Antidepressants burden users with extreme side-effects

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 by: Daniel Barker
Tags: antidepressants, SSRIs, side effects

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(NaturalNews) There is a growing body of evidence indicating that taking SSRI antidepressants is far more dangerous than previously thought – both in their psychological and physical effects.

A group of former antidepressant users recently appeared before the British Parliament to relate their experiences of extreme side effects while taking SSRIs. Their testimony included everything from suicidal behavior to seizures and other serious health issues caused by the antidepressants.

Several former SSRI-prescribed patients told their stories to the BBC, including Claire Hanley, who suffered severe symptoms when her doctor increased her tablet dosage:

"I was getting seizure-like symptoms, where my muscles were jolting around of their own accord.

"Within two weeks I'd tried to take my own life twice.

"I felt disorientated and sick and had digestive problems and infections, it was really extreme. I don't even know how to begin. All I can remember is being on the bedroom floor in a kind of semi-conscious state having seizure after massive seizure."

Twenty years later, Hanley still suffers from long-term side effects caused by the original prescription of SSRIs.

SSRIs make 1-in-4 people 'more anxious, rather than less'

The medical establishment has maintained that only about one in 100 people experience severe side effects from taking SSRIs, but many experts are suggesting that the number of people negatively impacted is far higher.

Professor David Healy of Bangor University said that SSRIs make one in four people "more anxious, rather than less."

"Some people become very agitated and some go on from that to become suicidal," he said. "The drugs can become the problem that they're then used to treat."

If 25 percent of the people who take SSRIs actually become more anxious – essentially accomplishing the exact opposite effect of the one intended – then obviously these drugs should not be on the market to begin with.

And when all of the other potential side effects are taken into consideration it seems insane that these drugs are still being prescribed at all.

A partial list of common side effects includes migraines, nausea and dizziness. But the extreme reactions can be truly serious: Seizures, irregular heartbeat and unconsciousness are symptoms associated with "serotonin syndrome," a less common but nonetheless real condition caused by SSRIs.

Another issue is withdrawal – some of those who quit taking SSRIs reported severe withdrawal symptoms, even when they "tapered off" their dosages under a doctor's care.

"When you look at the clinical trials that have been done, the taper phase – the point where the person is trying to come off the drug – is the riskiest period," Dr. Healy said. "That's the point where the person is most likely to commit suicide, or the most likely to do terrible things."

The bottom line is that SSRIs often aren't effective at all. They also pose significant physical health risks, and drive many to murder and suicide.

New studies link SSRIs to language disorders in children; sleep disruption and dementia in the elderly

And now there's even more damning evidence. Two new studies were published in recent days that further called into question the safety of prescribing SSRIs.

One of the studies was conducted by a team from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Schenectady, New York, who found that SSRIs "can significantly disrupt sleep architecture in elderly patients and may contribute to early signs of neurodegeneration that can progress to dementia."

The other study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, indicated that women who take SSRIs more than once during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children who will develop speech or language disorders.

Add this new research to the long list of studies showing numerous other proven or suspected health risks associated with SSRIs, and a picture of a very dangerous class of drugs begins to emerge.

But, of course, SSRIs are big business for Big Pharma. Prescriptions are on the increase, particularly for young people. In Britain, the number of children who were prescribed SSRIs increased 54 percent between 2005 and 2012.

The global market for SSRIs will exceed $13 billion by 2018.

How much more death and misery will it take before we finally wise up?

Sources:

BBC.com

HeatSt.com

Medscape.com

News-Medical.net