The suicide squeeze (Part 1)
For all the ink I've expended on the subject of
antidepressants in the last two years or so (in both the
Daily Dose and in my newsletter), I still can't seem to stay
ahead of the stunning torrent of negative information out
there about these drugs. Really, there's so much flotsam
floating to the surface about prescription antidepressants
nowadays that even the drug-happy mainstream is being forced
to report it. Here's the latest in the "happy-pill" soap
opera…
It turns out that in addition to the laundry list of other
side effects of prescription antidepressants (to name just a
few: headaches, skin rashes, nausea, diarrhea, sexual
dysfunction, back and joint pain, tremors, and yes, even
anxiety), some within this class of drugs have been linked
to an increased likelihood of - you guessed it… Suicide.
Now that's one way to cure depression once and for all, huh?
According to articles in Reuters and the Associated Press,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now sounding the
alarm to doctors nationwide about recent reports that show
certain classes of antidepressant drugs may actually spur
some profoundly depressed children and young adults to take
their own lives.
I could name some of these medications, but to do that would
shift the focus to a few specific drugs instead of an entire
class of 20 or more prescription antidepressants, any and
all of which might contribute to this effect. Remember, even
though only one such drug is currently approved for treating
juvenile depression, many others designed only for use in
adults could be being prescribed to minors by any number of
doctors - all perfectly legally.
Drug makers will no doubt be quick to point out that
establishing a conclusive link between suicide and
antidepressant drugs is nearly impossible, since the very
patients who take such drugs themselves represent the single
greatest at-risk group for suicide. How could anyone
pinpoint causation in such a group?
But this argument leads to the really disturbing part of
this drama (as if drugged-out kids killing themselves isn't
bad enough). Learn all about it in the next Daily Dose… *********************************************** Litigating over lamb chops?
Movie stars are kooky, we all know this.
Something about all that money and glitz and seeing their
names in lights every night just convinces them that they
aren't like the rest of us anymore. And once they get to
this point, once they're convinced of their own special-
ness, it seems that they love nothing better than to start
suing newspapers and magazines over stories that aren't
flattering to their images - whether they're true or not.
Such may very well be the case in the Catherine Zeta-Jones
vs. The Atkins Diet brouhaha that's currently making
headlines. Now I normally don't follow the Hollywood beat,
but this story's just too juicy to ignore. The gist of it is
that the comely Zeta-Jones (tinsel town royalty since
marrying Michael Douglas) has been linked in certain news
outlets with the Atkins diet.
And that's really steamed her vegetables, so to speak.
Why? Because among the meat-is-murder Hollywood elite, any
link to normal, healthy nutrition (based on dietary fats and
proteins, of course) is a fashion faux pas of the highest
order. You see, out there on the left coast, it's perfectly
OK to be a militant vegetarian, a witch, a bulimic, a drug
addict, a cross-dresser, a sexual predator, and on and on
and on - just not a carnivore!
And to think, these are the kinds of people we spend
billions of dollars a year to watch on screens both big and
small. People who used to be just like you and me, but now
think they are something better - who'd just as soon sue
someone than admit to savoring a steak or two in the name of
lean good health like the rest of us. That would just be too
ordinary for them, wouldn't it?
Maybe that's why I haven't been to a movie in close to
forever.
Dishing the dirt on the meat-hating mainstream,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
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