Comments: CBS News Goes After Risperdal Causing Boys To Grow Breasts
I don't know what to say... it is so mind blowing. Not CBS reporting on the story, but the story itself. Is there hard numbers of percentage of boys affected? and when you do the math what number does it come to?
What was the old saying "Spare the rod and spoil the child"
and todays (invisible) rod grows breasts.
Posted by mark p.s.2 at May 26, 2009 11:02 AM
I believe the boy thinking he is a girl is actually a separate issue from the Risperdal induced breast growth although it surely wouldn't help the mind of a young boy who discovers he is growing breasts like a girl!
But Respirdal is one of the new atypical antipsychotics and they are also half SSRI. At SSRI Stories [www.SSRIstories.com] there are close to 3,100 tragic cases and some of these include people who, due to serotonin toxicity, have abnormal thinking [that, by the way, is listed as an adverse reactions to SSRIs in the PDR] and believe strange thoughts about their body and, sometimes, the bodies of others.
SSRI Stories also received several urgent emails from the Netherlands today in regard to a murder-suicide with 5 people dead that took place yesterday. Here is the case [in part] as it appears on SSRI Stories.
http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=3372
Translation from Dutch into English:
Last sentence of paragraph four reads [from suicide note]: " Heavily on medication and have no emotions at all, fluoxetine, [Prozac] does strange (crazy) things to people.
Last part of paragraph six reads [from suicide note]: "With me included five dead plus my dog. Nobody of you ever was in danger please know that, i took everyone who was dear to me. in vain tried to get a pistol so now i've done it with a knife, so totally emotionless. Take in a minute all my medication i have, put the barbecue in the bathroom with charcoal and cut my wrists open. I must absolutely die and this way i also die of charcoal toxication."
http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/111466/-%5BUpd%5D-Mogelijk-familiedrama-in-Zwijndrecht.html
In a house in the Lower Courts Boshuizen district in Zwijndrecht have found four people dead this morning. The police dare not yet say if it is a family drama is. There is still unclear who the victims and or their children. Further information is still lacking.
Update 20.56 pm
These are the bodies of two adults and two children. Dozens of investigators working on the case. The police suspect that a family drama is. Also, there is a connection with the discovery of a deceased woman in Bavel.
Posted by Rosie at May 26, 2009 12:14 PM
My breast got a little more bigger. I'm not sure if it was Seroquel or Effexor but it was one of these too.
It's fine! LOL They are still considered small. Wow! They were not tiny! Come on.
I'm far from being like Pamela Anderson.
I'm just saying it because if it affected me in this little way I'm sure that these poor children who are developing...
It's amazing that even to show a evidence, if it's not an evidence I don't know what kind of evidence scientists are waiting, poor people are the ones who have to show the scars first.
I'll have to see it at CBS because I didn't hear the sound just the images.
Posted by Ana at May 26, 2009 12:40 PM
Great... Just great. My son is 6 years old and was very prone to violent outburst, including one incedent where he went after his first grade teacher with a pair of scissors saying that he was going to cut her head off. While my wife and I have tried to shield him from violence in movies, television, and video games, his biological mother uses violence to keep the kids in line and is fine with setting the kids down with Mortal Kombat as their babysitter during her weekends with the children. When he became suicidal after being brutally beaten by his mother over Valentine's Day weekend, we had to have him committed for a period of time. During his stay there, they tried him out on a number of drugs, at one point reaching as many as 5 different kinds of drugs a day . in the end, it was only Risperdal that proved effective. I was hell-bent against using drugs to cure his aggresive behavior, but it had reached a point where I felt helpless and knew if something wasn't done then he would do something that would follow him the rest of his life. On Risperdal he has made a complete 180. In fact, he's now the teacher's star pupil and we're constantly getting compliments on his behavior. I loved Risperdal because it not only controlled his behavior, but didn't compromise his personality to do so...
Any suggestions on what could have the same level of effectiveness without such potential emotional scarring side effects?
