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Mental Health  (Expert Forum)
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Adverse Drug Reaction-neurological/mental health issue
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Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
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Adverse Drug Reaction-neurological/mental health issue

by Karen123, Jun 18, 2005 12:00AM
I'm not sure where to post this--neurology maybe? 10  months ago I had a ADR to Levaquin & Prednisone--(no sleep for 4 days, hallucinations, then ongoing insomnia,then terrible anxiety for 2 months). I have had 2 other anxious times--always around hormones (going off birth control pills etc.) I had some mild depression after the anxiety resolved, but feel mostly up these days.



The only psychlogical thing left is extreme irritability with family (2 small kids)at times--very short temper. I've read on fqvictims.org (for people with ADRs from fluroquinolone meds) that these drugs can affect sleep. Besides the irritability, the biggest problem which has gotten better, but not resolved is... as I go to sleep with eyes closed I have these dreams--while awake (hypnagogic-like). They are often disturbing (hallucination-like frightnening faces, teeth, claws--moving as in movie or nightmare). I know it is not real--i.e. I don't SEE these things except with eyes closed, but as I fall asleep it is quite disturbing. When I am very tired I sort of start sensing these visual abnormalities coming on.  The only thing I can do is read as I fall asleep so I don't have time for these "dreams". I've read that THETA waves (sleep patterns)can be affected by these drugs. It certainly affected my sleep in the beginning. What is this?



I am wondering if I should see a neurologist or perhaps a  psychiatrist? The big question for me is...will this go away or is my brain permanently damaged? Is the irritiblity related? Considering my history of reactions to going on and off meds, I do NOT want to take any meds for this. Any other options?



Thanks for your help! I really want to get back to being the best parent for my two small children
Doctor's Answer

by Roger Gould, M.D., Jun 20, 2005 12:00AM
Yes, it will go away, and the best person to see is a psychiatrist who will help you deal and make sense out of what is going on inside your mind that is generating these symptoms. You are at a new phase of your life, and consolidating your many parts is what is going on now.
Member Comments (3)

by Starzstuff, Jul 12, 2005 12:00AM
Parents have joined a mental health watchdog group asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate misleading advertising that could be forcing up drug sales and placing children at risk. They want the FDA to issue a warning letter to manufacturers—and, thereby, send a warning to psychiatric and patient groups they fund—that “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” (ADHD)—and other mental disorders—cannot be promoted or advertised as “neurobiological” or caused by a “chemical imbalance” when scientific evidence does not support this. This follows a complaint last week to the FDA from 20 doctors, supported by actresses Kirstie Alley and Kelly Preston, urging stronger pediatric warnings on psychiatric drugs.



The complaint is one of many expected in light of the June 28, 2005 FDA warning that stimulants drugs prescribed to children can cause suicidal ideation, psychotic or violent behavior, and adverse cardiac effects. The FDA has already ordered a “black box” warning for antidepressant use in children because of suicidal reactions. Parents of adolescents who died or committed suicide while taking psychiatric drugs have supported the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) in its submission to the FDA, urging them to provide information to consumers that psychiatric drugs do not “correct” any scientifically substantiated chemical imbalance or neurobiological psychiatric disorder.



Steven and Vicky Dunkle from Smethport, Pennsylvania, are still trying to come to grips with the death of their 10-year-old daughter, Shaina, on February 26, 2001. After being prescribed an amphetamine for “ADHD,” Shaina suffered a seizure in the doctor’s office. Mrs. Dunkle rushed to hold her, where, minutes later, she died. An autopsy determined that Shaina had died from drug toxicity. Today, the Dunkles are members of a nationwide parents’ group, ABLECHILD.org, who receive hundreds of complaints from parents that have been forced to put their child on a psychiatric drug—largely for “ADHD” that they thought was neurobiological or similar to a physical disease.



Advertising for “ADHD” stimulants has claimed the condition is a “neurobiological disorder” and the American Psychiatric Association on its website says that medications are prescribed because they “may correct imbalances in brain chemistry.” Yet in a recent media interview, APA president Steven Sharfstein said they have “no lab test” to determine this.



The National Institutes of Health advises there is no “valid test for ADHD; there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.” The FDA agrees, “There is no biological test for ADHD.”



Dan and Celeste Steubing from Winchester, Virginia, testified before an FDA Hearing into antidepressants on September 13, 2004. In July 2003, their 18 year-old son, Matthew, had jumped to his death from the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. He’d started taking an antidepressant, Lexapro, shortly before graduating from high school. “Matthew was a happy and healthy child with no prior history of depression…He loved sports, loud music, pretty girls, cool cars and Seinfeld…He had plans to join the Air Force ROTC program. He did not plan to die,” Mrs.Steubing testified.



In an interview with CCHR, available on its website, Mrs. Steubing says that when Matthew starting feeling disillusioned, a psychologist diagnosed him with a “chemical imbalance” causing depression and recommended an antidepressant. “How do they know it’s a chemical imbalance? They did no test, they did no blood test. They did nothing except listen to his symptoms and diagnosed him with a chemical imbalance. And treat him with a drug that killed him,” Mrs. Celeste says. “As parents, we have a right to make an informed decision regarding our child's care,” she told the FDA.



Dr. Karl Hoffower, a health care advisor to CCHR says: “Psychiatrists and ADHD organizations with pharmaceutical funding advertise ADHD as a ‘neurobiological disorder,’ which is false. I’ve treated children damaged by these drugs. Parents tell me that they agreed to the ‘medication’ because they were told it would correct a ‘chemical imbalance.’ There isn’t any medical or scientific means of proving ADHD or any other mental disorder is biologically based. It’s misleading at best and medical malpractice at worst.”



The International Narcotics Control Board has repeatedly warned the U.S. government that because of funding from ADHD drug manufacturers to psychiatric advocacy groups, this could be indirect advertising of methylphenidate (Ritalin). And this can drive up sales. Annual stimulant sales are $1.3 billion while antidepressant sales are at $14 billion.

by kevinb20005, Jul 26, 2005 12:00AM
ADHD has never been proven to actually exist-



• Psychology professor Diane McGuinness, PhD: "Methodologically rigorous research indicates that ADHD and hyperactivity as 'syndromes' simply do not exist"



Neurologist Fred A. Baughman, MD: "We are not mis-diagnosing or over-diagnosing, mis-treating or over-treating ADHD. It has been a total, 100% fraud throughout its 35-year history"



The Australian National Association of Practising Psychiatrists (NAPP): "[ADHD] is not an inherited genetic disorder or organic disease" and "scientific evidence to support ADHD as a disorder is unproven".



• Author Beverly Eakman: "These drugs make children more manageable, not necessarily better. ADHD is a phenomenon, not a 'brain disease'. Because the diagnosis of ADHD is fraudulent, it doesn't matter whether a drug 'works'. Children are being forced to take a drug that is stronger than cocaine for a disease that is yet to be proven"



• Psychologist John Breeding, PhD: "The diagnosis of ADHD is, itself, fraudulent"



• The 1998 Consensus Development Conference, held by the US National Institutes of Health, came to this conclusion: "[W]e do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction"

by KittyMeghanLeah2, Jul 31, 2005 12:00AM
If you read the book Prozac Nation, you will see that rx drugs are a form of "shock therapy" as it causes brain damage and calms the self.  You mentioned absolutely out of your mind dreams that seem real, I get those when I am withdrawing from medication.  So far it's not happened too much with getting off of zoloft because I am still on