Are Antidepressants, bone drugs & statins causing heart failure?

[Sassy]

ARE ANTIDEPRESSANTS, BONE DRUGS, AND STATINS CAUSING HEART FAILURE?

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron174.htm

You might want to read this & check out the links...  pretty scary stuff - most of the patients I take care of are on a least one of these meds.  Plus they're on 5-20 additional medications!  The docs don't have time to do all the research, they just go by recommendations.  So it is up to each one of us to do the research - if we're gonna put it in our bodies, better see what's in it...

[pagan]

I've worked in the psychiatric field for a few years and have seen the myriad medical problems associated with antidepressants and antipsychotic medications. Obesity, diabetes, organ failure and pancreatitis just to name a few. But what's the alternative?

Is it better to have a person function at some level of lucidity and most likely die within ten to twenty years, or is it better for them to live a long life in complete psychosis?

[glenn kangiser]

It looks like I will live a long time, but remain psychotic during the remaining period of my being....

[fraggin]

I have always been wary of any SSRI drugs as they are all currently sythesized and utilized based on a theory. It's impossible to see neurological components at work real time, so much of the data associated with the regulation of dopamines has to be based on what doctors theorize. Take that into consideration with the fact that the chemical function of each person's brain is as unique as their personality, and it quickly becomes evident why a psychiatrist will want to "try" this drug first, Add this one later, Increase the dosage 6 months from now, and add this drug to counteract this symptom.
A friend of mine was dealing with a mundane life, thought he had depression, and went to a psychiatrist. The psych put him on 10mg Lexapro. 3 days later he couldn't sleep, the doc told him to take diphenhydramine, that made him hallucinate, so the doctor prescribed him Trazadone to sleep. Then he could no longer achieve ejaculation, so the doc gave him viagra. After a few months, he got tired of taking a pill to be happy, taking a pill to go to sleep, taking a pill to wake up, and taking a pill to have sex and just went back to being an grouchy old fart.

[pagan]

I've seen that once the dosage is correct the change in behavior, i.e. hearing voices and hallucinations, is amazing. Unfortunately they will begin building an immunity so as time goes on the dosage will need to be increased. In some cases the person then develops an allergy to the medication.

[Sassy]

There's a time & a place for medication...  but big pharm is coming out with so many new psych drugs that they really haven't been tested properly, in my opinion.  I see the same patients come in over & over for psych issues - they are on 2-5 psych meds...  With all the possible side effects, that can't be good.  I really don't see any improvement in a lot of them.  But they are suffering from the side effects.  

Yes, psychotic people need meds to help them (basically blunt them).  My oldest son has Tourettes & also was very hyperactive & impulsive when he was growing up - couldn't stay in nursery school at church or Sunday school, was kicked out of kindergarten as being too active - saw a neurologist & psychologist - son was placed on ritalin - within a couple weeks he was barking every few seconds & just as wild as ever.  Took him off that right away.  He ended up on Haldol (horrible side effects - if I'd know how bad, I'd never have had him on it) sure, it blunted him enough so he could sit still for a bit in the classroom, but he was sleepy, gained weight, ended up getting tardive diskenisia (sp) - Parkinson like symptoms - took him off that right away.  He was on a lot of other meds for short periods of time - all they did was dull him so he'd be more acceptable in society.  I was a single mom, going to school & working fulltime - didn't know all this stuff.  The home schooling movement hadn't really started yet, so you do what ya gotta do.  BTW, he's pretty much grown out of it.

Yes, I take medication - for low thyroid & arthritis - can't hardly take the NSAIDS (ibuprofen, advil, naproxen) anymore - gives me stomach pain & I don't need an ulcer.  Have been taking raw, unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar daily & have noticed when I forget to take it for 2-3 days I start hurting all over again, also take tumeric (curcumin) & boswella - good for pain - turmeric is great for a lot of things (anti-oxident that fights tumors, alzheimers), CoQ10.  These all seem to help some - don't like taking a lot of medications but then there is the trade-off - if you can't climb stairs or walk up & down mountains, you are limping by the end of your 12-15hr shift & can't sleep due to pain - I'll take a couple advils or a tylenol PM (with benadryl) to sleep.  I took a Kenalog shot (steroid) about 3 months ago & felt like a new person - doesn't give the overt side effects of prednisone but decreases the inflammation in the body - within 3 days of the shot, I didn't hurt anymore.  You can only take one of those 3x's a year due to the side effects (I only take one every 10 mo), but yes, I'll trade length of life for quality of life.  Now, ask me about it in a few years when I'm suffering all the side effects from what I've taken now,  

I know CountryPlans people are smarter than the average   - but with all the commercials & advertisements about medications "curing" everything, people need to be aware that most medications just mask the symptoms & most of the time give you other symptoms.  Our society has become a legal drug taking society.

[pagan]

I think you're on target with big pharma, Sassy. They're in it for the money, they are, aster all, corporations and have only the financial interests of their shareholders in mind. Some of the patients I knew were on ten or twelve different medications. The reality is only one or two were actually for treating, actually covering, the psychiatric disorder while the rest were for treating side effects. One thing I did notice was how they were all over weight, some bordering on obese, and they all had hypertension and some level of high blood sugar. This ran from watching their daily sugar intake through diet up to three times daily insulin injections.

When I worked at an investment bank I worked on a job for experimental treatments for cancer. At first you think "wonderful" until you actually read the document. Pharmaceutical companies referred to cancer patients as "...a vast, underexploited group of willing human test subjects." The reasoning was that people are so fixated with gaining even one more day of life that they'd happily agree to take part testing new medications test treatment might kill them. I won't even tell you what they called grade school children.

There are plenty of herbal remedies out there and they've got to be better then the synthesized versions offered by big pharma.

[ScottA]

My ex had my kids doped up on meds for years. First thing I did when I got custody of them was to take them off the stuff. They did fine without it or atleast as well as they did on it. It made my son very aggressive. He was much easier to deal with after he got off the meds.

Last year I thought we where going to lose mom. She was really sick and hardly got out of bed. I got to talking to her and found out the doctors had her taking like 6 different meds. I convinced her to get off the stuff and today shes back to normal. I honestly belive the meds where killing her.

I take asprin and benadryl and thats about it. I never had much use for doctors who want to waste your time and take all your money for very little benifit. If you get an infection or something you might need antibiotics if it gets bad but beyond that I don't see the stuff helping much.

[glenn kangiser]

Our neighbor was on tons of meds- passed out driving once... they never could find out why.  His legs were swelling until he couldn't walk, couldn't work - couldn't do anything - finally he ran out of money for the meds and had to quit. 

All of his symptoms went away and he was fine after quitting the meds.