Posted by anonymous13 on November 19, 2003, at 20:36:51
Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, and Similar Drugs
Vital Information
The information presented here is factual, not theoretical. Where a theory is proposed, it is based on documented fact. All of this data comes from respected physicians and researchers who have chosen to inform the public of the truth about these drugs.
Recently, a man in Boston, Massachusetts got up from his desk, calmly walked into the Human Resources Department of his internet software company and shot seven people to death. Reports that he was on an antidepressant drug should not come as a surprise. Virtually every violent mass murder scene in recent years has been the result of individuals on Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, and drugs of the same particular
class. The school shooting in Littleton, Colorado involved Luvox. His wife murdered the comedian Phil Hartman after she was on Zoloft for just a few days. The Atlanta day trader who killed his family and others before killing himself was found with Prozac. There are a number of cases of parents, while on these drugs, killing their children and themselves in the most violent ways. Prozac alone has been involved in 2,500 deaths most by suicide or violence.1 That these things have happened is a fact. The behavior described may seem unreal. After you read what follows, you will understand exactly what these drugs do that causes such behavior.Important: a person wanting to get off of any of these drugs should taper off gradually with good nutrition and specific amino acids. Tapering off gradually can lessen the severity of the withdrawal symptoms that can last for weeks or months and may include overwhelming depression, insomnia, fatigue, violent outbursts and others.
BackgroundThe brain is by far the most complex organ of the body and its mechanisms and actions and their relation to behavior and thought are simply not known with certainty. According to Fred A. Baughman, Jr., MD, a highly respected neurologist and expert in the field, theories of chemical imbalances causing problems are and have always been just theories. Further, no actual chemical imbalance in a "mentally ill" person's brain has ever been proven to exist, nor has a normal chemical balance ever been identified.2 Talk of brain abnormalities causing mental illness is simply more theory that has never been scientifically proven. In fact, Dr. Baughman has carefully studied research that is reported as indicating that brain abnormalities cause mental illnesses like ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According to Dr, Baughman, these studies actually prove that psychiatric drugs cause brain abnormalities since the only individuals with the brain abnormalities are those who have been on the drugs. As amazing as this may sound, the concept that chemical imbalances and brain abnormalities cause mental illness has been talked about over the years to the point that it is just accepted as true. This concept has been promoted because it creates a huge market for companies and industries that claim to have a drug that supposedly fixes the imbalance or abnormality.3 The market for such drugs is in the billions of dollars.
Altering Brain Function
So, what is the danger? The danger is that these drugs have been proven to alter normal activities in the brain and can cause bizarre behavior and even permanent damage in what was, prior to the drugs, a normally functioning system. An easily observable example is tardive dyskinesia, an abnormality causing a person to have uncontrollable movements and spasms of muscles in the body or face. This is an abnormality particularly attributed to a class of psychiatric drugs called neuroleptics that include Haldol, Thorazine, and Mellaril. These uncontrollable twitches, spasms and writhing movements are usually permanent and irreversible.4 This condition has been proven to occur at the amazing rate of five percent per year for patients exposed to this particular class of drugs for 3 months or more. After 5 years of exposure, at least 25 percent of patients will be afflicted. Most long-term patients will eventually develop this malady.5
Those mental institution patients that you've seen in movies or documentaries with weird repetitive movements of body parts have this affliction. They did not have it before being put on the drugs at the institution. The very thing that makes them appears the most crazy was caused by the drugs! Considering the level of occurrence of tardive dyskinesia and the ease of observing it, surely measures would be taken to warn of the dangers of these drugs, right? These drugs started being given to patients in the 1950's and the FDA required no such warnings until 1985. Millions of people are now permanently afflicted with TD. It took the FDA 30 years to require a uniform warning for such an obvious, easily observable occurrence.6 What did the drug companies and doctors prescribing these drugs say about the weird, uncontrollable movements? They said it was just part of the patients' mental illnesses.7 In other words, crazy people act weirdly. Now, when a person on Prozac murders his friends and himself, they say that depressed people do these things. They are not telling the truth. There have been more adverse reaction reported on Prozac than any drug in history. There have been 2,500 deaths, most due to suicide or violence.8 Companies like Eli Lilly, which makes over 100 million dollars per month on Prozac, do not want you to know what follows.
