch Drugging Our Children – Side Effects :http://www.cchrint.org/videos/drugs/drugging-our-children-side-effects/

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Psychiatrist Asks, “Why Are People So Divided When It Comes To Children’s Mental Health?” We’ve Got the Answer…

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

20 million kids are being prescribed dangerous mind-altering drugs

By CCHR

Today’s Huffington Post features an article from psychiatrist Harold Koplewicz, frequently seen in the press leading the cheer for more psychiatric diagnosing and drugging of children.   In today’s article, Koplewicz makes a plea to ‘Stop the Stigma’ which is preventing children from being diagnosed mentally ill.   Pretty catchy slogan isn’t it? “Stop the Stigma.”  It ought to be, it’s a brilliant marketing campaign, brought to you by Big Pharma, via the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a group that  masquerades as a “patient’s rights group for the mentally ill”  but receives tens of millions in Pharma funding.

But here’s the real rub—What entity is most responsible for stigmatizing millions of children? What group has pathologized childhood behavior and repackaged a list of behaviors into a “disease” called ADHD?  Psychiatry and Pharma.   You can’t be a kid anymore.  If you display child-like behaviors you can be  branded mentally ill for life. And its not just us saying this.  Consider that the former Chairman of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM task force,  psychiatrist Allen Frances, stated “Our country is in the midst of a fifteen year ‘epidemic’ of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). There are six potential causes for the skyrocketing rates of ADD—but only five have been real contributors. The most obvious explanation is by far the least likely – that the prevalence of attention deficit problems in the general population has actually increased in the last 15 years. Human nature is remarkably constant and slow to change, while diagnostic fads come and go with great rapidity. We don’t have more attention deficit than ever before-we just label more attentional problems as mental disorder.”

He  also talked about “stigma,” but sourced the industry creating it—psychiatry: “The ‘epidemic’ of childhood Bipolar Disorder has created a public health dilemma” and that it is  “based on much hype and very little scientific evidence. The label Bipolar Disorder also carries considerable stigma, implying that the child will have a lifelong illness requiring lifetime treatment.”

Exactly.

The title of Dr. Koplewicz’s article is “Why Are People So Divided When It Comes to Children’s Mental Health?” so we’d like to answer that question, as it’s pretty simple —Some of us are for children’s rights and putting their best interests above all else, while others are for Psycho/Pharma and putting their best interests above all else.

That’s the short version.  Here is a bit more detailed answer;

Point 1) Millions of children have been stigmatized with bogus psychiatric “labels” that are based solely on opinion, and not one shred of medical evidence that there’s anything physically wrong with them.  No blood tests, brain scans, X-rays, MRIs or any proof whatsoever they are “mentally ill” and require drugs euphemistically being called “medicine.”    Unlike real medical diseases which are discovered in labs, psychiatric diagnoses are invented by psychiatrists in committee, by  the following “scientific” process;  Cluster a number of behaviors into a nice little package, give it a name and add “disorder” on the tail end of it,  then take a vote.  Majority wins.   That’s about it. And that’s why mental disorders can be here one day and gone the next, because of majority opinion — namely, psychiatry’s.   So while psychiatrists talk about the “amazing progress” they’ve made, and how “close” they’ve come to proving mental disorders are “real medical conditions,” we’d like to point out the obvious—they haven’t.   They couldn’t prove mental disorders were physical/medical conditions 50 years ago, and can’t prove it today despite billions in government funding.    No progress.  Whatsoever.   Zippo.  Nada.    So understandably, Dr. Koplewicz,, as people become more educated about this ludicrous subjective process of disorders made to order, they are concerned about the lack of real science to psychiatric “diagnoses” particularly where their children are concerned.

Point 2) The majority of psychiatrists within the American Psychiatric Association that “decide” on what will and will not be a mental “disorder” are funded by Pharma.  That’s called a Conflict of Interest.  A serious, egregious conflict of interest.  No “conspiracy” here Dr. Kopelwicz, just some facts about your colleagues and their incentives for developing more mental disorders.

