Psych meds drove my son crazy

Salon.com ^ | May 18, 2007 | Ann Bauer

[Politicalmom]

I have friend whose bi-polar son is on Abilify and it has been a life saver.

My bi-polar son is on something less powerful, which we hope will continue to control his problem.

[cva66snipe]

I feel much of the responsibility of patient care is not taken on adequately by their doctors. But what is the solution?

I fired 5 of my own shrinks for insisting I go the antidepressant route. Even Buspar made me sick. I am diagnosed for disability purposes with General Anxiety Disorder. However I am non phobic and do not panic like many do. I become agitated instead to certain audio and visual situations.

I found a second hand book after about my second year into it called Phobia Free by Harold Levinson MD. The more I read it the more I saw my symptoms and came to realize that my childhood sinus allergies had wrecked my sensory processing system including my Inner Ear. As a result I have what is called Myloclonic Seizures from offending sounds and certain visual stimulation. I have severe upper torso spasms when it hits lasting a few seconds duration and as many as a dozen in a few minutes time. SSRI's only overloaded my already overtaxed damaged processing system resulting in more anxiety.

I found a doctor who had seen it and he put me on a low maintenance dosage of Xanax four times a day. It dulls the sensory impulses somewhat and helps control the seizure activity as well. I've taken it safely for 13 years. Sometimes you have to put your foot down with doctors. SSRI's and most antidepressants should be given to persons with neurological disorders very carefully if at all. Usually the neurological disorder is the actual underlying cause of the presumed mental disorder.

[smith288]

Perhaps.

Personally, I wouldn’t take ANY of them.

If I get “depressed” I talk to God, my spouse or someone that I know cares about me. I have yet to meet anyone that really needed this crap. The ugly truth is, drum roll, something is troubling their soul. A pill is just a bandage. It’s artificial “relief” that causes chemical changes in your brain that are NOT good.

Is the brain not a human organ just as capable to be inflicted with a disorder that can not be prayed away? My dad has diabetes, is an infliction, should he simply pray it away? Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that the brain is a complex organ just as capable to possess a disorder as any other organ.

If you have asthma, would you not use an inhaler? If you have a migraine, do you not take a pain reliever?

[dennisw]

I wouldnt be so quick to slam all anti-depressants. Some work better than others and its all dependant on a good idea of all side effects. The main thing is to educate yourself about all medications.

Great that it worked out for your wife. But I still maintain many of those DC politicos we see on TV are improperly medicated. Furthermore that some non psychological medications are distorting their thought process

[Scutter]

More specifically, an SSRI (such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac). Suicidal and homicidal “ideation” is a side-effect of these drugs, but is particularly pronounced in young men. Research has yet to explain why, it would seem that hormones are involved, as brain chemistry and hormone production obviously are inter-related (as is blood sugar).

These drugs work by (over time) raising the level of serotonin in the brain. One thing I remember reading when these drugs first came out, was that if you analyzed a group of apes, the dominant male would have an elevated level of serotonin in his brain.

I had two coworkers who went on this stuff when it first came out. BOTH of them had different personalities on it than off it. One of them strikingly so. I'm not talking about they were depressed and suddenly became undepressed; I'm talking about someone who seemed reasonably balanced before became very gregarious, outgoing, and in some cases took what I thought unwarranted risks.

[Strategerist]

We are learning the hard way through suicides

Suicide rates have been slowly declining since the early 1990s.

And, amazingly, enough, people were killing themselves before there were any psychiatric drugs at all.

[Victor]

'....I have a 10 year old daughter with brain damage......"

What was your daughter's original diagnosis?

[LaineyDee]

I understand your frustration and I’ve studied Seratonin Syndrome. I’m not defending the drug companies OR the incompetent Psych Dr’s. that prescribe at random. (there are plenty of them) I’m just saying that there are many people who have benefited from the meds when used carefully and selectively.

[Shion]

>>Often the diagnosis is not correct to begin with. Someone comes into the doctor “depressed” but really has bipolar, shizophrenia, or something else, which SSRI’s greatly make worse, such as triggering mania. Or they don’t have the type of depression that can be helped with SSRI’s to begin with.<<

Or they don’t have depression at all, which was my case.

What makes me absolutely frothing livid is that in my personal experience, from the age of 15-23, with treatment from multiple doctors at multiple facilities is that the answer was always medication.

- No suggestion of hormone or thyroid tests
- No examination of behavior patterns
- No suggestions for exercise or diet
- No comparison of drug interactions (when the combination of SSRI’s and birth control pills made me stark raving mad, the answer was yet anoter pill, not discontinuing one of the other two)

And worst of all:

- No thought to how damaging a frivolous diagnosis and prescription can be to someone’s life.

[Kimmers]

Just some info for you.

My friend had a son that was born brain injured. She took him through the program at The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential. He graduated with honors from HS and college and is doing very well.

The institute is not without its critics but they do have a website and Wikipedia has information on them as well.

