Spending the whole night shaking in your bed, because your body only consists of hundreds of barely connected finger-like tentacles. You are hoping that sometime soon you will be able to actually fall asleep, and maybe, just maybe, your body might be there when you wake up.

Thankfully I returned to my body the next morning, at least my fever was better. Was it worth a bad night of tripping? Perhaps not. I'll stick to aspirin.

also...the last one, and the most evil looking the Accutane...is probobly the most expensive. I would rob a bank if I could get on it. It works that well with people with acne..however it comes with a $1,400 price tag (per month x 3-4 months) but those were the shots. I've not looked into the pill. And not to mention many insurance agencies won't cover cosmetic.. Cosmetic (to me) = stop my face from leaking over my cloths. gross.

but seriously, there's two major side effects that weren't listed above.

1. skin dryness. the dermatologist handed be a big tub of lip balm with the pills. seriously. and boy, did i need it. also needed special shampoo.

2. whatever happens if you take it while pregnant. i don't even want to know. there were warnings all over the packages. must be pretty serious.

My neuro, who I really do like, wanted me to go through a million tests, blah, blah, blah. I didn’t want to, I wanted to try something like Provigil first and see if that helped before going for the big guns. I was sure it was related to my MS. He was sure it wasn’t. He was definitely irritated with me, but agreed to give me the Provigil. Which helped somewhat.

I also was having what I liked to think of as ‘visual disturbances’, but anyone based in reality would call hallucinations. And, let’s see, obsessive behavior. Check just about everything but gambling, including compulsively pulling out my hair!

I figured I was just finally going completely nuts. And I wasn’t too upset because I thought after the life I’ve had, I deserved it.

Fast forward a month. My Restless Leg Syndrome is breaking through the medicine I am taking, Mirapex. I go on line to see how high the Mirapex dosage can go. And what do I see? Mirapex can cause uncontrollable sleepiness. Mirapex can cause, ahem, visual disturbances. Mirapex can cause obsessive behavior.

I bring this up to my doctor and he says, “Oh, those hardly ever happen.” Well, they’re happening to ME, buckaroo!

So now I know what is happening when I perceive a phantom shadow swooping down on me. I am hypervigilant regarding my obsessions, working hard to keep them in check. I get myself safe when I feel I am going to fall asleep.

I would rather live with these awful side effects than the torture of RLS, but honestly, it is a high price to pay.

I will never allow anyone I love to take this substance.

Those conditions would be Restless Legs Syndrome and the inability to quit smoking and lose weight. These are all associated with the neurotransmitter dopamine and often respond to stimulant treatment.

Trouble is, there is so much misinformed hue and cry about the stimulants also being "dangerous" medications that people automatically assume these other drugs are better choices.

Moreover, sometimes specialists are narrow-minded or are someone selfishly promoting their own agenda with drug-development grants, etc. I'm thinking specifically of sleep specialists who refuse to acknowledge the role that untreated ADHD plays in chronic sleep problems, including Restless Legs Syndrome. They would, it seems, rather dose a patient with an experimental, risky drug than try one that's tried and true.

It's all pretty nutty, and we all have to be on the watch.

Gina Pera, author
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?
[www.ADHDRollerCoaster.org]

Zoloft was better from a mood standpoint but it made my gums hurt so bad that I couldn't eat solid foods. Weird huh? Switching to Wellbutrin was the best thing I ever did. I don't have any bad side effects on Wellbutrin and can go on and off it pretty easily.

@Kevin5280: lol

@Dreaming of Chocolate-Covered Bacon: I did the same exact diet and exercise program with AND without Alli, and I had twice the success with it.

There were times where I would have more fat than needed, and I never had bowel problems. I think you'd have to eat a HUGE amount of it to get the side effects.

@summerbee: @satindevil: I gain weight easily anyway when I don't watch it, but managed to hover around 155 (I'm 5'8"), until the paxil. At which point I gained 70 pounds in about three months. I was getting free samples via the county health department as I had no insurance and the psychiatrist refused to switch my meds. So I stopped it cold turkey.

Other weird Paxil side effects included the bizarre dreams that felt as real as waking if you skipped a dose and for me, after the sexual numbness wore away, I had multiple orgasms.

You site does nicely aggregate news on the dark side of things though.

Adriamycin (doxorubicin) can destroy your heart, and causes massive tissue damage if it escapes your vein.

Nitrogen mustard was developed after doctors in WWI started seeing the effects of mustard gas (sulfur mustard) on soldiers, and realized it was rapidly decreasing their white count. Until ABVD came along MOPP (the M is the mustard) was used as standard treatment for Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Arsenic is used in treating leukemia, and thalidomide (yes, that thalidomide) is used for multiple myeloma.

Vinca alkaloids are one of the best arguments against herbal remedies I've ever come across. A doctor received leaves of the vinca (the humble Madagascar periwinkle) from one of his patients in Jamaica with the information that they used the leaves to make tea to treat diabetes. Upon testing, the leaves did absolutely nothing for blood sugar, but they did significantly decrease white blood cells. And is extremely poisonous if ingested. So much for folk wisdom and tea.

However, the plant is being used successfully, if in a much more potent form, as chemotherapy drugs. Vinblastine is the "v" of ABVD, with all kinds of fun side effects including amazing amounts of joint and bone pain.

It's also used by some CANCER PATIENTS when the normal chemo drugs aren't working and they make their own cocktails. Sometimes it works. Chemo scares me, too...and this drug is apparently on par with it.

[www.chemocare.com]

Side effects include Depression and Suicide thoughts - especially in younger patients taking this drug daily.

Very scary.

Is there any particular reason that prevented Lariam (a/k/a mefloquine) was not mentioned?

I would have thought depression leading to suicide and murder would qualify as a hazardous side-effect.

@Powerlurker: Sometimes they are and others they aren't.

Have an older relative who had to walk a dog at least once a day 6-7 days a week . Ironic after the dog died their blood pressure shot up and now the doctor has them on BP meds and yet they refuse to or don't understand simple things like a walk everyday helps their health/BP . They won't even drink water and yet they run out in a panic to the drug store for that BP med when they're out .

Know someone else who used Acutane is still messing up(drying out) their skin over 20 years later . In some respects Acne should be just considered a phase as teens should be talked out of treatments like this for vanity .

Yeah drugs might be best in certain situations but too many times the docs and patients use them like a fast food drive through window because they're too lazy to try or research something else .

She's got a Depakote in her mouth!

Nicotine patch dreams are amazing. I've often thought about doing them recreationally at night

So yeah, show some freaken' compassion, particularly if you're a health care professional.

At the time, I had to break the law to do this, by the way: out tax dollars at work.

/hopping off soapbox.

Amen! And what's with the focus on whether or not your HUSBAND minds? Wow.

Up until recently I was on a rather complicated mix of medications for depression and fibromyalgia, and became anorgasmic. Eventually (a few months) I mentioned it to my doctor, and I was dreading the visit because I thought he'd want to go into great detail about it, and I was expecting an experience like yours, where I'd have to defend my dissatisfaction with the side effect. Instead all he said was, "Oh no! That's not good at all - orgasms are nice, we want to keep them!" and immediately undid the last prescription change he'd made.

Ultimately I reached a point where my meds were not playing nicely with each other (and I can no longer afford them anyway) so I titrated everything down. Happily, I was able to do that successfully, and am now only using a sleeping pill - but the important thing is, it's a sleeping pill that really WORKS for me. (I don't usually go through the proper sleep phases; I stay in REM sleep for about 80% of the night, as opposed to the usual 20-25%. That can really fuck a person up physically and mentally.) It makes a huge improvement in ALL my issues.

