I'm Back

Hi! I know I've been off for a while, sorry. I have been working at getting a new job and all sorts of life stuff has been coming up. I'm back now though, so you should be getting semi-consistent posts from now on. :)

Just as a little tidbit, here's an interesting link: Military Suicide Rising. While some may say that the rate of military suicide is rising due to PTSD, I'd say there is more behind that. Obviously, I'm not a doctor, but here's my idea:

War is an awful thing. It certainly is extremely upsetting. So we are giving our military men and women - the people who are willing to give up their lives for us, we give them SSRIs and other drugs that deal in Serotonin reuptake. The majority of these drugs has suicide as a side effect.

While my opinions are anti-war, a part of my family has been heavily involved in the military since World War II. I respect and admire them and their bravery. It is extremely upsetting to me that we are allowing people who are willing to die for us and our country drugs that could make them kill themselves.

What do you think?

Shooting - Prozac Induced?

Decide for yourself, check out this article with the following in mind - Prozac is an SSRI with side effects of suicidal thoughts and violent behavior. SSRI withdrawl symptoms include the above two side effects as well.

Why do we have people on such destructive drugs? Aren't mental health experts supposed to be protecting society against those who would be dangerous to themselves and others - not causing depressed people to become dangerous to themselves or others via drugs?

What do you think?

Schoolboy Suffers from Suicidal Side Effect of Ritalin

This article reports the tragic death of 15 year old Anthony Cole, who hung himself after being on Ritalin for 6 years. From the report, it seems like it was a premeditated suicide - days before his suicide he had asked about how to write a will and about life insurance, an hour before he was found dead he had cuddled his parents and told them that he loved them.

My heart goes out to his parents, his brother and sisters, his friends and extended family. I don't understand why parents are still allowing their children to take these drugs, I can only guess that it's because the side effects are not being taken seriously. They are very real and very serious.

If you know someone on Ritalin, please make sure they know the side effects and have fully evaluated their decision to take it.

Falling Out of Love - Yet Another Side Effect of Anti-Depressants

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (or SSRIs) are drugs like Zoloft and Prozac. These drugs have many side effects - they've had black box warnings put on them as these drugs have shown to increase suicidal tendencies in kids and teens. Now it's been found that it can cause people to no longer be in love with their significant other. This makes me wonder - if these anti-depressants make someone no longer in love with another person - what is there to prevent the drug from making the user fall out of love with other things? In my opinion, the opposite of being depressed is being happy. Would you be happy if a drug made you no longer love your significant other? Wouldn't that make you wonder if the drug was making you no longer love other things or activities that you used to enjoy? How does that make someone less depressed?

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or "SSRIs"

There is a kind of drug called "SSRIs" - which stands for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. These are drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft that are supposed to regulate the amount of a neurological chemical made naturally in the body called "Seritonin". Basically the seritonin is there as a neurotransmitter. It allows a message to get to one nerve to the other. When the receiving nerve gets the message, it's called "reuptake". So, these drugs stop "reuptake" from occurring, thereby making more seritonin available in the brain and also cutting off the communication abilities of the brain.
I read somewhere that in experiments with rats, these "SSRIs" made the rats get insanely violent and that too much seritonin will do that to any animal, no matter how tame it is. I will post where I got this from once I figure out what book it was.
Some of the side effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are agitation, nervousness, sexual problems, nausea, fever, kidney problems, heart problems, liver failure and suicide.

Here's a Fox News investigation into SSRIs and other psychiatric drugs: