Tag: drugging

Study: ADHD Drugs Send Thousands to ERs

Written by Able Child on May 25, 2006. Posted in MedWatch.

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Accidental overdoses and side effects from attention deficit drugs likely send thousands of children and adults to emergency rooms, according to the first national estimates of the problem.

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated problems with the stimulant drugs drive nearly 3,100 people to ERs each year. Nearly two-thirds — overdoses and accidental use — could be prevented by parents locking the pills away, the researchers say.

Tots Used as Human Guinea Pigs?

Written by Able Child on May 17, 2006. Posted in MedWatch.

Joseph Rhee Reports:

ABC News has learned that a Massachusetts hospital is currently recruiting pre-schoolers to test the safety and effectiveness of a powerful antipsychotic drug called Quetiapine. (SEROQUEL AstraZeneca – Vince)

The study, conducted by the Department of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is testing subjects from four to six years of age with Bipolar Disorder. An earlier Massachusetts General study of the antipsychotic drugs Risperidone and Olanzapine recruited children as young as three years old.

ADHD Children ‘Suffer Strokes’

Written by Able Child on March 27, 2006. Posted in MedWatch.

CHILDREN as young as five have suffered strokes, heart attacks and hallucinations after taking drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Almost 400 serious adverse reactions to the two most used ADHD drugs, Ritalin and Dexamphetamine, had been reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), The Australian reported today.

Almost 60 of the adverse reaction reports dating back to 1980, obtained under freedom of information laws, involved children under the age of 10, the newspaper said.

Warning Urged on Stimulants Like Ritalin

Written by Able Child on February 10, 2006. Posted in MedWatch.

By Gardiner Harris

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 9 — Stimulants like Ritalin could have dangerous effects on the heart, and federal regulators should require manufacturers to provide written guides to patients and place prominent warnings on drug labels describing these risks, a federal advisory panel voted on Thursday.

The panel’s recommendation promises to intensify a long-running debate about whether the medicines are overused. Nearly four million patients take the drugs to treat attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, and committee members said they wanted to slow explosive growth in the drugs’ use.

FDA Reports 51 Deaths of Attention Drug Patients

Written by Able Child on February 9, 2006. Posted in MedWatch.

(Reuters) WASHINGTON – Deaths of 51 U.S. patients who took widely prescribed drugs to treat attention deficit disorder prompted regulators to start watching for heart attacks, high blood pressure and other problems in 2004, a report released on Wednesday said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff did not say the drugs were responsible for the fatalities, but they urged close monitoring for “the rare occurrence of pediatric sudden death during stimulant therapy.”

Calls Come For FDA ADHD Panel Member to Step Down

Written by Sheila Matthews on January 5, 2006. Posted in Lawmaking, MedWatch.

Patricia Weathers
President
www.ablechild.org
(845) 677-8115

Sheila Matthews
National Vice President
www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419

Victims and Advocates who plan on testifying before the February 9th FDA Risk Management Advisory Review Panel on ADD Drugs’ Link to Deaths, Heart Attacks are asking for one of it’s panel members to step down due to a concern over a conflict of interest. Stephanie Crawford, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy has been selected to sit on the advisory panel to weigh-in on ADD Drug Risks.

Parent and child advocates question Ms. Crawford’s longstanding affiliation with the University of Illinois and its long history with ADHD Research. The University of Illinois receives millions of dollars in Attention Deficit Drug Research. Both ADD and ADHD known as Attention Deficit Disorder with or without hyperactivity are subjective psychiatric labels for which there are no demonstrable objective tests. Without legitimate scientific testing to verify the existence of these labels, researchers have resorted to using highly subjective questionnaires, surveys, or rating scales in determining a diagnosis. A widely used and controversial rating scale, the “Acter’s profile for boys (or girls)” comes from the University of Illinois and its research department. This one screening method or random survey is being unlawfully used within the public education system without the approval of any Local, State, or Federal Government to diagnose school children throughout the United States . These research screenings are being casually passed off to parents and school personnel without full informed consent and are currently being legally challenged within Federal Courts. “Parents are simply not being told that their children are participating in research,” says Sheila Matthews Founder of Ablechild a non-profit organization.

