Comments: "American Idol" Contestant OD'd On Seroquel
I've said it before and I'm going to say it again:
This tragic story should not have happened, of course, and it's extremely sad.
Seroquel is a now a known street drug with market value; it's abused in prisons and elsewhere, it's snorted, it's a drug that needs to be considered a CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE.
Posted by Stephany at November 23, 2008 10:40 PM
This tragic story of Paula Goodspeed is not necessarily a case of suicide. Remember the 8 soldiers who died in their sleep - 7 on a combo of Paxil & Seroquel and 1 on a combo of Prozac & Seroquel. There must be some kind of interaction between an SSRI and Seroquel that causes sudden death. Paula Goodspeed was on a combo of Prozac and Seroquel.
If it was a suicide, it was probably exacerbated by the Prozac and accomplished by taking an overdose of Seroquel.
This last week-end there was a suicide on "cyber space". A 19 year old kid killed himself in front of a Webcam and his suicide was viewed by some on the Net. Newspapers in the U.S. made a big fuss about it and said he had overdosed on benzo's but a Canadian newspaper reported the drugs he was taking and, yep, there it was - an SSRI, Lexapro. The Lexapro increased his chances of committing suicide in such a bizarre way but the U.S. papers didn't seem to notice.
Here is this sad case as it appeared on www.SSRIstories.com with the mention of Lexapro.
http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=2985
Posted by Rosie at November 24, 2008 06:43 AM
all the veterans who have died in their sleep were on Seroquel too.
Posted by Gianna at November 24, 2008 07:05 AM
If Judith Warner can call Risperdal a "whopper," I can certainly call Seroquel what it is: a horse tranquilizer.
I am not a small man. And one tiny tablet of Seroquel puts me in a drugged (as in street drugs) state. So, sadly, it shocks that there haven't been MORE suicides with Seroquel implicated. (Probably there are but they haven't been reported.)
Posted by Larry at November 24, 2008 09:09 AM
An SSRI and Lexapro together make a double whammy as Lexapro can causes major league suicidality and we all know about the SSRIs. What happened to the FDA's consideration of putting warnings on all the anticonvulsants for suicide? Probably another Pharma bribe.
Posted by sorrowful at November 24, 2008 09:20 AM
Singulair (asthma & allergy medicine) now has warnings of suicidal thinking and behavior on its label. Watch the videos at this link; http://www.medications.com/se/singulair
One child said he wanted to kill his siblings, one said he wanted to die. Both did a 180 turnaround once off the drug.
Another committed suicide.
What really sickens me is the "experts" in these news stories stating; "it is still perfectly safe and effective" I don't get it. It's like doctors stare right through you. They're not phased by anything they hear from actual people.
But I guess I needn't worry; The FDA has LAUNCHED an INVESTIGATION. HA!
Posted by Becky at November 24, 2008 04:07 PM
Seroquel knocked me out for 14 hours after a dose I couldn't drive or think. I went off of it and had the worst withdrawals (vomiting, shakes, all of it just like a benzo withdrawal and Prozac, but removing Seroquel was absolute hell for me).I wrote an entire series as it unfolded on my blog, I will never use that drug again for any reason.
Posted by Stephany at November 26, 2008 02:51 AM
I remember being sent home from my new shrink's with a shopping bag full of Seroquel samples, about 3 or 4 days after I had left the state hospital, where I'd checked myself in for severe depression.
I spent an hour popping all the pills out of their blister packs and fantasizing about what it'd feel like to fill my mouth with them.
my shrink had told me it was impossible to overdose on it and that's why it was safe for me to have two month's worth in my house.
glad my cat talked me out of it.
Posted by sue at November 28, 2008 11:14 AM
First of all...those Vets that died...if you look up the most recent article...those Vets were on other drugs as well...not to mention they took tOO MUCH of the Seroquel, some of them had alcohol with it, people need to SEARCH the facts before they post things like "those Vets died while on Seroquel"....
It puts people into a panic. I should know, I saw that a few weeks ago and freaked the hell out. Now, after reading the actual article about those Vets...I realized that THEY actually caused the problems themselves. Seroquel (as well as ANY drug) is safe as long as you take AS PRESCRIBED and nothing more.
Common sense people...that's what we all need to use a little more of....COMMON SENSE...
Philip Dawdy notes: perhaps docs should not have been giving them so many drugs at once eh? perhaps astrazeneca should be warning people about drinking on seroquel. that would be common sense too
Posted by Chelbie at December 26, 2008 06:35 PM
Seroquel has worked for me for years. I take 450mg each night and 20 mg of prozac each morning and then klonapin as needed.
I am mixed mania bipolar and have suffered all of my life. I am very educated with 3 college degrees and yet for years I was unable to just get through the day.
I did use lithium for a while and it cured my "brain" but the physical side effects of nausea and passing out were horrible so I went back to the seroquel. When I am having a very manic day I will take 100 mg of seroquel in the morning to slow down the mania.
Posted by iris at March 8, 2009 11:28 AM
The vets that died were taking "prescribed amounts of the drug...read the autposy reports for two of the men on the VA IOG website that did an investigation....the investigation came back as inconclusive...not anything else.
The other medications they were taking were "legal" prescibed and over the counter pain medications that may have contributed to their deaths, but no warning was ever given by the VA as to taking any other medications with Seroquel....my husband was on the same crappy drugs as those men and served with one in Iraq and the only difference is someone stepped in and began questioning his care and medications and he lived....
So if the maximum dosage you can take for off label use is over 500mg according to your doctor..you better start questioning their thinking is all I can say...be a smart consumer and always ask questions and speak to a good phramacist before mixing with even over the counter medications....
Posted by Iraq Vet and family at March 17, 2009 09:29 AM