Furious Seasons

July 28, 2009

Australian Mom Ripped Apart By Zoloft

An Australian woman named Rebekah Beddoe became pregnant, delivered a child, began suffering from post partum depression, went to a doctor who put her on Lustral (Zoloft) and she started experiencing anxiety and panic attacks. It gets more fun from there:

"There followed a meeting with my psychiatrist. He assured me that depression and anxiety very often went hand in hand. My dosage of Lustral was increased and, by now, Valium was being thrown into the mix. What I know now (and didn't realise then) was that many of the side-effects of anti-depressants are the same as the symptoms of depression.
"I have strange recollections of the period that followed. I blocked out a lot of what happened, and only really found out the full extent of what went on later when I had the chance to refer to my medical records. I was referred to Ashgrove Private Hospital, which deals with those suffering from extreme cases of post-natal depression. My condition worsened, and I was placed on stronger drugs, which included the tranquilising drug Xanax. I considered self-harm, and became a suicide risk. I was transferred to Fernview, a major psychiatric hospital close to my home in Melbourne, and before long I became incapable of making rational decisions. I was even given electro-shock therapy. I ended up on a complicated cocktail of drugs including Prozac, Xanax, Zyprexa (which is used to treat schizophrenia), Dutonin (another anti-depressant) and sleeping pills. I was later put on Lithium, and several tranquilisers."

She eventually had to take matters into her own hands and withdrew herself from her meds and is fine today--a cautionary tale for proponents of anti-depressants for post partum depression.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at July 28, 2009 12:03 AM

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Comments

Sadly, this very valuable case will not get written up as a case study of improper treatment, and so will never be shared with the psychiatric community and medical community.

Posted by: medsvstherapy at July 28, 2009 05:37 AM

That is just plain sad. Really really sad that this poor woman had to go through all that. Makes you truly wonder. *sighs*

Posted by: Deb at July 28, 2009 08:57 AM

Re: "...a cautionary tale for proponents of anti-depressants for post partum depression."

Actually it's a cautionary tale for proponents of psychiatry...

Posted by: SteveM at July 28, 2009 09:55 AM

I write about Zoloft and my then 13 year old, in this article about the mother who recently killed her baby who allegedly was on psych meds and had a SZ psychosis DX.

http://bipolarsoupkitchen-stephany.blogspot.com/2009/07/drugging-of-mothers-woman-kills-infant.html

Another reason to scrutinize mandatory screening of mothers (the Mothers Act)

Posted by: Stephany at July 28, 2009 10:48 AM

Yes,
a cautionary tale for proponents of psychiatry...

and also for medicine as a whole.

This woman was lucky to find her way out before more harm was done.
Some don't and and have their health and lives destroyed.
Still more and more people are being put on these drugs.
My patience with psychiatrists that keep on pretending nothing is happening is over.
Psychiatrists are to blame.
I'm not anti-psychiatrist but give me a break!
Enough is enough.

Posted by: Ana at July 28, 2009 11:44 AM

News is out today that the soldier in Baghdad who killed five other soldiers at the psychiatric clinic was on medication for depression.

Also, news that the mother in Texas who dismembered her 3 week old infant was on medication for postpartum depression.

There are now 3,218 cases on SSRI Stories. Are these enough tragedies to compare to a "clinical trial" for SSRI & SNRI antidepressants or as Dr. Joel Kaufman said in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons: Volume 14: number 1: Spring 2009, in regard to www.SSRIstories.com "Since no clinical trial involving multiple homicides is ever likely to be run, no firmer evidence is likely to be found. Healy noted that much of the evidence for suicide and murder came from the efforts of journalists and lawyers".

To read the full article go to:

http://www.jpands.org/vol14no1/kauffman.pdf

Posted by: Rosie at July 28, 2009 12:14 PM

I read the worst mother-baby news story this morning.
The question is , did the medication make her mind worse?
By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO – The father of a newborn baby who authorities say was mutilated, killed and cannibalized by his mother said Tuesday he wants to see her executed. Scott W. Buchholz told The Associated Press that Otty Sanchez, the mother of 3 1/2-week-old Scotty Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez, seemed fine in the days before the killing, even though they argued.

However, he said she told him she had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and was going to be admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Officers called to Sanchez's house at about 5 a.m. Sunday found her sitting on the couch screaming "I killed my baby! I killed my baby!" San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.

McManus described the crime scene as so grisly that police officers barely spoke to each other while looking through the house.

Posted by: mark p.s.2 at July 28, 2009 02:38 PM