I think the problems with accutane have been over-hyped by doctors that prescribe it at a drop of the hat (I have a zit, quick give me accutane!), and people, who again don't read labels. You only take it as a last resort medicine when every other prescription treatment has failed and yet you still have severe (not moderate and not light) acne, and even only then, under pretty strict medical supervision. I was on it for 8 weeks without a problem other then dry skin and the need to drink lots of water (a great habit I still keep).

And I have saved thousands in prescription drugs since then, so yeah, it was worth it.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): Wow i've never had that with Zoloft, or sertraline, which is the generic. Sometimes though, if i skip a day and take one the next day i'll get really REALLY jittery, which of course causes more anxiety.

I used to be on Paxil and coming off that stuff was dreadful. I'd have the brain quakes but then get seriously dizzy to the point of throwing up and unable to stand still or walk straight. it was hell.

@Eilonwynn: Yes, indeed Ambien. I would have crazy hallucinatory waking-dreams. Right before I'd fall asleep with my eyes closed it would seem like I was watching a crazy acid trip on my eyelids. So crazy. Then once asleep, I would become violent, sometimes hurling pillows and blankets and smacking my then-partner in the face and throwing my cat off the bed(who were both unharmed). It was really freaky waking up and finding my bedroom and shambles and my partner wide awake with a freaked-out look on her face.

I then took Lunesta which left an AWFUL taste in my mouth that NOTHING could get rid of. It was so strong it made me nauseous and would last for the whole day.

Needless to say, I drink lots of tea(non-caffeinated of course), take my dog for a walk at night, and read a book before going to bed and that seems to do the trick.

@liquidnumb: I don't really have any side effects from the Effexor itself other than bruising easier. I just get weird effects when I miss a dose, or take it later than normal.

SirWired

@nagumi: Ugh, I hate missing an Effexor dose. I feel sick and weird.

That sort of doublespeak BS has hugely decreased my faith in doctors...

I had no idea Wellbutrin did that and at a follow-up, the doc asked how I was doing and I said "Good. I don't want to smoke" and she said "Well, it and Zyban are the same thing."

@NightElfMohawk: Second the chapstick addiction. Ten years later and I still can't quit the stuff.

I was told that side effects also included an increased sensitivity to the sun and sunburns. The first trip I took to the beach on accutane I was real careful to apply sunblock every hour, except I never thought of applying it to the tops of my feet. Twelve hours later, blisters the size of baseballs...

The disturbing thing was the doctor didnt tell me about any of the veramist side effects.

The only side effects the accutane had was nose bleeds and sub burn.

@oldgraygeek: My thoughts exactly - surely one of the thyroid or heart or ssris or sleep aids would be on here, but I'm in the clear! (yeah, I realize all drugs have side effects and this is just a limited list, but still, one can hope none of the drugs they're on make them shit their pants, right?)

Sign me up. Or, well, my SO when we're at that age. Low pee and sperm but lotsa snot. Hot!

@satindevil: I know people struggle with their weight, as do I, but couldn't peoploe considering Alli just eat a lower fat diet and skip the whole shitting-in-the-pants thing?

Let's also be real: Most companies are out for profit. The person peddling all-natural yucca route extract wants money just as much as Pfizer, but on a much smaller scale. But unlike the drug companies, there is no oversight of herbal and other treatments. There is very rarely a controlled study saying that the drugs work. Seeing as the placebo effect can account for a lot of a drug's actual benefit, how do we know that the testimonials saying "Herbalife worked for me!" aren't just the placebo effect. Or worse. Go read up on how many "natural" remedies are highly tainted with lead, mercury, or pharmacological agents.

@floraposte: Well, if there is indeed no alternative, you have my sympathy, and this is then a completely valid and positive use of a synthetic pharmaceutical. We should be grateful for the scientists who have derived it. I was merely stating that you should investigate alternatives on your own, instead of taking the word of a single doctor who may have incomplete or inaccurate information.

But as for Vioxx causing 20,000 deaths - I feel that that is a valid use of the word and I stand by it. Statistical evidence has shown that it doubles risk of heart attack. Merck knew about this risk and concealed it. 47,000 people in the U.S. alone sued Merck, and received a $4B dollar settlement, one of the largest in history. It's simply a matter of semantics whether a 100% increase in likelihood of heart attacks is "causing" or "contributing to".

Thank you for these examples of dangerous herbal remedies. Certainly, foxglove and belladona tinctures have a potential to kill you. It is interesting to note that after 20 minutes of earnest searching, I could not find a single reference to fatalities from people using these herbs medicinally. But I am sure that it has happened, and welcome any links you may have about the number of people who might have died. I would be curious, in particular, how many of these fatalities ave occurred in the modern era, since the advent of the Internet and the publication of clear and comprehensive herbal reference guides.

The whole point of my original post was that people should take responsibility for researching all information they are presented. We live in an age of abundant and free information. People should research pharmaceuticals thoroughly before they take them, and they should likewise research herbal remedies. Every site I found mentioned the poisonous potential of these plants in clear terms.

As for Echinacea and St. John's Root, I really don't know where you're coming from. Echinacea boosts the immune systems and promotes wound healing, while there is interest in St. John's Wort for it's anti-cancer properties. It is true that SJW can interfere with chemotherapy, but any competent oncologist would find out what supplements a patient was taking and have them stop taking it before the chemo.

For the record, the dangers of living a clean lifestyle and only eating healthy, fresh food with an abundance of fruits, grains, and vegetables is exactly nil. Unless you think the dangers of spinach and pistachios outweigh the dangers of cancer and heart disease. The best way to avoid these, the #1 and #2 killers in America today, are through diet and lifestyle changes.

To eyebrows, I feel that the statements about my "downright scary" comments are unfair. I did not tell floraposte to stop taking her medicine tomorrow, I only urged her to do research on her own to see if there is any alternative to it. And I did say that some psychoactive drugs are valid in treatment of major mental disorder. However, I stand by my original belief that a majority of psychoactive drugs are prescribed when better solutions exist, and I believe that the reckless overprescribing of drugs, especially to children, represents a greater public health problem in America today than people who have a legitimate need not taking them.

On a side note, if one is serious about finding a cure for Diabetes, one should be willing to explore all avenues of possibility with an open mind in the spirit of free scientific inquiry - from stem cell research to radical dietary changes.

I just stared taking Chantix 2 days ago. I haven't experienced any major side effects, but I'm still on the low dose pills. I've only noticed a couple of minor side effects: I HAVEN"T dreamt the last couple of nights (which is very weird for me) and I've been burping more. I haven't had anything else, but I'll definitely watch out for other changes. I already told my roommate to watch out for changes in my mood and gave her my doctor's number in case I go batshit crazy, though.

Side effects during Paxil included:
* Diarrhea
* Extremely lucid, psychotically bizarre nightmares during which I thrashed around in bed and spoke, and awoke from screaming
* Dry mouth
* A complete inability to... ahem... seal the deal during sex. I'm a guy. It sounds good on paper, but it's pretty meh when you finally just get too tired to go anymore.

I finally (stupidly) after being on for about three years just went cold turkey with no doctor consultation. I was sick of doctors. I experienced two solid months of very strong "zaps" which occurred constantly many times a minute, usually but not always accompanying any eye movement. Glance *zap*. Glance *zap*. Also frequent, apparently untriggered crying jags and a constant "lump in the throat" feeling that I was about to burst into tears. I mean I'm not alpha male or anything, but this was ridiculous. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot the nameless, incoherent man that seemed to live at the base of my skull and who would scream outrageous, unintelligible obscenities, often for 15 minutes at a time, while simultaneously making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Only I could hear him.

