Friday, October 15, 2004

FDA Orders Barn Locked. Many Horses Already Dead

The FDA has ordered that antidepressant medications must carry a warning label stating that patients taking them may be prone to suicide. Gee, you'd think someone was prescribing antidepressants for people who were depressed! What a concept! It took them 20+ years to figure out that depressed people might use the drugs at hand to attempt suicide?

Where the hell was the FDA when tricyclic antidepressants were introduced in the 1980's? Doctors were handing them out by the bucket-full, leading to many patients overdosing, which in turn led to the patients simultaneously seizing and going into cardiac arrest. A really fun scenario for paramedics in the field, as I can attest. No joy in the ER either, as initially no one knew how to treat this kind of OD! CPR and standard Advanced Cardiac Life Support didn't work.

Now they want a warning label. Like this is going to affect how doctors and pharmacists view these drugs?

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