Point 3) Due to these subjective, invented mental disorders,  20 million children are currently taking mind-altering, life-threatening drugs, acknowledged by international drug regulatory agencies to cause future drug dependence, stunted growth, mania, psychosis, violence, aggression, hallucinations, heart attack, stroke, sudden death and suicidal ideation.  All international studies and warnings on psychiatric drugs along with all the reports filed with the U.S. FDA’s Medwatch by doctors, pharmacists and healthcare providers reporting suicidal ideation and death from psychiatric drugs given to toddlers, young children and teenagers can be found here:  http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/

Point 4) While Koplewicz has the audacity to call the “over-drugging” of children “a myth”,  consider that the Government Accountability Office has launched a federal investigation into the massive increase of drugging children in foster care.  “The investigators will attempt to account for estimates in the hundreds of millions of dollars of possible fraud arising from prescriptions for drugs explicitly barred from Medicaid coverage.  The GAO is collecting data from six states to search for patterns of abuse.  According to a number of foster care experts who spoke with Politics Daily, children in foster care, who are typically concurrently enrolled in Medicaid, are three or four more times as likely to be on psychotropic medications than other children on Medicaid. Alarmingly, many of these drugs are medically prohibited for minors and dangerous to the children taking them.”

Point 5) Senate investigations this past year revealed that some of the “leading” psychiatrists touting the wonders of diagnosing and drugging kids, and largely responsible for massive increases in kids unnecessarily placed on dangerous psychiatric drugs, were on Pharma’s payroll, and failed to disclose this.  Psychiatrists such as Joseph Biederman, who was being paid millions of dollars by the Pharmaceutical companies while skewing the results of drug trials to show false benefits for kids, in order the launch a nationwide campaign to get children diagnosed as “bi-polar.”

And he’s not the only one: Here are some of the “leading” psychiatrists exposed by Senate investigations:

Melissa DelBello, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, was exposed in 2007 by the Senate Finance Committee for concealing $180,000 she received from AstraZeneca in 2003 and 2004.  DelBello’s studies of the antipsychotic Seroquel, made by AstraZeneca, in children helped to fuel the widespread pediatric use of antipsychotic drugs.

In 2008, Joseph Biederman, a leading Harvard child psychiatrist whose work helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs in children, was exposed for withholding earning at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers between 2000 and 2007.

Alan Schatzberg, president-elect of the APA, and Professor and Department of Psychiatry Chair of Stanford University was also investigated in 2008 by the Senate Finance Committee.  Schatzberg was forced to step down as principal investigator in an NIH funded research project into a drug called Mifeprestone, to treat “psychotic depression.” Senate investigators found that Schatzberg failed to report $4.8 million worth of stock in Corcept Therapeutics, a drug company which he co-founded and acted as lead researcher on a drug development project for until he was forced to surrender that role after being exposed.

A Senate investigation found Charles Nemeroff, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine had concealed $2.8 million he earned from drug companies. He was forced to step down as Chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory due to being exposed for his hidden pharmaceutical pay and attempted cover up.

In December 2009, Sen. Charles Grassley filed a complaint about Fernando Mendez-Villamil to federal authorities for his excessive prescribing of antipsychotics to children that were not approved by the FDA.  This cost taxpayers $43 million over six years.  Mendez-Villamil is apparently also currently under investigation by the Medicaid program.  Mid 2009, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported that that Mendez Villamil is the top Medicaid prescriber of mental health drugs in the state—for all ages.  It was calculated that he wrote more than 150 prescriptions a day, seven days a week for six years

So to summarize, we don’t have an epidemic of mentally ill children, we have an epidemic of psychiatry stigmatizing children with mental disorders that cannot be medically/scientifically proven to exist.  We have an epidemic of children prescribed dangerous and potentially lethal psychiatric drugs, including infants and toddlers.  And we have the real source of stigmatization—the Psychiatric/Pharmaceutical industry.