SSRIs are a good thing, but Paxil is patently evil and you will find story after story like the above both all over the web and from real live people.

I personally have experience some pretty psychotic harrowing evil from meds...

Snake oil for the new age.

@Illiterati: YES. It is incredibly unsettling to see an 'Order Confirmed' email in my inbox the next day when I had no memory of purchasing anything. I finally told my doc the ambien wasn't working out (also because I would wake up three hours later in a cold sweat, with no idea where I was or how I'd gotten there - the last memory would be something like feeing the dog or taking a shower, and suddenly I was in bed).

Re the Veramyst and how it's not understood how it works. That's actually not uncommon or even (necessarily) bad.

The antimalarial -quine drugs are some of the best and safest medications for lupus. But, the actual action of the drugs in the body and the way it works to combat lupus isn't understood.

That's not to say drugs can't be helpful. It IS to say that they should be much more of a LAST RESORT than they are today, and these side-effects partially (only partially) illustrate why.

I have a brother with many health problems who takes fistfuls of pharmaceuticals. Guess how many of his several doctors have insisted that he quit smoking, start eating well or taking vitamins, or get some exercise? NOT A SINGLE ONE.

And that's common. And *that's* the problem.

"SAY NO TO DRUGS" should mean what it means: Stop putting foreign substances in your body unless you really have to!!

@Eilonwynn: YES. Only for me, it was memory loss - for the hour before I took the Ambien to when I fell asleep, I would not remember in the morning. I was having apparently lucid phone conversations with people and walking my dog, but had absolutely no memory of it.

Which also led to sleep eating - I'd find the remains of a bagel or box of Cheezits the next morning, and had absolutely no memory of it.

I switched to Restoril, but I'm still waiting to see how that works out...

I've tried this, it's like dreaming in Technicolor!!!

@snowburnt: I took Accutane as well in High School and I did have some stomach problems but that was it. Like your meds mine had a picture of a pregnant lady with a circle and a line through it. I also had to go in for monthy blood tests to make sure it was not messing up my kidneys or liver. The drug did wonders for my skin and I loved it.

@MyPetFly: I belive it. I'm right-handed, but if I do something with my left hand, I automatically do it backwards- writing, turning my door key, combinatin locks...

@Powerlurker: Would chocolate brown be dark enough? The packages should come with a skid-mark shade selector.

@u1itn0w2day: Restless leg syndrome is this deal where, sometimes while awake but usually when trying to sleep, your legs twitch, throb, tingle, and sometimes jerk. It is annoying enough to keep you awake at night. Or, in the case of my brother, his twitchy legs kick his girlfriend in bed while she's sleeping, causing her to get up and sleep on the couch.

@liquidnumb: A few months ago my doctor put me on Effexor. I started out on a tiny dose for a few days and then was supposed to go to the "full" dose.

Well, being the good little consumer I am (LOL!), I started doing research. OMFG!! I started reading the horror stories about the withdrawal effects and promptly stuck my finger down my throat to puke up the pill I had just taken, followed by flushing the rest of the pills down the toilet. No fucking way in hell I was going to get involved with that shit! And now, we're doing juuuuust fine...

RLS, being a 'syndrome', was hard to medicate for a long time. But doctors finally started taking it more seriously over the past 5-10 years. I too am surprised to actually see ads on TV for RLS meds (although there are generics that work just as well, different ones for different people). Apparently a lot of RLS sufferers are identifying their symptoms and finally coming out of the shadows.

I started taking Chantix to help quit smoking. I already have crazy dreams but I started having dreams that my friends were all mad at me and trying to kill me! Or maybe my friends were mad at me since I turned into an emotional crazy person since quitting!

@John: Waking up on fire is part of the fun :)

I went off Prozac about 6 months after that experience, but I still suffer from vertigo.

A couple of hours after taking it, my son became disoriented, pannicky, angry, and basically psychotic, and slashed up his laptop screen with a ball point pen in that state of mental confusion.

Here's a site with other consumers reporting similar adverse reactions:
[www.askapatient.com]

I realize it could sound silly to someone who doesn't have the problem. But I see no reason to make such uncharitable assumptions about people.

When I was taking it they had little "No preggers" symbols on the back of each and every pill, all over the container it says "do not take this pill if you are even thinking of pretending to act like you want to think like you are planning to or accidentally becoming pregnant". every pack of pills came with a flip book of deformed fetuses...even if I didn't have any questions the pharmacist lectured me on not becoming pregnant...and I am a guy!

The thing is, Alli is almost like societally acceptable bulimia. Because some people will just eat the fat anyway knowing that they're just going to poop it out disgustingly.

The problem is that it can essentially prevent people from sleeping, giving them the attendant health and safety risks of chronic sleep deprivation; even when people do sleep, they often don't make it to real REM sleep so they don't get much value out of it.

@Kevin5280: Hey, who doesn't enjoy a cigarette with their nap.

I had horrible nightmares when taking malaria medication prior to a tropical vacation.

To be honest, I'm not prepared to drink worms, though.

"side effects: waking up naked in Milwaukee, tasting purple, smelling glass, invisible stool, taco-flavored kisses, delusions of being Dakota Fanning, nonstop yodeling, growth of gills and fins, sexual attraction to furniture."

@Phexerian: No kidding -- I was shocked that wasn't listed above.

To be fair, you have to consider a few things when looking at the side effects of these types of products:

1) Very often, placebos will have lots of side effects as well. Virtually every drug on the market will have "nausea, diarrhea, constipation, head ache, and dry mouth" listed as a side effect, many of these drugs will have no direct effect on any body system that would cause these symptoms, so chalk it up to placebo effect. (If you read drug trial or the actual PDR entries on many drugs they will include the side effect list that accompanied the placebos in the trial)

2) Psych drugs are used for treating... well folks that may not be the most well adjusted people in the first place. A depressed person committing suicide is a sad thing, but is also something that happens with and without treatment. Given the nature of litigation in the US, drug makers are inclined to report everything that could possibly go wrong right up front so if they end up in court they can show that they made an effort to inform consumers. The big anti-depressants cause suicide in kids scare a few years ago was mostly a media created phenomenon, yes some kids killed themselves, but the rates of suicide among those being treated were much lower than those that were untreated.

Monthly blood tests weren't pleasant for someone who hates needles, but years of clear skin prove that it works, and works well.

@Eilonwynn: I was thinking of that one. Just the other day I saw a commerical for it and I remember the disclaimer included, "Incidents of eating or DRIVING while asleep with no memory of the event have been reported."

@Bearded Rapper: I take Mirapex, and on a follow-up appointment, my 60ish male doctor (I'm a 20something girl) said "So, should I expect a thank you note from your boyfriend about the positive side of the Mirapex side effcts?" Ewwwwwwwww.

The more popular the use, the easier it is to track, so there's some good evidence that St. John's Wort has contributed to cancer deaths because of its interference with chemotherapy. Echinacea is prone to increasing immunosuppression in a way that slows wound healing and makes people more vulnerable to infection. Foxglove ("natural" digitalis) has incurred fatalities, as has the eating of poison ivy leaves in an attempt to develop immunity.

I'd also say you're revealing a prejudice here. Synthroid is chemically identical to the T4 a body makes, it's a teeny little pill, it's got virtually no side effects that aren't related to misdoses, and it's not particularly expensive. You really think people should go off a safe and effective way of dealing with hypothyroidism to muck around with the grocery store wisdom of Some Guy on the Internet because you don't like the companies that synthesize levoxyl sodium? That's asking for a whole lot of risk on somebody else's part just to prove a fairly questionable contention.

I'm not remotely opposed to the placebo effect, but there's a reason the double-blind test is the gold standard, and, sadly, most of those herbal remedies don't reach it.

