Delays are dangerous
The good ol' Food and Drug Administration is cleaning up after itself again, in its quest to make sure medicines are "safe and effective". Problem is, they tend to wait until there are people dying to look closely at these medicines instead of putting drug companies through their paces so that all side-effects are known from A to Z.
It seems the FDA has discovered it's time to expand the "black box" warning on antidepressants. There's already a warning that suicidal thoughts can increase in children and adolescents, and the FDA is planning to update the labels to include people up to the age of 24, with a recommendation that users of all ages be closely monitored. So, even though I'm sure your doctor means well, how often do doctors have patients return for "close monitoring"?
The big concern in the medical mainstream is that this warning may turn people off from seeking treatment. Clinical depression is a serious and debilitating illness, as I wrote about in the August issue, and those who truly need these drugs should use them. First and foremost, there needs to be a careful determination made as to whether or not this is clinical depression, or a case of the blues, in which case, there are natural alternatives that can ease the symptoms. Rather than thinking that the labels will turn people off, it's better to think that now patients will have a full picture with which to make an informed decision. Even more importantly, they can then self-monitor if they begin to exhibit symptoms of this dangerous side effect. That would make more sense, rather than letting people die. Funny when that happens-a lot of people aren't interested in what you have to offer anymore.
What can seem like an easy solution in the medical world can turn out to be life threatening. This is another case of having to be exceptionally vigilant these days when you enter your doctor's office with a health issue. Our health care system is designed for doctors to write prescriptions in a game of "you give me a symptom-I'll give you a drug" thinking.