To read Koplewicz’s article, click here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-harold-koplewicz/mental-health-being-openminded_b_791706.html

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ADHD’s Rapid Rise: 5 Theories [And One Answer]

Friday, November 12th, 2010
by CCHR
THE WEEK posted a pretty good article called “ADHD’s Rapid Rise: 5 Theories”—   pretty good because though several of their theories may play some part  in why so many kids are diagnosed ADHD,  they never quite nail the answer.  So we did.
Adding to their 5 points of various theories,  we present you with point number 6: The actual answer:

Psychiatrists got together and decided to pathologize normal childhood behavior into a mental disorder and call it ADHD.  They created a checklist of behaviors, took a vote on it, and voilà! A whole new client base was born – kids. With the help of billions in Pharma funds spent on shrinks to promote ADHD in journals, on TV and in press, glossy ads in magazines, slick lobbyists to “educate” members of Congress about it,  and the creation of Pharma front groups such as Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD) to infiltrate schools endorsing the so-called disease —an epidemic of “mentally ill” children was born.    And that’s the real reason for the “rapid rise” in kids diagnosed ADHD and put on drugs.  Drugs the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) categorizes in the same class of highly addictive substances as cocaine and morphine—drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta — documented by the US FDA to cause hallucinations, mania, heart attack, stroke, sudden death to name but a few.    And it all starts with one simple thing: The Diagnosis. (We challenge anyone to find a kid that would not fit some, if not all of psychiatry’s criteria for a “mentally ill” child they call ADHD.
Psychiatry’s exact list of “ADHD” criteria (and it does not require all of them to result in an ADHD label):

  • Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities.
  • Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play.
  • Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
  • Does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions).
  • Has difficulty organizing tasks and activities.
  • Avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework).
  • Loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g., toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools).
  • Easily distracted by extraneous stimuli.
  • Forgetful in daily activities.
  • Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat.
  • Leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected.
  • Runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness).
  • Has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly.
  • Appears “on the go” or acts as if “driven by a motor.”
  • Talks excessively.

And there you have it.  The Answer:  Psychiatry plus Big Pharma plus Billions in Marketing = Epidemic of “ADHD” Kids.

THE WEEK

One in 10 U.S. kids has been diagnosed with ADHD, a significant increase. Are “hypochondriac” parents jumping to conclusions — or are other factors at play?

Best Opinion: NPR, Strollerderby, ParentDish…

Almost 10 percent of U.S. kids have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a survey of parents conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a shocking 22 percent jump over 2003 figures — representing an additional 1 million children — and the increase was seen in all races, income levels, and areas of the U.S., with the exception of the West. What’s behind the rise? Here are 5 theories:

1. Doctors are doing a better job of diagnosing ADHD
Improvements in screening programs and greater awareness of the disorder among parents and doctors have helped identify more cases, says CDC epidemiologist Susanna Visser,  , the report’s lead author. “We have become much more sensitive to behavioral differences,” agrees Dr. Jeffrey Brosco,  an ADHD expert at the University of Miami. But that doesn’t mean doctors can say “whether kids in the 1970s are really different from kids in the ’90s or the 2000s.”

2. Demographics
The increases were more significant in certain demographic groups, note Scott Hensley at NPR. “The biggest jumps were seen in children between 15 and 17 and among Hispanic or multiracial children.” The jump in Hispanic ADHD cases likely reflects “greater cultural acceptance of the disorder.” Mysteriously, increases were particularly significant in 12 states, says Ray Hainer at CNN. North Carolina, for example saw a 63 percent spike in cases, with 15.6 percent of its kids diagnosed with ADHD.

3. Big Pharma is pushing the cure
Of the 5.4 million kids diagnosed with ADHD, the CDC reports, 2.7 million are taking medication for the condition. You have to question “the role of pharmacological companies in all of this,” says University of Kentucky psychiatrist John D. Ranseen. “It is very much in their interest to increase the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.” That alone should “give the mental health field pause.”

4. Blame our lousy diet
Nobody really knows what causes ADHD, says David Knowles in AOL News, but “one recent study suggested a correlation with a diet high in processed and fried foods.” Intriguingly, new research also ties ADHD to obesity in adulthood, says Healther Turgeon in Strollerderby. There’s no proof — yet — that one causes the other, but “the two are correlated.”

