DrugBuyers.Com: FDA plans new antidepressant warnings

True, antidepressant meds work differently on different people, it all basically boils down to how it works on that person's brain chemistry and the disorder that's being treated.

IMO, I just feel like some doctors stepped over the lines of ethics with how some of these drugs were being prescribed. It shouldn't be a situation where they have the authority to scribble out a script and play the whole "let's wait and see how it works" game with their patients. You would think that they had to know on some level what the reprocussions of prescribing these meds could be without knowing how it would affect their patients would have occurred to them at some point.

Am I wrong for feeling like some of these doctors just didn't give a rat's behind about how some of these drugs would affect their patients? Sorry if I sound a little bit bitter here, but having gone through disturbing side effects from taking Paxil, Zoloft and Wellbutrin, I just really get heated about the subject in general. My doctor was about as compassionate as a piece of plywood as far as my case was concerned. All she gave a darn about was all the free lunches, concert tickets, club box seats for sporting events and all the free medications she was getting from the pharm companies to endorse and prescribe their products in exchange for all of these perks.

It sickens me to think that this could happen, but it does, and I have firstand knowledge of it because I have 3 sisters in the medical field, 2 of which work for a private practice, that have basically told me how the whole system operates. Doctors who operate like this should be stripped of their licenses, because they're obviously not thinking of their partients best interests, it's all about what's coming to them.

Well now it seems some lawsuits may be coming their way, which is only going to make the price of medications go up even more due to research funding (a double whammy if you factor in our tax dollars), malpractice suits against the doctors involved, and both private and class action lawsuits against the pharmaceutical companies, themselves. They need to understand that what works for some people is not going to work for everyone, any one with common sense would know that, especially a person who has an educational background in medicine should have at least a basic knowledge of what, why and how certain meds should be prescribed.

I'm not buying the BS that they had no idea that instances of violent or suicidal behavior could occur in some patients because that is the whole reason why they have to read medical journals and attend seminars about these products and what the outcomes were from patients participating in clinical trials. The FDA should have stricter policies on what medications are approved, and more importantly what conditions they should be approved for. Warnings of these side effects should be available from the word go, not after X amount of people either commit violent crimes, murder someone or commit suicide. It's just plain ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned.

Sorry for the rant, I'm not trying to flame you or anyone else, but there is something seriously wrong with how the system as it stands right now is operating. It just gets so aggravating to think of how many tragedies could have been prevented if some doctors weren't so quick to diagnose and medicate their patients without thoroughly investigating their cases instead of playing russian roulette with the dispensing of these drugs.

Eeyore

--------------------
~ R.I.P. Darrell Abbott 12/08/04