"Black box warnings" not just for downed airliners Deadly side effect of a "made-up" disease's drug It's been a while since I talked about ADHD. If you've been reading me for any amount of time at all, you already know what I think about the "disease": In the vast majority of cases, an ADD or ADHD diagnosis is the result of unqualified professionals (like school nurses or guidance counselors) planting the seed in the minds of unqualified parents that perfectly normal, yet with moderately challenging childhood behavior like a short attention span and rambunctious-ness are signs of a medical problem… And once parents are convinced that their unruly child is the way he or she is because of an illness instead of because of their poor parenting, they'll haul the kid before a doctor and insist he (or she, I know) write a prescription. At that moment begins a lifelong cycle of self-doubt and dependency that any child would have trouble overcoming, even well into adulthood. What's even more absurd is the medical establishment's astonishing "roll-over-and-play-dead" attitude about the whole thing. After all, it's easier, faster, and more profitable to keep writing prescriptions for Ritalin and other drugs than it is to confront parents with their lackluster parenting skills. This, the grow-up-too-fast, schizophrenic pace of life, the jump-cut look of today's media, and Ritalin's status as a schoolyard-black-market favorite (kids are literally faking the illness to get prescriptions they can sell to other kids for their stimulant value) are why rates of ADD and ADHD diagnosis have gone up so much in the last 15 years - it's now estimated that 7% of children have one of these "disorders." How ridiculous! Which brings me to my point: The drugs that are often prescribed for these conditions are far from harmless. In fact, they pack a whole list of disturbing side effects, including one most recently and indelibly identified with antidepressants: Suicide. According to a recent Associated Press story, The FDA warned doctors that the ADHD drug Strattera (made by Eli Lilly & Co.), has been linked by a recent study to suicide among children. Interestingly enough, even though Strattera has been praised by health care professionals and parents alike for its non-addictive nature (it's not a stimulant like Ritalin), the drug nevertheless is chemically quite similar to certain antidepressants…. **************************************************** According to the AP piece, a larger FDA review of psychiatric drugs and their potential links to suicide revealed the correlation between Strattera and suicidal tendencies. Among their findings from past clinical trials:
In one clinical trial of 1357 patients of varying ages, 5 youths reported suicidal thoughts during the study. One involved youngster actually attempted suicide. This, compared to…
No attempted suicides or reports of suicidal thoughts among the 851 patients in the same study's "placebo" group.
Of course, many youths ponder suicide - it's in the nature of those in the throes of massive hormonal tides, bodily transformations, and mental development to take a walk on the dark side of their mortality. But apparently, there's enough damning evidence to prompt the FDA to require Lilly to post on Strattera's packaging the most stringent warning label mandated by the agency: The "black box" warning. Nearly 3.5 million people have been prescribed Strattera since its introduction. Lilly bigwigs say around 3/4 of those were children at the time of first prescription. If there is any statistical truth to the ratio of patients to suicidal tendencies revealed in the placebo-controlled study the AP article cited, that means approximately 9,000 of those kids considered suicide who ordinarily wouldn't have. It also means that around 1800 of them attempted suicide because of the drug… I'll bet not all of them failed. Never failing to warn you, William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