Posted by Jack at May 26, 2009 03:14 PM
I took 0.25 mg briefly (until I realized it was an antipsychotic) for SSRI induced insomnia. The weird thing is it regulated my periods. I mentioned it to my physician at the time and all I got was the usual blank stare. If I were a guy, I'm not sure I would want to take a drug that causes breast growth and can regulate a woman's period.
I suppose someone will be along shortly to scream how we must be a bunch of antipsychiatry scientologists attempting to deprive men of their right to grow breasts. Oh, well.
Posted by Lisa at May 26, 2009 05:19 PM
Jack, it sounds to me like you need to keep this kid away from his biological mother and then deal with his grief, sorrow and anger at having a mother do that to him. This is harder than giving him Risperdal of course but this is what this kid's behavior is about, not about some "chemical imbalance." This kid is traumatized by what has happened to his family and how his mother treats him. My heart breaks that the medical professionals and institutions pushed him and you down this path and gave drugs to control his trauma and stress. It's a solution that will bite back big time down the line. You are setting this kid up for a life of permanent disability if you don't deal with the trauma he has been dealing with and deal with it without medication. This kid needs love, support and empathy not a chemical straitjacket.
Posted by Sara at May 26, 2009 05:36 PM
"Any suggestions on what could have the same level of effectiveness without such potential emotional scarring side effects?"
Perhaps his mother could try not beating him but loving him and being nice to him instead.
Posted by Rosie at May 26, 2009 05:36 PM
They are now pushing these anti-psychotics for depression and anxiety too ...
It is simply disgusting what these pharmaceutical companies in collusion with psychiatry are doing to people...
Posted by truthman30 at May 26, 2009 05:58 PM
I was on Risperdal off label for anxiety when I was in middle school. It made my breasts bigger. I went from like a B cup to a D cup. That was seven years ago. Now I'm really skinny and my breasts got smaller again. Risperdal also stopped my periods. It did a lot of other awful side effects. I got so many horrible side effects from Risperdal. The psychiatrist kept saying to stay on Risperdal, kept saying give it a couple more months. Then we switched doctors. After staying on Risperdal for about eight months, I was taken off it finally. The doctor kept telling me to stay on it and wait months for the side effects to go away. I was having horrible side effects. I was a teen at the time, so I didn't know what medication I was on or what it did. The doctor bullied my mom into putting me on Risperdal, at the time my mom was cautious about putting me on an antipsychotic and the doctor was like "you're a bad parent if you don't let your daughter take this" Back then I did not need the Risperdal, in fact, I was fine then, but the doctor just pushed the Risperdal onto me when I did not need it then, saying it was a miracle pill. This doctor must have just felt like pushing Risperdal onto all their teen patients. I was also on a very low dose 0.25, but had more horrible side effects on that low dose of Risperdal than on any of the other psyche meds I'd been on combined, and I was put on a lot of psyche meds, all off label, during my teen years. Risperdal affects youir hormones a lot.
Posted by Princess at May 26, 2009 07:38 PM
This video plays automatically every time I come to this site. Could somebody please tell me how to turn it off?
Hit the pause button on it. either way it's cbs' doing not mine
Posted by Francesca Allan at May 27, 2009 10:26 PM
What kind of a moron would give a 7 year old an antipsychotic?
Posted by Francesca Allan at May 28, 2009 12:49 PM
As a physician, I have begun fielding calls from the families of autistic children wanting to stop Risperdal. Unfortunately, none of the antipsychotics are without risk, and often the choice is between violent outbursts and social isolation verses risk of side effects such as weight gain or gynecomastia. As with all medications, side effects should be weighed against benefit. It may be there isn't a better choice.
Gender-identity disorders are not caused by gynecomastia, which unfortunately also occurs "naturally". It may be easier for the family to blame a gender identity disorder on risperdal than to accept their son is transgendered.
Posted by ab-md at May 28, 2009 02:49 PM
Have to admit that video running all the time is a bit annoying. I turned the volume way down. I wonder if there's any other way to link to it so we don't have to deal with it running every time we open the site. Just asking.
