INTERESTING TIMES

In this morning's medical news, Pfizer has issued a nationwide recall of Effexor/venlafaxine (a SSRI or SNRI), because a drug used for heart arrhythmias has shown up in somebody's bottle. The two drugs are packaged on the same line, suggesting to me that the pills are of a similar size and shape, and perhaps a pill or two could get stuck inside the machines and rattle out into the next batch being bottled.

But the hazards of taking drugs for depression are much broader than that. The pills themselves could have ingredients that aren't desirable. The drugs could have side effects that we don't understand yet. The drug companies could know about possible side effects but keep that information hidden to protect sales. They're recalling these three batches because accidental ingestion of the heart drug could kill someone. If it just make you a little sick, or did something that wasn't traceable to them, do you think they'd recall product? Or that doctors would stop prescribing them?

One glance at the list of adverse effects given on the wikipedia page for Venlafaxine will boggle your brain. There are a lot. These occur in over 10% of people taking the drug: headache esp when you start taking the drug, or increase the dose, nauseam insomnia, weakness, dizziness, trouble climaxing, sleepiness, drymouth and sweating. And these are a little less common: constipation, nervousness, abnormal vision, anorgasmia, hypertension, impotence, paresthesia, tremor, vasodilation, vomiting, suicide attempts, bruxism, so many more. The list is too long to reproduce here.

SOURCES
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/821631
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venlafaxine

RECALLED
Lot #V130142 and V130140, both expire 10/2015
Greenstone lot #V130014, exp 8/2015.

WORRY IF YOU TAKE VENLAFAXINE AND
you feel faint, get dizzy, pass out, or have a very fast heartbeat

According to this short update on a new study that is. They tested 5 SSRI's on over 800 patients and found them "moderately" beneficial, with 3 of the SSRI's showing greater responses than the others. They want us to prescribe these antidepressants in addition to the antipsychotics that are standard 1st line therapies. My question: If the mechanisms of these 5 tested meds are the same, and presumably the doses are the same, why the difference in response among them? And how did placebo do? I'd like to know more about the stats--I don't just trust anybody's interpretation of stats these days. I certainly don't take for granted that anything medscape tells me is true, though I am interested in their conventional medicine perspective. Oh and I have more questions. What megacorp(s) made those 5 SSRI's? And what megacorp(s) paid for the research?

ABILIFY/aripiprapazole
new med
something to add to antidepressant if SSRI doesn't work for you
abilifytreatment.com
SE: suicide, stroke, high blood sugar, coma, death, siezure, trouble swallowing
not approved for dementia

According to new science: St John's Wort is as good as the big money-maker antidepressants for major depression, as well as minor/moderate. Up to now the pharmaceuticals have claimed that herbs can't help major depression. Also, St JW doesn't cause as many or as severe side effects as the pretty pills, though if you're going to take it you should definitely check into the possible drug interactions. For example, you might want to know that St John's Wort reduces the efficacy of oral birth control pills. Here are two abstracts:
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