I'm thinking of that drug Dr. Spaceman gave to Liz Lemon so she'd rest on the plane, the one that caused "sexual hallucinations and sleep crime."

I was on it for pain. When the 75mg dose stopped working, the doctor bumped me up to the next dosage. That's when I started forgetting words, having vertigo and blurry vision, losing the ability to speak clearly. On the bright side, the pain was gone and I was sleeping well, but nothing was going to keep me on it as the side effects built up.

Zoom! WAAAY over my head. : )

Or else.

Trust, if you don't you will pay dearly for the consequences.

I know from personal experience in that I was on Alli when I went out with friends one night for alcohol & greasy fried food super-happy-funtime (no, I wasn't thinking that evening and thank-you for asking).

During the ride home with miles-upon-miles to go out in the middle of nowhere, Alli began to punish me for my stupidity. Use your imagination here kids as to what happened and yes, why yes, it was a memorable drive that I shall never forget.

After that, *ahem*, episode, I learned to watch my fat intake *carefully* when taking he stuff. Behavior modification at its finest.

I no longer take Alli, but since I grew used to my diet while on it, I continued to maintain a low-fat, low carb diet afterwards so I guess it was worth it.

The meme goes that someone posts a proper looking 3-triangle "triforce" in the text field and claims that newbies can't do it. It invariably ends up with a circle-jerk of posts in a thread all revolving screwing up triforce and people gloating that they can do it right.

The posting engine, by default, trims the leading spaces of a post so when someone figures out how to do it:
  ▲
▲ ▲
... they don't realize they need leading ALT+0160s so it comes out like this:
▲
▲ ▲

The meta-troll approach is to do it wrong from the get-go and claim newfags can't triforce, with various degrees of stupidity. Such as:
/\
/\/
\

i could be wrong, but i thought gas with an oily discharge was called crapping yourself

The only side effects I had was really dry skin. I also would get sunburn very very quickly. Every day I had to put sunscreen on. I had one nosebleed because it dried out my nasal passages. Other than that I was fine. No suicidal ideation. Nothing.

Perhaps they're really saying "may cause gamboling," as in "to run and jump about playfully?"

Also, "Abilify" sounds like a verb to me, rather than a medicine. "The murderer stepped out of the courthouse and was ablified by the crowd."

Regarding the "Alli" weight loss side effects: Hey, the fat's got to go somewhere...

Yo, is this really Tom Cruise?

Same here. Good point.

Oh yeah, Paxil also totally kills libido IME. Damn. Take that shit off the market, stat.

Also, the main side effect I had, which wasn't listed is SEVERE drying of the skin, eyes, lips, and nose. I went through chap stick and eye drops daily!

And, there was a study a while back about the increase of suicides in people who were taking Acutane. Crazy stuff!

Hear, hear.

IMO Paxil should be taken off the market. It's prescribed as a sedating antidepressant and, yes, for my combo of anxiety/panic disorder and (then) major depression it worked quickly and well.

But! Gained 30 lbs in 6 months and despite years of dieting, I keep yo-yo'ing back up to that level. No emotions -- couldn't cry when my longtime friend died of a brain tumor. Didn't care about much of anything. Fell asleep routinely at my desk at work. It was really really difficult to get off Paxil - the depression came roaring back when I got down to 10 mg; eventually I simply transitioned over to Celexa.

There are far better antidepressants now that work for anxiety sufferers (Lexapro is my choice ATM) and I see really no reason why anyone should take Paxil.

@padams89: Add me to that list. It works wonders. I have seen what happens when you leave severe acne untreated into adulthood. It's not pretty. My only regret is that I didn't take it at the first sign of trouble...

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): What a terrible doctor. I expressed concern about sexual side effects before I started prozac(especially since birth control had already wrecked my libido) My doctor said if it was the right pill I'd probably feel more in the mood for sex and he was right, if he would have dismissed me I would left pronto

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): I agree. I have a stong family history of mental illness so even though I recognized the signs in myself I just didn't want to take the step. I'm so glad I did

About ten years ago, my doctor prescribed Zyban to help quell the urge to smoke. For the next few days, I went through life falling asleep at my desk at work and generally feeling as if a fog had settled over everything. It was, at times, a peaceful easy feeling but I felt like a zombie most of the time. I stopped taking it after four days because I didn't want to feel stoned all the time.

@u1itn0w2day:

I've suffered with restless leg syndrome for as long as I can remember. For me, it's an uncomfortable feeling in one or both legs. It's difficult to describe exactly. It's not painful; it's just a not-quite-tingly, not-quite-pulsating, not-quite-itchy feeling that you have to move your leg. Has anyone ever grabbed your leg just above your knee and clamped down? It feels like that. It's not a ticklish reaction so much as it is the need to pull away.

I'm don't believe in medicating myself unless I'm in agony, so I haven't tried any of the drugs for it.

I was on Accutane when I was younger & I only had two of the side effects... mood swings and rectal bleeding. The later was not really that bad though. The mood swings were more like severe agitation. If you looked at me wrong, I would want to rip your arm off and beat you with the bloody end of it.

You did forget to mention the most important side affect for this drug though... it can really reak havoc on your liver. I had to go in once a month for blood work just to make sure it wasn't causing any damage.

Many people also respond differently to medication over time. You might get great results with Prozac for, say, 8 years and then see a dramatic falloff over, say, 2 years in how effective it is (upswing of side effects, emotional flatlining, resurgence of depression, whatever) ... and need to change to a different medication. (I've heard that's more common in women than in men, which might be because more women are on antidepressants so there's more data, or it might be that women go through more hormonal changes over time. Or something else entirely. :) )

Your doctor should definitely be concerned about this, if only because patients whose side effects are tolerable are more likely to be med compliant. (But also because, that's a shitty side effect and no way to live.) I went doctor-shopping at once point when the antidepressant I was on was causing such extreme low desire that it was affecting my marriage and my doctor was all, "But it fixes your depression, what's the problem? I'm sure if your husband loves you, he won't mind." (!!!!!!!) If he was incapable of understanding that a healthy relationship is PART of managing depression and that the most important relationship in my life being out of balance was making it hard to control my depression ... he was definitely not someone who should have been treating depression in the first place. Jerkwad. (I'm still mad.)

I'd probably agree that many anti-depressants in particular are overprescribed, but that hardly means the drugs themselves are unnecessary or that we ought to be urging people to get off them. And we shouldn't be creating an atmosphere of judgment and stigma for those who take them. (We ought to be urging doctors to exercise better diagnostic judgment if overprescription or misprescription is that big a problem.) Makes me nuts.

Yes. We call them poisons. Belladonna tea had a brief run of popularity in the US at the start of the herbal craze.

"I think anyone can agree that there is some proportion - be it miniscule or large - of herbal remedies that are more effective in whole form than the synthesized molecules found in them."

No, I won't agree, because dosage matters, and natural dosages are uncontrolled.

You've crossed the line in your last couple posts from "good points about natural medicine" to "downright scary" and "uninformed about medical science." I presume Hogwarts knows (s)he has to take his thyroid medicine because HE UNDERSTANDS HOW THYROIDS WORK. The same way Type I diabetics MUST take their insulin because their body doesn't produce it no matter how many happy hippies tell them they can control their TOTAL INABILITY TO PROPERLY DIGEST FOOD by just eating something different.

These are decisions people should be making with their doctors. And, yes, their doctors shouldn't be shills for the pharmaceutical industry and patients should be well-informed. But what you're suggesting is downright scary and dangerous -- and deeply uninformed.