How Prozac Affects the Brain
In a person's brain are substances that enable the transmission of nerve impulses from one nerve cell (neuron) to another. These substances are called neurotransmitters. One of the main neurotransmitters is called serotonin. These neurotransmitters are released from the end of one neuron and travel across the small space between neurons to special receptors of the other neuron. In this way, impulses are carried from one nerve to another in the brain as a part of normal function. This process is highly complex and not
fully understood involving billions of nerve cells. Prozac alters the normal functioning of this system. Prozac is in the class of drugs called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI). "Reuptake" is the process by which excess serotonin that has been released by one neuron is taken back into the neuron that released it.Prozac blocks that process of taking back the excess serotonin (reuptake inhibitor). This causes a higher level of serotonin to remain in the space between neurons. This causes an effect initially that is not unlike that of amphetamines and cocaine.9 The difference with cocaine and amphetamines is that they not only block the reuptake of serotonin, they also block the reuptake of a couple of other neurotransmitters.10 Also, street drugs leave the body fairly quickly but Prozac accumulates in the brain to as much as 100 times the levels found in the blood and can take weeks or longer to leave the system even after the drug is discontinued.11 All of the SSRI drugs can be expected to operate the same as Prozac. One further note is that hallucinatory drugs like LSD cause many of the same observable effects on serotonin as Prozac. This would account for what many users of Prozac describe as hallucinatory experiences.12
Permanent Alteration of Brain Function
Changes in natural systems often cause unexpected reactions. It was originally thought that wearing a back brace all the time would lessen the occurrence of back injuries in normal people in certain types of work. In fact, this practice caused a weakening of the muscles that normally support the back and resulted in injuries.
Likewise, increasing the level of serotonin as described has been shown in animal studies to be compensated for by a reduction of serotonin receptor sites (where the serotonin is received). These studies show that these receptor sites are lost permanently.13 This would indicate permanent brain damage.
According to Peter Breggin, MD, neither the FDA nor any of the drug companies are interested in studying this issue.14
Formerly Unexplainable BehaviorIn her book, Prozac: Panacea Pandora, author Ann Blake Tracy, PhD. has documented a vast number of cases of individuals on Prozac who have experienced violent thoughts and anger toward those around them unlike anything they had ever experienced before taking the drug. Some experts claim that this anger is related to the restless energy and anxiety created by the drug. Perhaps it is related to altered perceptions as many users have related LSD type experiences. Regardless, many users experience violent thoughts and anger toward those in their vicinity. This alone would account for some violence. But what about those violent acts that seem unexplainable and really beyond belief? The answer lies ahead.
It has long been known that sleep is important for health. Proper functioning of serotonin in the brain is important for good sleep. The deepest level of sleep is called REM sleep, which stands for Rapid Eye Motion (the eyes move rapidly in this state). While dreams can occur in other levels of sleep, nightmares usually only occur during REM sleep.15 According to research reported by Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D., Prozac and related drugs cause a drastic reduction in REM sleep and many individuals on Prozac start experiencing vivid nightmares. Depriving a person of enough REM sleep over time can cause the reaction of the person going into an REM sleep state while awake.16 But there is one other factor that is critical in understanding the whole picture. Normally, when asleep, the muscles are weak and more or less paralyzed. You may dream that you are running or moving, but your muscles are still. This is due to a built-in mechanism that causes a person's muscles to remain weak and still during sleep. A study in 1989 showed this paralysis of the muscles during sleep to be related to a particular neurotransmitter.17 This mechanism can apparently be bypassed by a person on drugs like Prozac and he can appear to be alert and awake but actually be in a deep sleep state.
Dr. Tracy documents a case of a person on Prozac who appeared awake and alert but whose brain waves indicated he was actually in deep sleep!18 Dr. Tracy has documented cases where people in this "sleep walk" state actually had more strength and agility than when awake.
Dr. Tracy has documented many cases of former users of Prozac who claim that while on the drug, everything seemed like a dream and unreal. Many users have done things that were completely out of character and have no recollection of them. Many former users liken finally getting off of the drug to waking up from a dream. What seemed to be unexplainable violent acts by individuals on Prozac are now easy to understand: 1) drug effects including altered perception cause the person to have violent thoughts and anger toward those around him, 2) he further has disrupted sleep and vivid nightmares, 3) at some point, the REM sleep deprivation forces him into an REM sleep state while awake, and 4) because of a bypass of the normal mechanism that causes the muscles to remain still during sleep, he unknowingly acts out the violence of his nightmare in a "sleep walk" state. If he does not kill himself (many of these mass murders include suicide) he will likely not even remember the incident.
The Drug Approval Process ls Flawed
The company seeking approval of a drug is responsible for carrying out the drug studies used for FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval. This same company, with hundreds of millions and possibly billions at stake, chooses the facilities and doctors employed to carry out these studies and even design and oversee the studies. Is there any question that the deck is loaded? According to Peter Breggin, MD, it doesn't matter how many studies fail as long as there are 2 that can be used to show that the drug is effective.19
According to Peter Breggin, MD, the studies used to get approval for Prozac were woefully inadequate and run poorly by individuals who had financial conflicts of interest. Not only were there numerous irregularities and a larger number of studies that failed rather than succeeded, but the final results had to be reworked several times in order to make them acceptable. In the final analysis, the studies used for FDA approval included a mere 286 individuals who were exposed to Prozac for a maximum of 6 weeks (even though the drug is often prescribed indefinitely).20
The FDA is supposed to protect the public. The individuals involved in the drug approval process are supposed to be objective and unbiased. However, according to a USA Today report on September 25, 2000, conflicts of interest are the norm rather than the exception regarding approval of drugs. In a two-and-a-half year period, more than half of the individuals involved in drug approval decisions had financial ties to the companies or the drugs being judged! In this time period, conflict of interest restrictions were waived more than 800 times. An "expert" can be a highly paid consultant to a drug company making hundreds of thousands of dollars from that relationship and be involved in regulatory decisions regarding that drug! The amount of money involved in current, ongoing conflicts of interest in the drug approval process cannot even be known by the public. In 1992, a decision was made to keep such records secret. Prozac was under discussion at that time.21
History Should Be Remembered
Time and time again, a new drug is promoted as being safe and effective. Users claim great things. Before long, terrible side effects and addiction or worse result. Finally, after a long list of casualties, it becomes a controlled substance and an illegal street drug.
