December 28, 2007

12-28-2007 Media Madness

I hope all of your had a nice Christmas. I've been working my butt off at the shelter and haven't had much time for writing per se. But I wanted to pass along a few items that caught my eye recently.
First, CBS News took on the whole Chantix suicidality connection the other day, and encountered one woman without a mental health history who suddenly tried to kill herself while on the stop smoking pill. I hope the FDA plans to rule soon on whether the drug requires black box warnings in the US, as both Europe and Australia have already determined that it does. Why the FDA moves slower than other nations' regulatory bodies is beyond me. Or do they allow their own data to be used to protect citizens of other countries but not of our own?
Remember that paper I posted last week in which a researcher had analyzed Lilly's pain alleviation data for Cymbalta and found that the company inflated the effects of the drug and that its pain-treating effects were almost nil? I had a hunch we'd hear more about that paper and I was right. The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog has taken on the topic and quotes Lilly as defending the drug and its data. It also quotes the study's author referring to Lilly's pain alleviation claims: "I think it’s certainly misleading at best, and completely false at worst." I guess the real question that needs to be asked now--in light of what seemed to me to be an authoritative analysis of Lilly's data--is how the drug could have been approved for treating neuropathic pain and whether Lilly is making any marketing claims for the drug that aren't bolstered by data.
Several readers have passed along news in the last week of electric shocks being used on youths at a school, the Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts. The kids are some of the toughest behavioral and dysfunction cases going, openly attacking strangers for example. They've flunked out every other conventional unconventional therapy and medications too, so they are now treated with shocks. New York State is trying to break its association with the center, but is meeting resistance from the parents of some of these kids. The New York Times has a good article on this.
What bugs me is that these kids have no rights in the process, as the shocks are approved of by their parents and a court, and that just doesn't sit square with me since our society long ago shunned such treatments as barbaric and does not use them on terrorists for example (at least as far as I know). So why wouldn't these kids get similar consideration?
Thanks to all of you who passed along articles on this center. I appreciate the nudge to write about it.


December 27, 2007

That Was 2007, Part 2

Here's the second installment of my year-end wrap up. So much happened in mental health news this year that I broke it into two posts. 2007 was that busy of a year. The first part is here and now for the second.
July
News of hundreds of deaths related to atypical anti-psychotics in Australia.
I go off the last of my bipolar meds, Lamictal, at my doctor's urging.
Then, I run into Lamictal withdrawal, previously unknown to me, my doctor and apparently the FDA.
August
Somehow, this blog winds up involved in the case of Rita Pal, a British psychiatrist.
September
The diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kinds and teens is up 4,000 percent.
Much doubt is cast upon a study of suicide rates and anti-depressant use.
The FDA adverse events database reveals that Zyprexa, Risperdal, Clozaril and Paxil have killed thousands of Americans.
A Dallas musician was killed after an adverse reaction to Chantix.
BMS settles allegations of payoffs and other wrongdoing with the feds for $515 million. Some of the allegations involved Abilify.
October
News that a new generation of anti-psychotics have not improved outcomes for people diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Many readers continue to comment on problems with Lamictal withdrawal.
November
I ask speculatively if depression is even a mental illness. That leads to this site's longest comment thread ever.
Anti-depressants implicated in the death of an Australian newscaster.
The CATIE study establishes that anti-psychotic use in dementia is not medically warranted.
The very ugly Megan Meier/MySpace case first appears.
Soon after studies appear casting doubt on treatment and outcomes for ADHD kids, New York Times columnist Judith Warner goes to bat for researchers and Big Pharma.
Just how ugly the use of anti-psychotics is in nursing homes in Florida is revealed.
The State of Arkansas sues the maker of Risperdal and alleges that the drug was defective when it was put on the market.
Hundreds of reports of suicide and suicidality related to Chantix are revealed.
December
I give a lecture in Florida.
The Wall Street Journal goes after anti-psychotic use in nursing homes in New York State.
After yet another mass murder, it appears that the young male shooter was on anti-depressants.
Google screws me over and I lash out at the company.
After years of doing well, my doctor refuses to undiagnose my bipolar disorder. I reflect upon the moment.
Two British psychiatrists rip apart the rise in bipolar disorder.
A huge public backlash erupts around the so-called Ransom Notes campaign.
News that Lilly's claims that its anti-depressant Cymbalta treats pain are apparently wildly overstated.
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December 26, 2007

That Was 2007, Part 1

Here's the first installment of my year-end wrap up. So much happened in mental health news this year that I broke it into two posts. 2007 was that busy of a year. The second one will be up tomorrow.
January
More bad news on deaths from Zyprexa use.
A former Seattle area cop, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, gets a settlement for discrimination from her former employer.
February
The first news of the Rebecca Riley case--an allegedly bipolar child allegedly murdered by her parents--came out this month.
I made the Zyprexa documents available to the public.
I catch NAMI National trying to help Lilly cover up its Zyprexa mess.
A federal court judge rules on the Zyprexa documents.
I use the Zyprexa documents to reveal how Lilly wanted to turn Zyprexa into the new Lithium.
March
Former Senator and former Vice Presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton died.
The State of Montana sued Lilly over Zyprexa, alleging kickbacks on the part of the company.
A very significant finding came out of the STEP-BD study: anti-depressants don't work for people with bipolar disorder.
April
A mentally ill student at Virginia Tech committed a massacre. Many commentators tried to call him schizophrenic, but the evidence pointed elsewhere.
May
Researchers claim that 4.5 percent of Americans have bipolar disorder. I used the occasion to smash what passes for bipolar disorder in our culture.
The State of Utah sues Lilly over Zyprexa.
June
Starbucks pays for discriminating against a barista diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
One of the chief proponents of the child bipolar disorder is profiled.
A huge fight breaks out amongst psychiatrists over bipolar disorder in children.