I am a school nurse and I love my special needs kids. It is always exciting to see the changes they make throughout the year. Our school is blessed with some talented teachers and aids so our kids do really well. We also have parents very involved with their kids and that makes a huge difference. God Bless you and your family....

[M.K. Borders]

Thanks so much for this article.

I’m the father of an autistic son. He’s 12 now.

When in Kindergarten a teacher, who really just did not want to be bothered, was pushing medication. The school was contacting our GP and deciding this stuff between themselves.

At 1st the principle of the school would not support meds if we the parents were not comfortable with them.
But he retired and the new Principle was into all the “new” techniques.

End of story; we dropped the doctor, pulled our son out of school (home schooling).

[Jaidyn]

Absolutely! I also work with the mentally ill. They come to us a mess until we get their meds stabilized. Some return, but it’s because they don’t take their medicine, or do other drugs. Like you stated, these people could not survive without meds.

[cva66snipe]

I’m just saying that there are many people who have benefited from the meds when used carefully and selectively.

I agree with you on that. I know many who take SSRI's etc and it helps tham. But still the word needs to get out there are those of us out there who usually due to motor or sensory nuero impairments seem to be more at risk for this reaction.

My guess is because the neuro disorder is the primary illness and causes symptoms of secondary mental ones. Understanding the link goes miles in helping a person live with it :>} I found out when it comes to what I have the basic long held treatment beliefs go out the window as. For example I do avoid offending triggers as much as possible including TV except black and white. The strobing of color TV can trigger it in a high action movie etc. I also shop late at night in quiter conditions.

A good medical history work up even back to such things as tubes in the ears in childhood should send up a caution flag using antidepressants of any class.

[Finalapproach29er]

Greetings from Minnesota.

My advice: When things get serious, go to MAYO!

They’re the best.

[AliVeritas]

IAHP? Are you in NY?

[Hot Tabasco]

The biggest problem is compliance by the patient ...once they get out. They feel alright and don’t think they need to take the meds... and subsequently spin out of control. Very sad.

That fits my childhood best friend's brother to a T. After Vietnam, then a degree from U of M, then a highly successful position as an executive recruiter, the schizophrenia set in...............

He lost his wife, his house, everything. After living on a beach throughout the one summer on into fall and the ensuing winter months, my friend was finally able to get the local judge to issue an order remanding him to the state hospital here in Michigan. This was almost 30 years ago.....

I also remember one time when he stopped taking his meds and showed up at my apartment here in Detroit (he lived 300 miles away in northern Michigan) . This was on a Friday and he said he had an appointment the next day with the French consulate in downtown Detroit..I immediately called his brother who also lived in S.E. Michigan and he came over that evening to help me deal with him.

I will never forget his eyes. It was like he was looking at me but they were completely blank, as if he were staring straight thru me at something across the street. His brother and I ordered pizza for us then Skip left early the next morning.........

My heart goes out to everyone who has to cope with a family member who is suffering from any sort of mental illness.......

[omnivore]

"This case involves a misdiagnosis of a rare condition."

That's probably it. Here's the description of Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome from National Library of Medicine (part of National Institutes of Health):

A potentially fatal syndrome associated primarily with the use of neuroleptic agents (see ANTIPSYCHOTIC AGENTS) which are in turn associated with dopaminergic receptor blockade (see RECEPTORS, DOPAMINE) in the BASAL GANGLIA and HYPOTHALAMUS, and sympathetic dysregulation. Clinical features include diffuse MUSCLE RIGIDITY; TREMOR; high FEVER; diaphoresis; labile blood pressure; cognitive dysfunction; and autonomic disturbances. Serum CPK level elevation and a leukocytosis may also be present. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1199; Psychiatr Serv 1998 Sep;49(9):1163-72)

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/mesh/2007/MB_cgi

(Capitals in original.)

Those are the symptoms that show up in regular people if they have this adverse reaction to these meds. Obviously if a person is already autistic and has an adverse reaction to these meds, the reaction will present different symptoms. But that's got to be way, way down in the fine print (if it's even known) of the contraindications they publish for the docs, since it's a rare reaction to a rare condition. It's entirely possible that this medication wasn't tested on very many (or possibly any) autistic people before it was released, if it's not labeled to treat autism.

This is obviously an example of a case that was poorly managed. But I don't think it should be used to indict the more commonly used psych meds in general. The indictment of the pharm companies basically bribing docs to push the latest stuff is probably warranted, that's a practice that is pretty ethically dubious.

Personally, other than antibiotics, I try to talk my docs, if I need a prescription, into giving me something that's been on the market long enough to be generic, on the theory that enough people have taken it so these kind of bugs are already worked out. (Antibiotics is a whole other topic, where some of the bacteria have adapted to the older meds, so other decision strategies are called for.)

[baltoga]

Very good article. Thank you.

[omnivore]

If that link doesn't work, try

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html

and put Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome in the search window.

[drlevy88]

Some head doctors get awfully snotty when a patient comes back insisting the medicine is making them feel worse.