Eli Lilly, the maker of Prozac, also produced Heroin, Methadone, and LSD.22 Heroin was supposed to be the safe alternative to Morphine. Later, Methadone was prescribed to get people off of Heroin, but it was just as addictive. LSD, initially produced for use by the CIA in mind control experiments, was promoted as being safe for psychiatric use.23 Eli Lilly also introduced Darvon in 1957 and promoted it as non-addictive.
Twenty years and many deaths later, warnings were finally required. In the late 1950's, Parke, Davis & Company introduced PCP (angel dust) as a painkiller. "Medical studies" had shown that PCP had a large margin of safety.24 Valium was supposed to be safe, then found to be very addictive. Xanax was introduced as a safer drug to replace Valium, but it turned out to be even more addictive.25 The same story goes for cocaine and amphetamines - once promoted as safe and effective, now controlled substances.
Summary
Prozac causes an alteration in normal brain functioning. This alteration could be irreversible. Prozac has had a larger number of adverse reaction reports than any drug in history. Such adverse reactions include attempted suicide, violence, aggression, and paranoia. There have been 2,500 deaths associated with Prozac, most through suicide or violence. Individuals on Prozac or related psychiatric drugs have carried out most of the horrendous mass murders witnessed in recent times.
The formerly unexplainable violent acts committed by persons on Prozac and related drugs are understandable when one considers the following progression: 1) drug effects and altered perception cause the person to begin having violent thoughts and anger toward those around him. 2) he further has disrupted sleep and vivid nightmares. 3) at some point, the REM sleep deprivation forces him into an REM sleep state while awake. 4) and, because of a bypass of the normal mechanism that causes the muscles to remain relatively still during sleep, he unknowingly acts out the violence of his nightmare.
The regulatory bodies involved in the approval of drugs like Prozac have shown themselves to be unable to adequately protect the public from dangerous drugs. Furthermore, many of the individuals involved in the drug approval process have personal financial conflicts of interest and are therefore not objective. Harmful drugs have historically been introduced by drug companies and only withdrawn when faced with enough public outcry.
Natural Alternatives
Amino acids and brain function go hand in hand. Amino acids create needed neurotransmitters, the chemical language of the brain, drugs do not enhance neurotransmitters, amino acids do.26 Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Luvox are all known SSRI’s that use available serotonin. The natural and safe way to elevate serotonin is to use the amino acid 5HTP. 5HTP can be found in the Mood Sync, HTP10, and Teen Link formulas. These formulas used when needed, plus a balanced neurotransmitter complex taken on a daily basis will supply the brain with all of the nutrients it needs.
You have friends, family, or associates who are being harmed by these drugs. These drugs are being prescribed by doctors who are not informed. Please copy this document and send it to anyone who needs this information. By doing so, you will save lives! Thank you.
For more information read Prozac Backlash by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D. or Overdose by Jay Cohen, M.D.
This education information is a service of the Pain & Stress Center. Reach us at 1-800-669-2256 OR in San Antonio (210) 614-7247.
1. The Aftermath, Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.
2. History of the Fraud of Biological Psychiatry, Fred A. Baughman, Jr., MD
3. Ibid.
4. Toxic Psychiatry, Peter Breggin, MD, pg. 69
5. Talking Back to Prozac, Peter Breggin, MD, pg. 95
6. Ibid, pg. 194
7. Ibid, pg 220
8. The Aftermath, Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.
9. Talking Back to Prozac, pg. 78
10. lbid, pg. 30
11 Prozac: Panacea or Pandora, Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D., pg. 12 Ibid, pg. 113
13. Talking Back To Prozac, pg. pg. 179
14. Ibid. pg. 181
15. Ibid, pg. 190
16. Ibid, pg. 191
17. Ibid, pg. 206
18. Talking Back to Prozac, pg. 47
19. Ibid, pg. 46
20. USA Today, September 25, 2000
21. Prozac: Panacea or Pandora, pg. 330
22. Ibid, pg. 30
23. Ibid. pg. 25
24. Ibid. pg. 147
25. Heal with Amino Acids & Nutrients, Billie Jay Sahley, Ph.D. & Katherine M. Birkner, C.R.N.A.
poster:anonymous13
thread:281448
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031116/msgs/281448.html