Ms. Crawford’s own participation in ADHD Research under grant application PA-98004 Drug Abuse and ADHD in Adults and Their High Risk Offspring further demonstrates the just cause for her removal from the panel. Though the FDA has a conflict of interest screening process and waiver criteria, there are still some conflicts of interest that are simply not manageable and should be challenged.

To have a panel member that works for this particular University that receives a tremendous amount of pharmaceutical and psychiatric financial support to conduct research on this very same label defeats the purpose, authority, and function of the panel itself.

Wisconsin Mother Struggles to Meet the New Year

Written by Sheila Matthews on December 29, 2005. Posted in Interviews.

Patricia Weathers
President
www.ablechild.org
(845) 677-8115

Sheila Matthews
National Vice President
www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419

Lisa Payne
Parent
(920) 592-9558

AbleChild Rings in the New Year by Giving a Voice to those Clearly Forsaken by State Mental Health Vendors.

Lisa Payne of Green Bay , Wisconsin found little to be joyful about during the Christmas and Holiday season. Her daughter is still locked away in an Illinois State psychiatric “treatment” center, having been placed on a variety of mind-altering drugs by State appointed legal guardians.

Previously featured on Montel Williams, Lisa Payne was a survivor of domestic violence. A victim at the hands of her abusive husband, she was left for dead and her mother was murdered. Her daughter saved her life, called 911, and stayed by her side as help arrived. “I know my daughter needs my help now, I just don’t know how I can ensure that she gets it,” she said.

When Lisa awoke from a coma induced by the beatings, she discovered the Department of Children and Family Services had taken custody of her daughter. An agency originally designed to help children “at risk” or in traumatic situations; they had resorted to simply placing her daughter on psychiatric drugs and refused any input whatsoever from her as the biological mother. Making matters even worse, Lisa has now been court ordered to take antidepressants, undergo urine tests to ensure that she is complying with their drug regiment, and mandated to counseling. The Supreme Court ruling on the right to “treatment” never intended to result in the forced drug “treatment” of individuals.

Lisa Payne is up against a legal system that has been unchallenged regarding forced drugging of children in State care. Her chances of ensuring the safety for her child, looks grim. Her daughter is in another State and she cannot afford to travel to visit her. The court in Illinois has also refused to allow her daughter to transfer to a different psychiatric center closer to home. Her next court date is not scheduled until May of 2006.

She thinks about her possible visit sometime in January to bring her daughter gifts for the Holiday. “Maybe a pair of jeans” she tells Ablechild . “She doesn’t fit in her jeans anymore; her clothing size has been reduced from a size 9 to a size 3 due to the drugs effects. I am watching from an unbelievable distance as my daughter suffers in pain, and I have no say in her “treatment”. Now she is hearing voices. They tell me that it is from all her “trauma”, I know it’s from the drugs,” she adds.

Lisa Payne can be reached at 920-592-9558.

Mother Mary, Christmas Brings Tears for Some Mothers

Written by Sheila Matthews on December 19, 2005. Posted in Interviews.

Patricia Weathers
President
www.ablechild.org
(845) 677-8115

Sheila Matthews
National Vice President
www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419

Lisa Payne
Parent
(920) 592-9558

Lisa Payne of Green Bay , Wisconsin finds little to be joyful about during these most holy days of Christmas. Her daughter is locked away in a psychiatric “treatment” center having been placed on a variety of mind-altering drugs by the State of Illinois . She thinks about her possible visit sometime in January to bring her daughter gifts for the holiday. “Maybe a pair of jeans” she tells Ablechild . “She doesn’t fit in her jeans anymore; her clothing size has been reduced from a size 9 to a size 3 due to the drugs effects. I am watching from an unbelievable distance as my daughter suffers in pain, and I have no say in her “treatment”. Now she is hearing voices. They tell me that it is from all her “trauma”, I know it’s from the drugs,” she adds.

Deceptive Interview Demands Response from AbleChild

Written by Sheila Matthews on November 29, 2005. Posted in Violence.

Patricia Weathers
President
www.ablechild.org
(845) 677-8115

Sheila Matthews
National Vice President
www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419

Pharmaceuticals Chief Focuses His Attention on Drug Deficit and Away from Drug Abuse Reality, in an Interview with Matt Emmens, CEO of Shire Pharmaceuticals by Stephen Foley.