@col1999: I'm both sorry to hear this and happy that you've realized there's a connection there. The emotional flat-lining with Paxil is very common and very distressing. And it's not a sudden side effect, either -- it sneaks up slowly, across several months, as that happy, buzzy, honeymoon phase with Paxil dissipates.

@BytheSea: Crazymeds is now offline/lost to the aether.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): Thank you. Another good one: bipolar disorder. You know what's a hell of a lot of fun? A severe slump when you're too depressed to take the one medication that's worked for you in the past to help you not be depressed. I've ridden that roller coaster for too many years. Now I just STFU and take my damn pills, I'm in a much better place with my life.

@summerbee:

The *best* part for me was the complete emotional blunting that killed every drive I had to do ANYTHING -- to work, to be social, to do well in school...the list goes on. And on.

Oh my God. You saying this explains a lot about me right now. Shit.

Next thing I remember (and there are several hours I have no recollection of) I was laying on the floor of the bathroom dry-heaving and hallucinating strange colors. When I tried closing my eyes, all I saw were bug-shaped lights flying toward me.

Next day I called my doctor, and he admitted that Ambien had given him strange hallucinations too!

I don't see that doctor anymore.

Was it worth it? Let's see: Going from getting called names on a daily basis and made to feel worthless because of my appearance, to getting checked out by girls left and right, even when I'm with my really hot wife... yeah, it was worth it.

Also, jeez, hire an proofreader.

While we're on the subject of scary antidepressants: bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban). It's often used as a second-stringer when people don't respond to SSRIs well, and some psychiatrists (including mine) see it as a "magic bullet" because it doesn't cause weight gain or sexual dysfunction.

What it did to me, though, was permanently damage my eyes. I don't understand the science behind it myself, and this was a completely unknown effect at the time, but apparently one of its effects is similar to some paralysis agents used in surgery. Long story short: my pupils dilate ridiculously easily but contract very poorly. I have to wear sunglasses around anything more powerful than a 25-watt bulb, and still have trouble on particularly bright days.

[www.ssristories.com]

The database above lists most of the news-documented effects of SSRI drugs going back to 1988. Everything from school shootings to suicides to bank robberies. Granted, correlation does not mean causation, but it's still unsettling.

@StrangeTikiGod: Sounds like Effexor withdrawal affected you like Paxil withdrawal affected me. I had a huge sensitivity to temperature changes. My internal thermostat was completely out of wack and I'd be so warm that I'd become nauseous. Five minutes later, I'd be freezing. This went on for months.

And that's a good way to describe the zaps. Once, when I tried to go cold turkey off of just 12.5 mg of Paxil CR (which is a terrible idea, BTW), I got a "zap" every time I turned my neck to the left or right. And every time I took a step. It was like some sort of vision-shaking mini-seizure with every move.

Basically its like:
"Hey, lardass.

You wanna stop soiling yourself in public and sharting constantly? Lay off the cheeseburgers, milkshakes, and donuts, OK? Thaaaanks.

P.S. If you'd done that to begin with, I wouldn't be here.

Love,

Alli"

That's how I've seen all of these drugs.

Oh,and one of the funniest stories I ever heard about Alli was some "Famous person" was on it and had an "uncontrollable bowel movement" in one of those fancy Beverly Hills clothing stores. Naturally, the staff and her people went above and beyond to handle the situation discreetly. Its things like that story that make me happy.

By which I mean some famous person losing bowel control in a fancy clothing store. Its what makes them human, after all.

The whole "Staff going above and beyond to discreetly handle the situation" thing is what makes them different from us common folk. If I (Or any of you) had a similar situation in a store with clothing we can afford on our meager salaries I highly doubt the staff would help us, let alone discreetly handle the situation. But really, who can blame them?

If it were me working some crappy minimum wage job at a big-box store and a customer had a "Situation" like this I'd put up a curtain, grab a cheerleader cone horn, hype it up freakshow style, and charge $5 a head.

but i still sort of feel like that whole issue was a failure on the part of my psychiatrist, like i was probably over-drugged.

I've only heard of it happening to one other person, and that was some report I saw on television. It's still a complete mystery to me. I figure if I keep posting around eventually someone will come out with the same story.

The big problem with the way antipsychotics are marketed is that a lot of them have clinical uses as needed utility. For example taking care of episodic events in patients stabilized on another drug (not uncommon in bipolar).

For people on psychiatric medications [www.crazymeds.us] is a valuable clearing house for information.

@1stMarDiv: Weird. My derm prescribed low doses (over a longer period, though) of Accutane, and the most I had was dry lips and maybe some very slight joint pains. I think the worst problem was that I couldn't drink during my early college years. Before taking it I was extremely scared because of stores like the ones mentioned, but they seem to be isolated cases.

Let me quote Jeff Foxworthy: "...I think I'll have itchy watery eyes."

On a serious note, I don't trust any drug where the mechanism of how it works is not understood (which would have included aspirin for until about 2001) or one that treats a non-life threatening condition with life-threatening possible side effects. Ortho-Novum is a good example, provided I came factory equipped with a uteris.

Newer-generation anti-psychotics/tranquilizers like Geodon can cause tardive dyskinesia after prolonged use. I was prescribed this to help me sleep and six months later I couldn't walk more than a block without my calves seizing up. Turns out an uncommon gait can occur, which causes you to use muscles in ways they were never meant to be used. This, while usually temporary, can end up being permanent in some people.

Moral of the story? A lot of these psychiatric medications are prescribed in a point-and-shoot fashion, and are becoming very common. Do your research. Don't be like me, mildly depressed and unable to sleep, being given anti-psychotics.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the possible side effects of Cialis(sp?)- Erections lasting more than 4 hours.

@liquidnumb:

Actually the opposite, in a way.
When I was younger I had a problem with cutting on occassion, and taking effexor helped curb those impulses.

@floraposte: "But there's nothing inherently superior about herbs and plants on their own"

Well, why not? Every plant contains hundreds of molecules. Maybe some act in concert more powerfully than alone? It's kind of an odd example, but one that gets a lot of airtime - synthetic Marinol vs. Cannabis. Many people claim that synthetic marinal does nothing to them, while cannabis gives great relief.

But I wonder what specific cases of "ailments acquired from the (herbal) treatment" you are talking about?

I can cite 20,000 killed by Vioxx over a short period of time as one isolated example. Is there any case in history of an herbal remedy killing as many people? When they were giving heroin to every other housewife, I don't think it killed nearly as many...

I think anyone can agree that there is some proportion - be it miniscule or large - of herbal remedies that are more effective in whole form than the synthesized molecules found in them. But they are not even considered by the modern medical system because they cannot be patented and thus there is no money to be made in them The God of our medical system is money, not health.

@Dooly: Most, I said MOST states. (I live in Cali, too.)

@zyodei: Sorry. "Is it only because the you believe the consequences of not following this course of treatment are so dire?"

@HogwartsAlum: The thing is...how do you KNOW, with 100% certainty, that you *have* to? It may well be true that you have to, in which case of course you should. But what information do you base this on? What your doctor told you? How do you know with 100% certainty that he is wrong? Is it only because the consequences of

Doing a cursory search for "natural cure for hypothyroidism" turns up lots of articles written specifically about the subject, the first few mentioning a lack of iodine and selenium as being a common underlying cause of this. Even if you stay on the HRT, it would still be useful to work to correct any nutrtional deficiencies, and just see if that helps you feel better.

In life, we shouldn't take what ANYONE says as the gospel truth. Maybe it is true in 99% of people with this disorder, but not for you. Isn't it worth going to great lengths to explore even a slim possibility that you might not have to take expensive pills every day, for the rest of your life?