5. The real spike is in “paranoid” parents
“Are kids really that messed up?” asks Tom Henderson in ParentDish. “Or are parents becoming a bunch of second-party psychological hypochondriacs?” Remember, these million extra ADHD cases are “parent-reported diagnoses,” and today’s parents have been known to be “all too eager to control normal childhood restlessness and general weirdness by bombing kids with Ritalin.” Because, after all, “children often have the attention spans of, uh, children.”

http://theweek.com/article/index/209282/adhds-rapid-rise-5-theories

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Psychiatric Hospital staff ‘puzzled’ by teenager’s fatal overdose—maybe they should brush up on their drug warnings

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

Note from CCHR:  This is pure negligence.  A teenager who was under psychiatric “care” was  found dead with two antipsychotic drugs in his system.  The consulting psychiatrist says he is “puzzled” about his death and that they have “no explanation at all.”  Really.   Perhaps the good doctor should brush up on the international drug regulatory warnings for the drugs they are prescribing.    CCHR’s psychiatric drug database contains 24 international drug regulatory warnings on Antipsychotic drugs, and 49 international studies citing side effects including diabetes, obesity, blood clots, heart problems,  cardiac events,  cancer, tumors, death/sudden death. Moreover, if as the psychiatrist claims,  this teenager was found to have two antipsychotics in his system, only one of which was prescribed (so they say) then obviously the psychiatric hospital staff is beyond negligent if in fact a teen already under the influence of mind-altering drugs, was able to get his hands on and ingest another psychiatric drug unbeknown to any of the staff.

A teenager with schizophrenia was found dead in a psychiatric hospital with a cocktail of drugs in his bloodstream, an inquest heard.

Patrick Bennett was discovered in his bed by a shocked nurse at Fulbourn Hospital, and a post-mortem revealed he had taken two anti-psychotic drugs – only one of which he had been prescribed – and paracetamol.

But doctors told an inquest in Huntindon they had no idea how the 19-year-old obtained them, and that he was too mentally ill to have planned and carried out a suicide.

Sue Lancaster, a staff nurse at the hospital, spoke of the moment she found the body of Mr Bennett, of Pound Lane, Kimbolton, on the morning of August 12, 2009.

She said: “It was then I saw his face and knew he was dead. His face still haunts me.”

Fellow nurse Margaret Molina said she was “certain” she had given Mr Bennett the correct dosage of 4.5ml of clozapine, an anti-psychotic drug, on the night before his death.

When asked about his behaviour, she added: “He didn’t seem clearly anxious or upset in any way, he just seemed bewildered.”

Dr Emilio Fernandez, a consultant psychiatrist who had assessed Mr Bennett, said he had “severe impairment in many daily activities”.

He told the inquest doctors suspected Mr Bennett had been hiding tablets in his mouth, so he was switched to a liquid form of clozapine.

He said this switch made his behaviour “more warm”, and he was transferred to a different ward days before his death.

Dr Fernandez described Mr Bennett as “one of the most severe cases I have ever seen in my life” who would not have had the “ability to plan or carry out any suicide attempt”.

He added: “We are all very puzzled about this, we have no explanation at all.”

Search international warnings and studies on antipsychotic and other psychiatric drugs here: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/drug_warnings.php

Search for deaths reported to the US FDA from antipsychotic drugs here http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/medwatch_psych_drug_adverse_reactions.php

Read the rest of the article here:  http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Hospital-staff-puzzled-by-teenagers-fatal-overdose.htm

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The US Military’s Drugged Troops: Survey finds at least 1 in 6 service members is on some form of psychiatric drug

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Pharmalot
By Ed Silverman
August 31, 2010

The widely used Seroquel antipsychotic was never approved to treat post-traumatic stress disorder or the insomnia sometimes related to the afflication, but that hasn’t stopped the drug from being prescribed for that purpose by the US Department of Veteran Affairs and, in the process, becoming one of the VA’s biggest expenditures.

