Posted by bleauberry on October 16, 2009, at 17:06:45
In reply to Nortriptyline Assoc w/ Suicidal Thoughts in Men, posted by jrbecker76 on October 15, 2009, at 23:04:05
A few thoughts immediately popped into my mind.
First, behind the scenes, what relationship do any of these authors have with the associates of Lexapro? Hopefully none. But without knowing, the entire study is meaningless until we know the motives and relationships of the men behind the study.
Why single out Nortriptyline vs Lexapro? I would think a better comparison would involve at least a dozen meds.
Speaking of which, how exactly did they measure the suicidal thoughts? Were the methods used exact duplicates with Lexpro vs. Nort? I couldn't really tell from the article.
Me personally, I am made very suicidal on any SSRI. Nort was not good for me either, but was quite a bit more benign than Lexapro. But my sample group is only n=1.
With the general acceptance that depression is a "brain chemical imbalance", and not knowing which chemicals are out of balance or in which direction they are out of balance or even how to know what a correct balance is (with personal genetic variability and enivornmental insults there can be no universal correct balance), I believe it is quite easy to throw the brain into a worse chemical imbalance by administering the wrong drug. It is pure guesswork.
I don't draw any conclusions from this study and I believe the authors were wrong in atttempting to.
The general statement that any psychiatric drug can increase or cause suicidal events is a statement I do agree with, but I do not feel this study was adequate in putting blame more on one than the other.
A problem with generic meds is that there is enough variability from one manufacturer to the next that it makes direct comparison impossible. Regardless that the active ingredients are supposedly identical (they aren't...that's another story) the pills are different. Different is different, period. The point is...did this study use brand Nort used in the studies to pass FDA in the early days, or did they use a generic which has never been through an FDA trial?
Even non-psych drugs can cause suicidal events.
Interesting study, but not much more than casual conversation during a TV show.
poster:bleauberry
thread:921070
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091012/msgs/921164.html