I used to have a roommate who had a bad kidney. He was always cursing his kidney, complaining about it, saying how it was chaining him for his whole life. He took a cocktail of daily pills. Opening his cupboard in the kitchen revealed shelves filled with pop tarts, cap'n crunch, white bread, lunchables, etc. etc. Just the worst food imaginable. Now, I don't know if there was any natural cure of his kidney. But I couldn't help but wonder if there was a connection between his nutritionally deficient diet and his kidney.

The funny thing was, when I suggested he should try eating really healthily for six months to see what happened, he said he was spending too much money on his medications for it to be possible!

Try a little Colchicine.

It is not IF it will generate explosive bowl movements, but how many doses of Colchicine will you complete before the explosive bowl movement WILL occur.

@MarsyMars: Sadly I'm in the 50% of people that ends up with the same problem they went in with. Post treatment. Damn you accutane, damn you!

@zyodei: Umm..I meant that I spent several thousand dollars a *year* on high quality food, I'm not that fanatical ;)

@satindevil: That is why I added "almost" in there. Certainly, nothing is set in stone, and everything has some value. I don't deny that there are a few ailments, such as schizophrenia, where drugs are quite useful. However, I maintain that for a huge number of people pharmaceuticals are used to patch over an underlying health deficiency that would best be healed by other means.

Maybe I'm biased because I was one of those teenagers given amphetamines and anti-depressants. The amphetamines I took for years, which ruined my social life and had me up until 4 AM every night, but the anti-depressants I only took for three weeks until i slashed my wrists, fortunately unsuccessfully.

What we need is to open up the medical industry in this country.

Here in Korea, whenever I get sick I go down to the local herb vendor. He mixes together a bunch of stuff, tells me to brew a tea, and charges me about $10. He doesn't speak a single word of English. So far he has a 100% success rate within 24 hours for me and my friends.

I compare that with several other foreigners I know here who have gotten sick and headed to the hospital. Their doctors went nuts with pills, and these 5 or 6 people all were sicks for months on end, and two of them ended up having to leave the country and go back to their moms' house.

Of course, my experience is anecdotal - but the important thing is that this vendor would be strictly illegal in the U.S., or most of the west. He would be slapped with practicing medicine without a license, and he would be fined or imprisoned.

Sure, western medicine has some uses. I'm not going to say that we should as a society throw out penicilin. When I was in India and got a 108 degree fever, I took an anti fever pill. It may well have saved my life. But I only needed one! And that one pill is the only one I have taken in the last ten years.

I just think that people should look outside the dogmatism of western medicine as being the only "credible" medical system, and learn to make the choices and short-term sacrifices to put their health first, instead of waiting to get sick and hoping that some product will fix the problem overnight.

I spent several thousands a day on high quality produce and the best food possible. I consider it a good deal.

Pharmaceuticals (when one exists) tend to be a far more cost effective method of treatment than the alternatives.

You may find it interesting that most chemotherapeutic agents are themselves, carcinogenic. They tend to work by using one of several possible mechanisms to induce errors in cell replication, hopefully causing an error that results in apoptosis.

Yeah, it's kinda ironic that people in the deepest, most severe depression actually become too depressed to commit suicide. Thus when they start taking antidepressants you can run into problems when they get just enough better to be able to be able to actually get out of bed, but not well enough to not be suicidal.

I take Advair, theophylline and albuterol to treat my asthma and would not be able to live a normal life without them.

The early ads actually specifically recommended wearing dark colored pants when starting on Alli.

I definitely feel like I'm better off without it.

Good grief...is there anyone else here who isn't on some prescription drug?

Can somebody please explain ' restless leg syndrome ' . I've been seeing this one alot on TV lately .

All this comes with the instant gratification society . Feeling ill or not the way YOU WANT - just take a pill . And it all comes back to the point somebody else is paying for it .

The BUSINESS of medical care in America .

I took it, and each month had a required blood test (to check for any side effects) and a required assessment by my physician, who went in great depth to ensure that I suffered no side effects, physical or otherwise.

Accutane has a long sheet of side effects, but my dermatologist explained that Accutane used to be prescribed in much higher doses, when the newer doses are just as effective.

The only side effect I had was dried lips. I was applying chapstick every 5 minutes. But it was totally worth it. It cleared my face up in a few weeks and now I don't have a reminder of the bad acne that once plagued me.

I took accutane for about 4 months in high school.
Ended up in the hospital going blind and very near to having a heart attack. It can effect your blood pressure to such a degree that the back of your retina will separate from your eye. Yeehaw! AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!

When I quit smoking using the patch the doc said to leave it on 24/7 unless the dreams were too much.
He explained that the "rush" and the changing levels of nic. in the bloodstream are a part of the addiction.

Since reading a book on lucid dreaming I have decided that the dreams while on the patch aren't actually any weirder than without it, it's just that you remember more of them, with better detail as you aren't sleeping as deeply.

Of course, the first time I took it, I couldn't believe how fast and effective it was. That was before the pillow started talking, though.

They seriously need to fix CHANTIX, though. If they can remove all of those nasty side effects, I would totally take a pill that causes psychotic nightmares (smoking aid is just another side effect).

So what happens is a doctor sees depression, prescribes Wellbutrin, and all of a sudden the patient is climbing the walls because the depression has subsided, but the latent anxiety disorder has come out to play and it's on one hell of a caffeine high. You can counteract that effect with an SSRI, but you have to know about it in the first place... something I learned through experience, to my chagrin. Never trust student health centers.

@Eilonwynn: Also sleep sex, and rape have been reported.

Woo hoo, Accutane. I dodged liver failure, good thing I listened to my father (a doctor), when the the nurses called and said they didn't know what low numbers on a liver test meant. Men have very limited acne medication options.

Oh and lets not forget the scars that mysteriously formed all over my body, upwards of 6 inches long each.

Oh yeah and embarrassing arm and facial tics that never, ever went away and freaks people out.

Right, and the obsessive compulsive self abuse that never occurred before I started taking it.

Effexor ruined a lot of my life.

@satindevil: It's upside-down.

Bactrim, too. Antibiotics suck. It was giving me insanely vivid, violent dreams, insomnia, palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath, and fatigue. I was waking up shaking every few hours and thought I was going nuts. I also got vomiting, only without the nausea, which was very strange. Horrible stuff. Turned out I was allergic to sulfonamides, but that only explained the urticaria and sudden fever, nothing else. Having looked online, plenty of non-allergic people were having similar horrible side effects. Antibiotics and I don't like each other very much.

Were these post-marketing reports, meaning doctors collected info from their patients without actually corroborating the side effects with the drugs. Are these hysterical reports. No, seriously.

I do so love the PHARMA BAD RAWR RAWR group. Go talk to someone with epilepsy, Crohn's disease, major depression, schizophrenia. Tell me what herbs fix a brain tumor. Go ahead, I'll wait.

FYI, acutane should have been banned LONG ago, but it's so wildly popular that people have kept it on the market. It's amazingly teratogenic (fetus-harming), to the point of forcing women to be on birth control concurrent with acutane.

Alprostadil

It's a penile suppository. Need I say more?

Could be just me.

@satindevil: I thought about buying some Provigil on my last trip to Mexico, but I chickened out, as I thought I might like it too much. By MX standards, it was rather pricey, at about $1.50 a pill. It's also considered a controlled substance in the U.S., meaning I'd kinda sorta haveta smuggle it back home.

Yeah that's a drug with some side effects, instant old age

Then, when I tried to get off of it, I had a fever for two weeks of about 103. For two solid weeks. I don't remember a whole of what happened for about a year after that, and i still have memory issues.

I don't even take ibprofen anymore unless i really have to. Stupid drug companies and their slaves, doctors.

Maybe you don't smoke when you're sleeping...

