That journal has several discussions that are quite interesting; one with regard to tumeric and Alzheimers; another re: Clozaril reducing aggressive behavior in SZ patients.

Looking at the time line for the Cymbalta suicidal discussion, it makes one wonder if any professional ever heard of Traci Johnson hanging herself in the Lilly lab while trialing Cymbalta?

Especially prescribing it for pain? and how she was not a psychiatric patient, just a college student needing cash? and being trialed for incontinence use of Cymbalta? In other words, Cymbalta is being rx'd for far more than depression, and at the cost of human lives.

I think the black box warnings barely make a difference, and I'm not sure doctors pay attention to them.

Stephany, you are so right.

My pdoc, the one I have had for 10 years, put me on Remeron back in November. 2 weeks later I was suffering from suicidal ideation. it got real bad. I looked on line and saw that this drug had a black box warning, but there was no mention of it on the packaging that came with my script. Nothing. If I hadn't found it on the internet I wouldn't have known.

I quit cold turkey which may have been the wrong thing to do in hindsight, but I was scared I was going to do something stupid. I ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks because of this drug.

I now have a new pdoc who not only is chaning my cocktail, she goes to the PDR with me and shows me the drug and asks if this is something I would like to try. She listens to me. I'm just sorry I had to go through all this to find her, but I am grateful I did.

Susan, sounds as if you got a non idiot doctor. Many of them are brainwashed by drug reps so don´t tell about the warnings. Besides, what is their excuse for being a psychiatrist if they can´t give pills, most of which are lethal.

The FDA reported a higher rate of suicide risk on Cymbalta when given in clinical trials to women for incontinence. This was in 2005.

This article can be read at www.ssristories.com

Go to the Index for SSRI Stories and click on the category labeled "Drug". This will alphabetize the list of drugs. The "Drug" category is one of five categories at the top of the page in RED color. Scroll down to Cymbalta to view the cases. One case was that of a man in Texas who was found not guilty [because of Cymbalta] in the murder of his wife.

It's so tragic and discouraging to see that even with the information out there, these drugs are becoming more, not less, popular.

"It's so tragic and discouraging to see that even with the information out there, these drugs are becoming more, not less, popular."

This is the thing, isn't it? Just out of interest, I started making a series of posts on the BBC's news forum. I used current news stories, which were indicative of wider issues (bribery, suppressed negative data, ghostwriting, incompetent regulation, etc, etc, etc). There has been very little in the way of response, and the little that there has been has been of the "these drugs have helped lots of people" variety.

One is left wondering who one is doing any of this for. The only answer that makes any sense is that one does it for oneself. Because either the trust in these massive companies is so complete that it may not be assailed, or everybody shrugs their shoulders and decides while this stuff is clearly an issue, they have to proceed as if it isn't, on the basis that they can do nothing, and hope that they're not the next ones to suffer an adverse event that is promptly blamed on one's condition.

Matt

I had never seen a psychiatrist or psychologist or any type of mental health professional; was put on an SSRI (Celexa) for a non-psych complaint ("off label") and within 3-4 weeks became suicidal in a bizarre, agitated and sourceless way. I mean- I wasn't even SAD or thinking about how much my life sucked. It was more.. I was experiencing these high intensity surges of violent energy directed at myself. My thinking became compulsive and erratic.

You see this same sort of behavior in those Cymbalta reports. All of the individuals reporting suicidal ideation all report various flavors of agitation and compulsive thinking (kids drowning in the pool, obsessed w/ new love object at work). I felt like the anti-depressant took a negative thought tape loop (you're ugly, you're fat, he liked her so much better than you) with an untuned violin accompaniment from hell and played it over and over again at full volume.

Matt,

I spite of my cynical comments, I do think we are doing some good speaking out. Even though the drugs are even more widely prescribed, it also seems that there is more of a resistance to biopsych and the medical model.

Cymbalta, a very similar product to Prozac, had been taken off the market years ago because of suicidal results. Doesn't any one get it yet?