I belong to a book club (of 18 members) in which one member died quite suddenly because of internal bleeding. She was taking Paxil and Coumadin at the same time. As many of you know my daughter died because of Paxil. Another member has a mother hooked on Paxil and can't get off. I don't know how representative this is of the demographic group to which I belong but to me it's pretty darn freaky that that big a percentage of this tiny group has had this many issues with Paxil and I'm sure I don't know all the stories of other members involving other antidepressants.

And the risk of discontinuing antidepressants has nothing to do with "getting depression" and everything to do with severe and crippling withdrawal effects. It is just mind boggling that these big honchos in psychiatry don't have a clue what they are really talking about, i.e. withdrawal -- NOT depression.

Great huh! If they don't kill you or make you have suicidal thoughts then there is always the prospect that they will fuck your insides up to look forward to!

This is off topic - but during my reading about Esmin Green who died on the Brooklyn Hospital floor, I found out that she was involutarily committed. So basically, she was held prisoner without medical attention, food or water until death. Shouldn't people be sounding more alarms about this. If they are going to hold you against your will, they damn well better have a bed ready.

As a psychologist, I have a patient with GI problems that includes internal bleeding. We will be exploring the possibility that his Paxil is a contributing factor. Thanks for the post.

a reader passed along a link to another study indicating anti-deps are linked to g-i bleeding:

http://psychiatry.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2003/507/1

Sadly, my friend of 43 yrs. died from upper GI bleed, and a drug-drug interaction from 2 anti depressants, at age 49. Dead.Now I question the g-i bleeding, damn it all to hell! that shit killed her.

Hemorraghe is listed as one of the adverse reactions to Prozac since it was first marketed.

In about 1997 or 1998, Eli Lilly had a 800 number for people on Prozac to call if they had questions. I called and asked them "where" the hemorraghing was occurring as the insert that came with the Prozac was unclear about this.

I was transferred from person to person -probably about 4 times - until someone at Lilly said it was from the "gums".

This 800 number idea of Lilly's was discontinued after several months.

Anway, when the Website "Prozac Survivor" obtained the adverse reaction report through the Freedom of Information Act - this was published on his Website. It was here in about 1999 that I first read the adverse reaction report for Prozac. The report is from 1988 through 1995. There were 381 reports of "hemorraghe" of which 66 of these were for the gastrointestinal tract. There was a count of 14 for hemorraghe of the gums.

Here is the address for this report:

http://www2.netdoor.com/~bill/prosurv/fda95adr.html

www.SSRIstories.com has quite a few Deaths reported from hemorraging. Go to the index and click on "What" to view these.

It makes me sick that the side effect of internal bleeding has been known since 1988 if only the doctors would read the blasted insert or look in their PDRs.

The back tasting of blood, feeling like something was curdling ( I recognized the sensation from swallowing some from blood play in S&M and from having tilt my head back with a nose bleed) in my stomach and vomiting from non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was enough to me strongly suicidal.

Making the GI problems worse while its a side effect the doctors deny will push people more to the edge than away. The more this information comes out, the more we see how horrible the conditions are for people who live in chronic pain. No wonder so many try suicide. Add horrible Anti-depressant drugs that can increase the risk of suicide both mentally and by physically and you got a pharma recipe for disaster.

To me it is so preposterous and outrageous that 20 years after a dangerous side effect was first recognized and even put on the label and in the PDR (thank you, Rosie), an article is now published as if it is news!! Just what in heavens' name is the body count I'd like to know? It must number in the thousands and thousands.

So that explains why my insides felt like burning hot coal coming out of my ass every time I had a bowel movement on this Shit and also why I had nose bleeds in withdrawal, and not to mention the stinging anus I had from months of defecating in Withdrawal hell?... (sorry for the grotesque description guys, believe me that was tame)

The body count from Paxil is Well into the thousands, if not tens of thousands..
The survivors of this drug still suffer unimaginable horror...
I myself still struggle with balance problems amongst other things..
A good friend of mine was prescribed Seroxat for almost 14 years!!!
He has NO quality of life, and I mean zilch, zero, nada, nothing..
Paxil made him impotent, he lost his hair, he was no capacity to experience pleasure anymore, No, short term memory,his muscles are so contracted from Akathisia that he can't sit at a computer. He lost his livelihood and quality of life. The damage it did to him and indirectly to his wife is beyond my level of comprehension. It is an absolute disgrace what was suppressed about the dangers of this disgusting drug and I sincerely hope that Karma exists because there has been no justice for any of the victims of this grave atrocity...

I just have to say this makes me irate. I've already made one comment, but fucking hell, my friend who was truly my sister is dead from this shit and we talked about her G-I bleed before she died. No one knew what is was from. Then when she died "in her sleep" at age 49 we find out it was 2 anti depressants listed as a drug-drug reaction.

Now I know what happened!

She was the mother of 3 children!!!!

God help us.

It's not just the internal bleeding you have to worry about. Some psych meds can give you a period that goes on and on - just like the woman with the dischage of blood in the New Testament stories.

I lost my favorite Aunt last August 1 from a GI bleed from Coumadin. It devistated the entire family, she was in great health and I understand her death was quite horrible to those who saw it. My mother cannot even talk about it without crying, she had to help clean up the blood from the floor and the walls.

No one should have to die like that.