Advair does carry the "black box" warning (google it). Took it for awhile and it's great... but coming off it was outright terrible.

I take effexor periodically; the only side effect I had was it made me sweat a lot more (My dad took it and had the same thing) Not really bad, but kind of anoying. For me, when I stopped taking it, I didn't really have much withdrawal symptoms, even though I stopped suddenly (yeah, I know you're not supposed to, but I'm bad) I was really cranky for like 2 days, but that was about it.

People stop eating for a reason. It's called dying.

My. Worst. Nightmare. (Okay, second-worst. Nothing beats zombie Abraham Lincoln).

Very dangerous. Of course they warn in the packaging but it's buried with the ton of other contraindications.

Singulair can make people overly aggressive. I couldn't figure out why I was so short tempered and wanted to strangle people at the drop of a hat. This was another one that I took for months before the FDA bothered to inform people of this side effect. Stopped taking it, problem went away.

Wellbutrin is a prescription medicine used for the treatment of depression (also known as major depression or clinical depression).

Side Effects:
•Suicidal thoughts or behavior, Anxiety, agitation, or panic attacks

So let me get this straight, the side effect of an anti depressant is suicide and depression.

Any hints or a link? Personally, I don't take offense, but if you're worried about others...

I get it legally, right from a store in Venice.

They have a nice selection, too.

Can you write backwards? That's how the sailors keep glass status boards updated without blocking the view of others. They say left-handers can learn to write backwards more quickly.

Wash your hands before, too.

And by awesome I mean horrifying and I switched to a different doctor. My new doctor said, yeah, you're freaking bipolar, no more antidepressants for you.

Dead men don't dial 911

You are supposed to remove the patch at night. You don't smoke while you're sleeping, so why would you wear the patch 24 hours?

Our medical system is pretty broken, but that doesn't mean all drugs are bad all the time.

@Pinget:
I took those once. A tendon in my thumb swelled so much the doctor told me not to use my hand for anything for a week and he sent me for an MRI to make sure there was no rupture. Thankfully, no rupture and it got better in about three days.

Also took Chantix and had NO side effects, aside from about three days of nausea and a weird sensation in my head as the medicine attached to the receptors in my brain. I could FEEL it. Spooky. I didn't have any crazy dreams, but then mine are weird anyway.

Other than that, the only medicine I take is ibuprofen or Nyquil.

I can read upside down and backwards. :)

Mirapex-fueled microeconomic research may be on the way!

I have that every once in a while too. It totally freaked me out until I found out what it was.

It's still freaky.

Not for hypothyroidism. I HAVE to take synthetic thyroid hormone every day, or face consequences that could be dire.

Every day. For the rest of my life.

Here's one Consumerist missed: Topamax. It's used for everything from migraines to bipolar. It causes dramatic weight loss (the bad kind) and loss of short term memory. My mom is physically and psychologically a different person after Topamax and her story is pretty common.

I found a different but similar site for flipping text. But I give up... what are the three triangles? My first guess is a UFO landing site, but something tells me I'm wrong.

@LeftyRighty: I seriously WTF at the ads for that drug. I've never had RA, nor do I know anyone with it, but if I had to choose between living with it and taking a drug like Humira, I'd rather live with the disease. Seriously, who thought a drug that suppresses the immune system to that degree was a good idea?

He's heading down a road that will eventually end either in prison or suicide. He tends towards a certain level of violence when unmedicated.

But I'm SURE zyodei has a better long-term solution for him that doesn't involve being on his meds.

@MyPetFly: ʇɐǝu ʎʇʇǝɹd s,ʇɐɥʇ

Now you too can be awesome.

Also,
▲
▲ ▲

I think I tend towards mouth side effects. My prenatal vitamins make everything taste like playdoh.

That reminds me of when I was talking to an American military pilot, who sat at the controls of a Russian aircraft. He said all the indicators looked like they said KAOPECTATE. I can see that...

I'm not surprised that your doctor wasn't really aware of withdrawal. It's been given a tidy little top hat & bow tie by the pharmaceutical industry -- in the form of a new name. Yes, "discontinuation syndrome" is what SSRI withdrawal is truly called, sayeth GSK. A completely sanitary phrase that doesn't indicate any of the painful, frustrating, and (often) unbearable symptoms of withdrawal.

This video's a bit dated, but it's still completely relevant. The two women below (one of whom I know personally) attempted to withdraw with a lot of difficulty:

Cancer, tuberculosis, fungal/opportunistic infections (which have been fatal), Hepititis B (if you are a carrier for it), nervous system problems, prone to bruising or bleeding easily, new/worsening heart failure, and autoimmune disorders such as a lupus-like syndrome.

If the cancer part didn't set off an alarm bell, the reasoning behind this drug is this: It is made to combat inflammation (rheumatoid arthritis), but to do that it suppresses the immune system and renders it unable to fight off an infection. I'm no doctor, but that sounds like HIV to me. It's like they took every medical horror from the 20th century and tried to cram it all in one pill.

1. the pills that had to be taken with food every four hours and which made me throw up for an hour inbetween doses. I'd get my appetite back just in time to take the next pill with food.

2. the tiny antibiotic that made my skin in delicate areas thicken and then peel off in a matter of days. I ended up with fissures that took months to heal. Make fun of baby wipes all you want, sometimes they are your only friend...

Splitting pills is the worst. Liquid Paxil was too expensive for my wean, so I had to chop up pills with a pill-splitter and use a nail file. The end result looked something like this:

[img.photobucket.com]

@HPCommando: Sign me up.

GLeeMONEX makes it feel like it's 72 degrees in your head all the time.

I have since weened myself down from 40 to 10mg daily in less than six months. My side effects are almost zero. But if I miss a day with my 10 I get the pin needle effect. One of the things that has helped me of course is my WANTING to get off. Sex is soooo much better now. (A main reason why I want off) But a decent diet and exercise has helped out too.

I the next several weeks I will be going from 10mg to 5mg and hope to be totally free of this NASTY drug.

I wish doctors would seriously weight the options instead of being so quick to prescribe these meds. When I told my doctor I wanted off and explained the side effects and how I was checking out Paxil Support Groups and explained the difficulties of getting off this crap. She had no idea about the side effects or was even aware of support groups on the internet. I had to educate her... What a shame!!

I wish everyone good luck when it comes to ridding yourself of these dangerous drugs!!

So YMMV.

When I awakened, I stuck my finger in my mouth to confirm that I was not indeed made of cheese.

I belong to a group here on campus that aims to reduce/eliminate the negative stigmas regarding mental illness. Hopefully one day my group and others will be successful in ridding them entirely. A lot of mildly depressed folks can get better by either talking to a friend or professional counselor, or going on an antidepressant short-term, but for those of us who have tried everything and still have terribly depressive symptoms when not on medication, it can be difficult.

As for anxiety, I do agree with you that in some cases it can be learned/unlearned. Best of luck with that!

Here's an idea:

No drug should require a prescription, except for minors. All drugs should be able to be purchased over the counter without question, aside from "Are you old enough?", then hold the pharmacy/pharmacist wholly accountable for failure to check properly.

Once all drugs are available, charge a $2.00 per fill tax on every drug, and only $1.00 if you get a prescription first. Funds received will be split between financing rehab programs and financing potter's fields and crematoriums for those who cannot control themselves.

Anyone giving or allowing drugs to minors without a prescription gets 20-to-life, anyone who cripples or kills a minor by action or inaction through drugs without a prescription gets life or death, no parole.

There's no question that lifestyle changes are incredibly beneficial, capable of limiting, preventing, or controlling a great many disorders. And no, the FDA approval isn't a guarantee of safety and efficacy (and nor does it promise to be), so it makes sense to investigate on your own to decide, as the ads say, if a drug is "right for you."