Since 2001, VA spending on Seroquel jumped more than 770 percent, while the number of patients covered by the VA increased just 34 percent, the Associated Press writes. Seroquel is now the VA’s second-biggest prescription drug expenditure since 2007, behind the Plavix bloodthinner. The agency spent $125.4 million last fiscal year on Seroquel, up from $14.4 million in 2001, and the growth in spending outpaces the growth in personnel who have gone through the military during that time.

Meanwile, thousands of soldiers have taken the med, and several soldiers and veterans have died, raising concerns among some military families the government is not being forthcoming about the risks, the AP writes, noting that they want Congress to investigate. The trend, by the way, is not confined to Seroquel. An investigation earlier this year found that at least one in six service members is on some form of psychiatric drug (background).

According to the VA, Seroquel is only prescribed as a third or fourth option for patients with difficult-to-treat insomnia stemming from PTSD, the AP writes. And the US Defense Department’s deputy director for force health protection, Michael Kilpatrick, tells the news service that the government has not seen any increase in dangerous side effects from Seroquel and other drugs.

Read entire article:  http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/08/the-military-post-traumatic-stress-and-seroquel/

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Antipsychotic Drugs, U.S. Vets & Sudden Deaths: Families Call on Congress to Investigate

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Note from CCHR:  Our psychiatric drug database lists FDA advisory warnings on Seroquel causing sudden death, death, suicide, suicidal ideation, heart problems, as well as a Journal of Toxicology report dating back to 2001, warning of antipsychotic drugs causing stroke, cerebrovascular events (such as loss of brain function) seizures, toxicity, confusion and coma. Simply keyword search Seroquel here (or for a broader search, newer antipsychotics)  http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/drug_warnings.php

Questions loom over drug given to sleepless vets

By MATTHEW PERRONE (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — Andrew White returned from a nine-month tour in Iraq beset with signs of post-traumatic stress disorder: insomnia, nightmares, constant restlessness. Doctors tried to ease his symptoms using three psychiatric drugs, including a potent anti-psychotic called Seroquel.

Thousands of soldiers suffering from PTSD have received the same medication over the last nine years, helping to make Seroquel one of the Veteran Affairs Department’s top drug expenditures and the No. 5 best-selling drug in the nation.

Several soldiers and veterans have died while taking the pills, raising concerns among some military families that the government is not being up front about the drug’s risks. They want Congress to investigate.

In White’s case, the nightmares persisted. So doctors recommended progressively larger doses of Seroquel. At one point, the 23-year-old Marine corporal was prescribed more than 1,600 milligrams per day — more than double the maximum dose recommended for schizophrenia patients.

A short time later, White died in his sleep.

“He was told if he had trouble sleeping he could take another (Seroquel) pill,” said his father, Stan White, a retired high school principal.

An investigation by the Veterans Affairs Department concluded that White died from a rare drug interaction. He was also taking an antidepressant and an anti-anxiety pill, as well as a painkiller for which he did not have a prescription. Inspectors concluded he received the “standard of care” for his condition.

It’s unclear how many soldiers have died while taking Seroquel, or if the drug definitely contributed to the deaths. White has confirmed at least a half-dozen deaths among soldiers on Seroquel, and he believes there may be many others.

Spending for Seroquel by the government’s military medical systems has increased more than sevenfold since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. That by far outpaces the growth in personnel who have gone through the system in that time.

Seroquel is approved to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, but it has not been endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for insomnia. However, psychiatrists are permitted to prescribe approved drugs for other uses in a common practice known as “off-label” prescribing.

But the drug’s potential side effects, including diabetes, weight gain and uncontrollable muscle spasms, have resulted in thousands of lawsuits. While on Seroquel, White gained 40 pounds and experienced slurred speech, disorientation and tremors — all known side effects.

Last year, researchers at Vanderbilt University published a study suggesting a new risk: sudden heart failure.

The study in the January 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine found that there were three cardiac deaths per year for every 1,000 patients taking anti-psychotic drugs like Seroquel. Seroquel’s unique sedative effect sets it apart from others in its class as the top choice for treating insomnia and anxiety.

