Yesterday the FDA Advisory committee approved the use of the anti psychotics Seroquel, Geodon and Zyprexa for use in kids from 10 years old to age 17
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From Furious Seasons and Philip Dawdy - Furious Seasons
What does blown my mind is that the members of the committee voted to approve drugs for a disorder--pediatric bipolar disorder--that doesn't exist in the DSM and has such a shaky evidence base that it remains a controversial diagnosis within psychiatry. What's more, pediatric bipolar disorder is a diagnosis largely ginned up and slapped together by researchers at Harvard (and elsewhere) who've literally been on the payroll of pharma for years, by the pharma companies themselves and then by the FDA itself. And now the committee's recommendation is going to be decided upon by the FDA's director of psychiatry products, Thomas Laughren, who several years ago helped researchers and pharma companies design the very clinical trials for the alleged disorder. Yes, my mind is blown.
What also shakes me up is that for this committee hearing a whole collection of mental health advocacy groups submitted a joint statement of support for the drugs. NAMI, Mental Health America (the old NMHA), the APA, the American Society for Suicide Prevention and so on issued such a statement for a drug's potential approval (all of these groups get millions a year from pharma companies).
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How these groups listed above can call themselves patient advocates or interested in the health of adults and children is beyond comprehension. They all take huge amounts of money from Giant Pharmaceutical Corporations that do little or nothing except push their drugs and make profits. None of them act with ethical or moral responsibility. That is why so many are convicted criminals and spend billions in court cost defending their poison pills.
Side effects of A Typical Anti Psychotics in Children and Adults -
A-Typical Anti-Psychotic drugs can cause serious problems such as:
- Death
- Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS), a life-threatening nervous system problem, which can cause high fever, stiff muscles, sweating, fast or irregular heart beat, change in blood pressure, and confusion. NMS can also affect your kidneys and is a medical emergency.
- Tardive Dyskinesia (TD), a permanent involuntary movement disorder.
- High blood sugar and diabetes.
- Brain tissue loss/mass/death {maybe as much as 1% per year}
- increased risk of heart attack and stroke
- low blood pressure
- increased heart beat
- cataracts
- seizures
- low thyroid
- elevated cholesterol or triglycerides
- liver problems
- persistent erection
- increase or decrease in body temperature
- difficulty swallowing
- massive weight gain
- headache
- agitation
- dry mouth
- constipation
- pain
- vomiting
- upset stomach
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http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/06/10/fda-panel-oks-more-antipsychotics-for-children/
The use of antipsychotics in children and teens doubled from 2001 to 2008, according a report on drug spending by its clients released earlier this year by pharmacy-benefits manager Medco. In children 9 years and younger, nearly three in a 1,000 were taking antipsychotics. In the 10-19 age range, the prevalence was 10.66 per 1,000 children.
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