But there's nothing inherently superior about herbs and plants on their own as specific remedies, and there's often a great deal that's inferior, as those who died with diseases that those plants didn't cure or with ailments they acquired from the treatment could tell you, if they weren't dead. Modern medicine can certainly kill you, as can modern lifestyles. However, they're also why people live considerably longer now than they used to.

Now, me? I haven't had any of those problems because I've been on a fucking-omg-low-fat diet for the past 9 months and my doctor recommended I use it to help push me through the diet plateau because I haven't lost weight in 6 months. He warned me about the "treatment effects" but I think he just assumed I was cheating on my diet.

Meanwhile, I told a friend about how it helped get me decreasing mass again and she started taking it and, heh, ignoring the warnings I've seen her at her desk maybe 40% of the time, and hasn't worn white pants in weeks. XD

Just doing my part.

@Jeff Newman:

I wasn't as bad as your friend, but I experienced extreme depression while on Accutane. Granted my face looked great, but I felt like crap otherwise.

If the link doesn't work, just try latimes.com / panic.

I agree with you that there's definitely a stigma involved in mental illness of any sort. And that stigma itself is the very reason why so many people immediately flock to their doctors for anxiety/depression without consulting friends or relatives first (for advice, first-line defenses, & so on). That perceived sense of shame prevents people from talking about it openly. Until that shame is gone, most people will run quietly to their doctor before investigating alternative (or even complementary!) treatments.

Nah, just fooling around. I should never be introduced to new gimmicks... ; ) (No more upside-down stuff for me unless it REALLY fits the topic.)

Depakote 500 mg.

While medicinal plants are certainly useful from time to time, having the potential for effectiveness to vary widely from crop to crop is not really a good thing. One personal example: I have a friend who relies on herbs for birth control. She has had four unplanned pregnancies.

I take a daily birth control pill (the only drug I take). I have had no unplanned pregnancies. I will stick with my Evil Western Medicine and pass up the herbs.

But roll snake eyes and you suffer a deadly asthma attack.

(Actual odds may vary.)

worked though. he only took it for 3 weeks and is going on 1 1/2 years being tobacco free.

A few years ago (6-7) the Paxil television ads mentioned "injury" as a side effect. Nothing more specific, just "injury". I asked my psychiatrist if she knew what that meant, she didn't and was as amused as I was. She asked the drug rep when he came in that week and he didn't know either.

One of life's unsolved myseteries...

Newsflash, there are tons of drugs on the market today in which researchers don't know in what way it works. 40 years ago, no one cared or could figure out how drugs worked, and as long as they did, they were brought to market. Lots of those drugs have never been looked at again.

You think they know how Tylenol works? Think again.

Oohh -- that is classic SNL. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

For what it's worth, here's my own Paxil + withdrawal story:

[www.latimes.com]

Think about it: Drug companies scour the world for a plant product or animal secretion that shows medical benefit... and then they try to identify the ONE SINGLE CHEMICAL responsible for that effect. We're not throwing the coffee out for the caffeine, are we?

Brilliantly worded. I wish I had done this several years ago before trying Paxil. Hell, my doctor gave me a few samples (which obviously had no warnings listed on the little foil blister packets) & I trusted his expertise. I "talked to my doctor" like a good little recipient of DTC drug ads. And doing a bit of research first would have saved me from 2 years of emotional flat-lining & another 7.5 months of a very difficult withdrawal.

Wouldn't the purple spots under your skin, be on par with acne?? What is worse? Red or purple?
Well, I guess Purple does look better on me so give me that sans acne with some rectal bleeding and top it off with some bone pain!

side effects include...
Sleep Walking Cannibalism

One day, we were worried because he was two hours late with no notification from his office. We figured they were having security issues or he was in an accident. Nope. Turned out he'd started taking Alli which (as he later told us in graphic detail) was giving him random bouts of explosive, oily diarrhea. After every drop-off at a business, he'd have to use their bathroom for 20 minutes.

He said he was sticking to diet and exercise from then on.

[www.netwellness.org]

I've had them on and off since I was a teenager and they are disturbing.

In regards to Accutane for acne, usually people who take it have very severe acne and the risk of those symptoms is worth it. I had a roommate in college who had some of the worst acne I had ever seen and began taking what I think was Accutane. He admitted that it made him a bit down in the dumps and sometimes flat out depressed, but his acne? Completely cleared up. To him, this was worth it.

It took me three withdrawal attempts to get off the damn stuff, & that's the short version of the story. I hear Effexor is even more difficult to wean off of, though.

When I was hospitalised the nurses would split the pills to reach my odd dosage occasionally and I'd go nuts with the shocks (the pills were slow-release and cutting them made it all get absorbed quick, leading to withdrawal later in the day). Took me months AFTER i got reeased to figure it all out.

from first-hand experience, i have never dreamed so lucidly!

And there is odd side-effect that ambien has caused people to wake out of a coma.

America has a huge drug abuse problem. It's called pharmaceuticals!

People treat FDA certification like it's some sort of gold seal from your fairy grandmother - when in reality the FDA studies are designed by the drug companies themselves and often ignore or willfully disclose dangerous side effects or ineffectiveness. In my opinion, pharmaceutical companies are one of the largest criminal rackets in business in America today.

Despite what the media might say, pharmaceuticals are NOT the only effective system of medicine in the world..and certainly not the safest. For any ailment, there are a whole host of remedies that are cheaper, safer, and more effective than pharmaceuticals. Dietary changes, lifestyle changes, traditional herbs, etc. etc. The best way to avoid illness is to have a strong immune system - and this cannot come out of an orange bottle.

We live in an age of massive fraud on many levels. The bankers design the bank bailouts, the drug companies design the drug regulations, the defense contractors design the defense contracts. These are massively corrupt organizations that work against the public interest on a daily basis.

It is your responsibility as a citizen and a human being to take full responsibility for your health and what goes in to your body. Research every claim you read, and research every product, it's side affects and alternatives before putting it in your body.

If you value your health, you should avoid pharmaceuticals whenever possible - and it is probably possible a lot more often than you might think. And you should certainly never rely on pharmaceuticals for your health maintenence - in the long term, there is almost always another solution.

Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs: Itching, Vertigo, Dizziness, Tingling in extremities, Loss of balance or coordination, Slurred speech, Temporary blindness, Profuse sweating, Heart palpitations

If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head. Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin. When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration...

Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability. Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space. Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

*Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.*

Right around the same time (roughly, I don't know exactly when he went on it, but he mentioned it during the same period), he went essentially crazy. His symptoms are EXACTLY what is listed there.

He went from a straight-edge, very intelligent, very high GPA student looking to become a CPA and turned into a psychotic, depressed, suicidal, generally unhinged person.

He became obsessed with a girl at school that may or may not have known his name, convinced that she was his soulmate even though they had never spoken.

He wrote extremely disturbing things about killing sprees, killing himself, killing others, etc. These weren't "call for attention" type things- these were not intended for others to see.

He stopped going to school by the 1st semester of his senior year. Around the same time, he started getting heavily into drugs, taking anything he could get his hands on.

Most scary is that throughout this, he would have seizures where he would go numb and be unable to move, or could only move certain parts of his body.

He went through lots of doctors, and nobody could figure it out. Honestly, I thought it was psychosomatic and related to the other unhinged behaviors, but it sounds like there is a good chance all of this was related to him taking acne medication.

...and yet it's STILL illegal in most states.

Shouldn't that be re-categorized as a Feature, not a Bug?

What faster way to lose pounds can you think of?

If this medication causes your death, stop taking it and notify your physician immediately.