AstraZeneca PLC, maker of the drug, said it is reviewing the study. The FDA is conducting its own review, citing the limited scope of the Vanderbilt study.

According to the Veterans Affairs Department, Seroquel is only prescribed as a third or fourth option for patients with difficult-to-treat insomnia stemming from PTSD.

Marine Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger, 21, was being treated for PTSD when he died in his sleep at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in May 2008. Oligschlaeger was taking six types of medication, including Seroquel, to deal with anxiety and nightmares that followed two tours of duty in Iraq.

The military medical examiner attributed the death to “multiple drug toxicity,” indicating that Oligschlaeger, too, died from a drug interaction. Because of the complex reactions between various drugs, medical examiners do not attribute such deaths to any one medication.

After consulting with physicians, parents Eric and Julie Oligschlaeger now believe their son died of sudden cardiac arrest caused by Seroquel.

“Right now, I’m so angry, and I believe someone needs to be held accountable,” said Julie Oligschlaeger, of Austin, Texas. “The protocol absolutely has to change.”

The Defense Department’s deputy director for force health protection, Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, said the government has not seen any increase in dangerous side effects from Seroquel and other drugs.

Physicians interviewed by the AP said they began prescribing Seroquel because it was the only drug that offered relief from the nightmares and anxiety of PTSD.

“By accident, some people were giving them Seroquel for anxiety or depression, and the veterans said, ‘This is the first time I have slept six or seven hours straight all night. Please give me more of that.’ And the word spread,” said Dr. Henry Nasrallah of the University of Cincinnati, who has treated PTSD patients for more than 25 years.

Most of the soldiers and veterans seeking treatment for PTSD do so at hospitals run by the VA or the Defense Department.

The VA’s spending on Seroquel has increased more than 770 percent since 2001. In that same time frame, the number of patients covered by the VA increased just 34 percent.

Seroquel has been the VA’s second-biggest prescription drug expenditure since 2007, behind the blood-thinner Plavix. The agency spent $125.4 million last fiscal year on Seroquel, up from $14.4 million in 2001.

Spending on Seroquel by the Department of Defense, has increased nearly 700 percent since 2001, to $8.6 million last year, according to purchase records.

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iPPHBQ6w28w4kTXzANGm6kCzPN1gD9HTRUQ80

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On Earth Day, with Green Causes in the Forefront, Here is a Video about Green Mental Health

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Psychiatry’s solution to life’s problems is stigmatizing psychiatric labels and the administration of toxic drugs which international drug regulatory agencies have warned can cause mania, worsening depression, anxiety, delusions, seizures, liver failure, suicide, mania, heart attack, stroke, fatal blood clots, sudden death, diabetes and much more.

(See http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/)

Green Mental Health Care is a non-toxic, non-addictive and non-invasive approach to mental health which focuses on workable medical, not psychiatric, solutions that have better patient outcomes and are not harmful or toxic to those seeking help.  The focus is on finding underlying medical causes that can manifest as psychiatric “symptoms” without  the need for subjective psychiatric labels and deadly drugs.  For more information on medical alternatives to toxic drugs, visit  http://www.cchrint.org/alternatives/

View video on Green Mental Health here.

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CCHR Int Releases New Psychiatric Drug Search Engine—310 International Drug Regulatory Warnings & Studies & 194,000 Adverse Psychiatric Drug Reaction Reports

Monday, March 29th, 2010

By CCHR Int
March 29, 2010

Psychiatric drugs sales generate $80 billion per year with Big Pharma spending $4.7  billion per year on TV and print ads, and $1 billion per year on internet advertising.

As a result the number of people worldwide taking psychiatric drugs has skyrocketed to 100 million (20 million of them children) with documented side effects of worsening depression, mania, psychosis, violence, suicidal and homicidal ideation, birth defects, diabetes, heart attack, stroke and sudden death – to name but a few.

International drug regulatory warnings have increased by 400% in the last 10 years, yet the general public has nowhere to go to find this information online in an easy to search, concise format.

Until now.