Posted by Sara at May 28, 2009 03:15 PM
ab-md -- Just wondering how much you know about withdrawal and rebound. If a kid's violent outbursts worsen upon trying to stop Risperdal, it's probably the drug, not the kid. If a kid is having violent outbursts before being medicated then a lot of other things need to be investigated and dealt with without resorting to atypical antipsychotics. Getting off Risperdal really, really slowly and carefully is the only chance a kid has of not becoming more psychotic and violent. And they probably need lots of emotional and nutritional support at the same time to get them through the withdrawal. Please recognize it's not their "disease" coming back. It's a bloody awful withdrawal.
Posted by Sara at May 28, 2009 06:11 PM
RE ab-md"the choice is between violent outbursts"
Only A or B choices ?
What about "Antipsychotics for aggressive behaviour: no better than placebo for non-psychotic adults with learning difficulties"
Peter Tyrer
Question:
Do risperidone or haloperidol reduce aggressive challenging behaviour more than placebo in people with intellectual disability?
LINK
If the autistic child is an adult as in age of 18 years old and male, consider they may be feeling horny as in the need for sex, like any other physically healthy animal on the planet with reproductive organs.
Posted by mark p.s.2 at May 28, 2009 07:03 PM
"Often the choice is between violent outbursts and social isolation verses risk of side effects such as weight gain or gynecomastia."
Weight gain and gynecomastia don't lead to social isolation? Peers are brutal and causing children to gain a lot of weight and/or males develop breasts thereby making them the brunt of jokes is pretty cruel. But, it will keep the therapists in business, I guess. As long as we keep these kids quiet and well behaved...
Posted by Lisa at May 28, 2009 09:22 PM
Someone asked about the percentage....
In the clip, it said that out of 1,885 kids, 43 were affected with Gynecomastia.
Taking 43 kids affected and dividing it by 1885 kids both affected and not affected, then multiplying that by 100.... The results are 2.3 percent of kids would be affected....
I have 3 kids on this drug in varying strengths, but with at least one child not having many choices....
I will be talking to the kids doctors this week to relay my concerns.... Thank God we haven't had a problem yet, but I don't like the odds.... Our family alone, has an almost 7 percent chance that one of the 3 kids on this drug will have this particular problem.... That's to high a risk for me.... Good luck to anyone with children on this and here's hoping this news comes in time for something to be done before it gets really bad.... Not that right now, things aren't bad enough....
Posted by Nissa at May 30, 2009 12:21 PM
my daughter was put on risperdal at 9, for anxiety and aspergers. She gained 65 lbs and would just sleep constantly, she also got headaches. After about 9 months she was taken off the drug, now 4 years later she's in 7th grade and has 32DDD, and she is still tired and still gets headaches, prior to risperdal she was an energetic happy kid with panic attacks but now she is a depressed extremely tired kid with severe headaches and panic attacks. I believe risperdal broke something in her brain but I can't find anyone to help her. she takes provigil and still sleeps 15+ hours. What kind of doctor can she see to fix this? Does anyone else have irreversible side effects from risperdal?
Posted by Dawn at June 21, 2009 07:58 AM
Dawn, my daughter took Risperdal in 1999 at age 11, and ended up on another antipsychotic (I hope you know Risperdal is an antipsychotic)Zyprexa, among others. Now at age 21 she is disabled due to what I believe is her brain being damaged on these and other psych drugs.
I wish I had something positive to say here, re: finding a doctor who can fix it...all is left is the brain itself to possibly repair itself in my opinion, it can happen. (and may not happen)
Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone in this world, and what happened to your child never should have happened.
http://bipolarsoupkitchen-stephany.blogspot.com/
That link is to my blog if you need support, I am here for that.
Posted by Stephany at June 21, 2009 03:58 PM
Dawn,
I don't understand why a 9 years-old was put on Risperdal for panic attack!
I don't think that Risperdal is supposed to treat panic attack.
What kind of symptoms did your daughter had prior to Risperdal?
Hope she gets better.
Posted by Ana at June 22, 2009 05:03 AM