Paxil Interferes With Breast Cancer Drug

This alarming bit of news hit yesterday:

"Women who took GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil while taking tamoxifen at the same time were more likely to die of their breast cancer, the researchers found. The longer the overlap between Paxil and tamoxifen, the more likely the patients were to die, they reported in the British Medical Journal.

"It is likely because Paxil, sold generically as paroxetine, interferes with the compound the body uses to process tamoxifen, the researchers said."

A separate study last year reached a similar conclusion about SSRIs as a class.

At this point, you've got to wonder if there's nothing Paxil cannot do. It increases suicidality, is linked to some birth defects, has all kinds of dependence and withdrawal problems and even damages male sperm. Awesome little pill, Glaxo.

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One Thing Conservatives Are Right About

I apologize for being silent for a couple of days on here, but I've been working 12 to 14 hour days--weekends included--since early January and my brain has turned to mush. Why so much work? Let's just say that over the last few weeks I've developed a rich appreciation for something conservatives and small business groups have told me during my reporting career: "There's too much red tape and bureaucratic nonsense involved in starting and running small businesses. It's an economic disincentive."

I'd thought for years that they were overstating the case for political reasons. I don't think that way anymore. There is far too much red tape and far too many hoops to jump through in starting a small organization of any kind--even one like Sensible Washington, which as a PAC is exempt from many reporting requirements--for many people to give it a go. Government red tape, bank red tape, etc., etc., and on and on it goes. It becomes mind numbing after a while.

I hope some time this weekend to pen a few posts, but for now my body and mind are screaming for rest. And less red tape.

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What's The Point Of Articles Like This?

There's an OK-ish piece in the New York Times today, penned by a psych nurse in Portland, Ore. It concerns a young woman admitted to a psych unit in that city--without name and history--and the nurse writing about her progress and such. The article really doesn't go anywhere although it does make the adroit observation that there are few "ah ha" moments in psychiatry (Breaking news!) and it's one of those pieces that I scratch my head about and wonder why it was appealing to an editor.

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Lilly Settles Mississippi Zyprexa Claims For $18.5 Million

News is out that Eli Lilly has settled yet another lawsuit with yet another state over claims that the company illegally marketed its antipsychotic Zyprexa for unapproved uses. This time out it's $18.5 million to the State of Mississippi. That brings Lilly's total settlements to date to around $2.8 billion and there's still more to go.

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The Awful Way We Treat Our Elderly

The Seattle Times today has part two of a big old investigative series on adult family homes in Washington State and the paper's findings are horrifying. I won't even try to summarize them because it is all sickening and makes me question some peoples' inherent humanity. So if your stomach is strong, the series home is right here.

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Study: SSRIs Complicate Breast Feeding

As if there hasn't been enough bad news around anti-depressants and pregnancy of late--formerly assumed to be safe, now linked to preterm births!--there is news of a new study showing that SSRIs can cause delayed lactation. I think I'll just let that stand for itself without comment.

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DSM-5 To Dub Obesity A Mental Illness?

In a fascinating piece in the Boston Globe, which echoes one of my regular themes about weight gain problems with psych meds, Harvard psychologist Paula Caplan delivers some shocking news about the forthcoming DSM-5:

"Another disturbing link could be on the way. The fifth edition of the major psychiatric diagnostic manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), is expected to be released in 2013. One proposal under consideration: listing obesity as a mental illness. That would be a mistake, since obesity can be caused by metabolic and other physical problems that are often undiagnosed. And because obesity can also result from psychiatric drugs, calling it a mental illness would create a vicious cycle: Someone is troubled, put them on drugs, they become obese, therefore diagnose them as mentally ill, give them more drugs."

Every so often I just have to say it: psychiatry has absolutely lost its mind.

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AstraZeneca Exec Was Pressed To Lie About Seroquel Weight Gain

Well, this ought to be fun for AstraZeneca to explain in court. The BBC is reporting that a former UK AZ executive was pressed by AZ marketing execs to lie about weight gain issues with Seroquel in the late-1990s.

"John Blenkinsop, the company's former UK medical manager, claimed he was pressurised by the company's marketing arm to approve claims about the drug which he felt did not reflect the medical evidence.

"'The clinical studies at the time of the launch of Seroquel showed patients developed significant weight gain, significant both statistically and clinically,' he told the BBC's File on 4.

"'They [the marketing team] came at me with a number of potential claims all of which were trying to intimate that Seroquel was not associated with weight gain - the data pointed in the opposite direction,' added Mr Blenkinsop who was speaking publicly for the first time since he left the company in 2000.

"He said: 'I understood where they were coming from. I had some robust discussions and exposed them to the data but that didn't seem to stop them because they were desperate for a differential advantage over one of the competitor products and they didn't have one.

"'In the end I was put under quite a significant amount of pressure by the marketeers to sign off claims with regards to the lack of weight gain and I was unwilling to sign that off. The marketeers made it clear it could be career limiting for me," Mr Blenkinsop added.'"

Of course, this weight gain would have absolutely nothing to do with diabetes associated with the use of the drug, so there's no need for the public to know.

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Doctor Diagnosed 2-Year-Old With Bipolar For Seeing Monsters, Ghosts

Some interesting news from this morning's session of the murder trial of Rebecca Riley's mother back in Massachusetts. The testimony is from child psychiatrist Kayoko Kifiju and concerns Rebecca's older sibling, Kaitlynne.

"At the time, Kaitlynne Riley was 2 years old, and Carolyn Riley had turned to doctors because the girl was being aggressive toward her older brother, Kifuji testified.

"The psychiatrist said she met with the little girl for an hour, during which the girl talked about seeing 'monsters' and 'ghosts'--but did not display any sign of excessive aggressive behavior. Yet, Kifuji testified, she diagnosed Kaitlynne Riley as having bipolar disorder and prescribed Depakote for treatment.

"'I made a diagnosis of bipolar disorder on Kaitllynne Riley based on information I got and I put her on medication,' Kufiji testified.

"Asked by Middleton whether she saw any sign that the 2-year-old was unduly aggressive, the doctor replied, 'no.'"

Evidence-based medicine at work. Sarcasm aside, who diagnoses a kid so young who is not displaying outward signs of dysfunction based upon a one-hour appointment? If a 2-year-old seeing monsters and ghosts--meaning having an active imagination--is enough to get a kiddo diagnosed and medicated then we are in deep trouble as a society.

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Study Finds Preterm Births Linked To SSRI Use

A new study out in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology adds more fuel to the controversy around pregnancy and anti-depressants. In it, researchers report that among 3,000 pregnant women in Washington State those who took an SSRI anti-depressants during the second or third trimester had an almost five times higher risk of delivering a preterm baby. The study also found a higher risk among women taking benzodiazepines.

The new study joins other recent studies casting doubt on doctors' longstanding claim that anti-depressants aren't linked to birth complications and it sure makes you wonder how post-partum depression can be properly addressed without putting babies at risk.

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