AbleChild could simply not ignore the recent U.K. interview with Mat Emmens, CEO of Shire pharmaceutical, when discussing attention deficit disorder and it’s “validity”… Mr. Emmens tells the many of us who don’t buy into the ADHD label, “That the people who say ADHD is not real don’t use data and the people who say it is real use data.” If we didn’t know any better this statement would be taken at face value, except for its “minor” glitch; that being, Shire Pharmaceutical, and its financial stake, aka financial conflict of interest, in promoting a biased marketing campaign to push its products, aka drugs.

The simple reality is that scientific data doesn’t support ADHD as a disease warranting these conveniently marketed drugs. “Scientific double talk” by all those profiting off of subjective labels and coined drugs is a marketing tool and nothing more. Buyer beware is the term we often hear when we sense something amiss, but can’t quite put our finger on it.

We only have to look a little deeper at Shire’s motivating factors for its recent promotion of ADHD and its “validity”. Shire’s profitable ADHD drug Adderall is coming off patent soon and the company is obviously and eagerly looking to expand its interests in ADHD drugs. It has already initiated an agreement with New Rivers Pharmaceuticals to launch a drug for ADHD specifically made to reduce the potential for amphetamine addiction in children.

Mr. Emmens failed to mention that drugs like Shire’s Adderall are central nervous stimulants listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as Class II category drugs, which are in essence equivalent to cocaine, with the same abuse potential. Could this be why America has an epidemic of high school and college kids abusing these drugs, using them as enhancement agents, study aids, and even grinding pills down to snort for a greater high? As reported by United Press International, a study that came out this July revealed that the number of teens who have abused prescription drugs has tripled in the past 10 years. Drugs that were reported abused were stimulants such as Adderall. “Today more people are abusing controlled prescription drugs than the combined number who use cocaine, hallucinogens, amphetamines and heroine,” Joseph A. Califano, president of the National Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse at Columbia University. On top of this The News Tribune reported on September 13th that the Drug Effectiveness Review Project, based at Oregon State University published a 731-page report on the safety and efficacy of ADHD drugs. This report was based on the group analyzing 2, 287 extensive studies of drugs to include Adderall. Their conclusion was that there was no scientific proof to say that these ADHD drugs were either safe or helpful.

We can certainly understand that Mr. Emmens would say just about anything to protect his rapidly growing pharmaceutical company, of which has made a not so insignificant profit of $550m on Adderall alone this year. Emmens is certainly paying for the drug data, evaluating it, concealing it, modifying it, and selling it without losing a night’s sleep. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he would push and defend the same data that results in drug promotion, and increased sales and revenues. Protect his interests, so to speak.

With the billion dollar pharmaceutical industry and its choke hold on an American public who has fallen into what resembles a kind of stupor, an alarming, overly relaxed state of acceptance of drug company advice, Matt Emmens comments don’t seem all in all out of the ordinary. The U.K. has every reason to be wary of this pharmaceutical giant’s game plan and its stealthy attempt to mask its motivations and leave another country in the dark.

As an American non-profit organization representing parents that have been victimized by those with conflicts of interests in both medical, mental health, and pharmaceutical establishments, we applaud the U.K. for being rightly skeptical. America ’s embrace of junk science is rather sickening. Our children and families have been harmed by drugs in the guise of “treatment” long enough. The U.K. should not follow in our folly.

For more information on psychiatric labels and drugs, please visit us at www.ablechild.org .

Prozac Backlash: Trouble in Prozac

Written by Able Child on November 28, 2005. Posted in MedWatch.

Fortune Magazine, by David Stipp

Can Prozac make you want to die? The idea seems strange, given that the drug and similar antidepressants are supposed to do just the opposite. Yet that is what Kimberly Witczak believes happened to her husband. Two years ago Tim “Woody” Witczak killed himself at age 37, soon after going on Pfizer’s Zoloft–the top-selling member of Prozac’s class of drugs, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. Her husband was an upbeat, happy man, says Kim Witczak. Shortly before his death he had been named vice president of sales at a startup that sold energy-efficient lighting. When anxiety about the new job caused insomnia, he was prescribed Zoloft. He began suffering from nightmares, profound agitation, and eerie sensory experiences after a couple of weeks on the medicine–at one point, she says, he said he felt as if his head were detached from his body. Then he seemed to calm down. But about five weeks after his first dose, he hanged himself from the rafters in their garage when Kim was out of town. He left no suicide note.