Bad News on Dangers of Psych Meds

It must be a rotten week to be Pharma exec or doctor. As I posted yesterday, an FDA advisory panel recommended that black-box warnings be placed on ADHD drugs due to 25 cases of heart related deaths. (It's amusing that's the ever-cautious New York Times describes these as stimulants in its headline not as ADHD drugs.) And, two days ago came news that some anti-depressants have led to lung damage and death in infants whose mothers took the drugs during pregnancy. Although in both classes of drugs the numbers of deaths are small, the reports raise serious questions about their use in tens of millions of Americans. I don't envy psych docs and general practitioners who've been prescribing these for years suddenly being swamped with questions from worried patients. But that's the nature of the job.

Keep in mind that there are already black-box warnings required on all atypical antipsychotics owing to connections between them and diabetes, which had led to 23 reported deaths, and death in elderly patients with dementia. I wonder how long it will be before reports come forth of heart problems in patients taking Risperdal, an atypical antipsychtoic, which made my heart race and beat weirdly from time to time when I took the drug.

As much as I consider these reports small vindication of my drumbeat about problems with these meds, I am not happy to have my bitching confirmed. I'd prefer to be wrong, since this will limit treatment options in many cases. If you are a parent, would you now allow your kid to take Ritalin? Would you continue taking them if you are an adult?