CCHR International, the world’s leading mental health watchdog, has created a free public search engine featuring:

  • 160 psychiatric drug warnings from international drug regulatory agencies.
  • 150 drug studies from international medical journals.
  • 194,558 adverse reaction reports on psychiatric drugs filed with the FDA between 2004-2008 from doctors, pharmacists, other health care providers, consumers and lawyers.

People can search international drug regulatory warnings, or studies, or both. They can search by the brand name of a drug (such as Prozac, Zoloft, Ritalin, Seroquel) or by drug class (such as antipsychotic, stimulant, antidepressant) or by type of side effect  or by country issuing the study/warning.  All information is summarized and easy to read.

CCHR International has also decrypted the FDA’s Adverse Drug Reaction reports which include psychiatric drug side effects reported to the FDAs Medwatch program.  This lists who reported the side effect (Doctor, Pharmacist etc) the side effect of the drug and also the age range.

Any medical term that appears in the search results can be defined simply by double clicking the word, and a small bubble will appear defining the word.

No other mental health watchdog or government agency is offering this service to the public.  This is the world’s only searchable online psychiatric drug database containing all international studies, warnings and FDA adverse reaction reports on psychiatric drugs in existence.

You can try out the new Psychiatric Drug Search Engine here: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/

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Australia’s “growing problem” is child drugging—Antipsychotics given to toddlers linked to 45 child deaths in the U.S.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

The Herald Sun
March 24, 2010

CHILDREN as young as one are being prescribed powerful anti-psychotic drugs that have been linked to deaths overseas.

The strong medication is designed to quell psychotic episodes normally experienced by adults with schizophrenia and bi-polar.

There are concerns some doctors are illegitimately writing scripts for pre-schoolers and primary school children for unapproved medical reasons, such as behavioural problems or ADHD.

Figures provided by the Therapeutic Goods Administration showed up to 3351 NSW children aged under 18 were prescribed the drugs in 2007-08.

Of them, at least 62 toddlers aged five and under — including five one-year-olds — were prescribed the drugs in NSW in that period.

“You can assume children under 12 are illegitimately being prescribed these drugs for behaviour problems. It should not be the case,” University of South Australia’s associate professor in psychiatry Dr Jon Jureidini said yesterday.

“These drugs are not marketed or recommended by the TGA for that use.”

Common medications such as Risperdal, Zyprexa and Abilify are not approved for children under five. The TGA has approved Risperdal to treat children with autism.

Side effects can be so severe in adults that elderly patients with dementia are warned they have a higher risk of sudden death.

Read entire article:  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/kids-prescribed-toxic-drug-cocktail-of-anti-depressants/story-e6frf7l6-1225844541982

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Australia: Documents reveal 10,000 kids prescribed powerful, dangerous anti-psychotic drugs including toddlers

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

The Herald Sun
March 24, 2010

CHILDREN as young as two are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs that have been linked to deaths overseas.

Almost 2000 children aged under 18 were prescribed the drugs in Victoria in 2007-08.

Figures provided by the Therapeutic Goods Administration reveal at least four two-year-olds were among 422 under-10s given drugs designed to quell psychotic episodes normally found in adults with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

But there are concerns some doctors are writing scripts for preschoolers and primary school children for unapproved medical reasons, such as behavioural problems.

“You can assume children under 12 are illegitimately being prescribed these drugs for behaviour problems. It should not be the case,” said University of South Australia’s Assoc Prof in psychiatry Dr Jon Jureidini.

“The vast majority of preschoolers who are prescribed are not for psychotic episodes but for behaviour problems,” he said.

“These drugs are not marketed, or recommended by the TGA, for that use.”

Common medications such as Risperdal, Zyprexa and Abilify are not approved for use in children under five due to the lack of evidence on their safety.

But the TGA has approved Risperdal to treat children with autism.

In 2007-08, almost 10,000 under-18s were prescribed anti-psychotic medication in Australia.

Side-effects can be so severe in adults that elderly patients with dementia are warned they have a higher risk of sudden death.

Read entire article:  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/toddlers-given-anti-psychotic-drugs/story-e6frf7kx-1225844491890

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