Strattera Gets Warning Label
The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors Thursday about reports of suicidal thinking in some children and adolescents who are taking Strattera, a drug used to treat attention deficit disorder. Manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co. announced that a black-box warning will be added to the drug's label in the United States. Such a warning is the most serious that can be added to a medication's label. In a statement, the FDA said it "is advising health care providers and caregivers that children and adolescents being treated with Strattera should be closely monitored for clinical worsening, as well as agitation, irritability, suicidal thinking or behaviors, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of therapy or when the dose is changed."

The Numbing Of American Kids
Young children are often prescribed psychotropic drugs for pain relief, anxiety, bed wetting and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. The number of preschoolers in the United States being prescribed antidepressants and stimulants soared 50 percent between 1991 and 1995s, despite limited knowledge about the effects of such drugs on young children. The number of 2 to 4 year-olds on psychiatric drugs including Ritalin and antidepressants like Prozac jumped 50 percent between 1991 and 1995, in a study of more than 200,000 preschool-age children. The number of children getting any of the drugs totaled about 100,000 in 1991, and jumped 50 percent to 150,000 in 1995. That year, 60 percent of the youngsters on drugs were age 4, 30 percent were 3 and 10 percent were 2-year-olds. In 2002, about 6 percent of all boys and girls were taking antidepressants, triple the rate in the period 1994-96. And about 14 percent of boys -- nearly one in seven -- were on stimulant drugs in 2002, double the number in 1994-96. Research in the United States found that Ritalin may cause lasting changes to the brain. In a study carried out by the Harvard Medical School, healthy rats given the drug in their infancy were found to have a reduced sense of pleasure and were more prone to signs of despair during adulthood. Are the children who take stimulant medications today setting themselves up for chronic adult depression? Perhaps.

Paxil and Other Antidepressants May Increase Risk of Suicide In Children
Mosholder, a child psychiatrist, reviewed data from 20 clinical trials involving more than 4,100 children and eight different antidepressants. His preliminary analysis, according to two FDA sources familiar with the report's contents, concluded that there was an increased risk of suicidal behavior among children being treated for depression with Paxil and several other antidepressants. The use of antidepressants and other psychiatric medication among children has more than tripled in recent years and now approaches adult usage rates, according to a January 2003 study in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Study author Julie Zito, an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine at the University of Maryland, estimates that more than 1 million American children used antidepressants in 2000.

Just Say No Campaign Seems Ironic
I find it ironic that while our children are lining up to attend a “Just Say No To Drugs Talk,�?their being dispensed their daily Ritalin, Strattera, or other mood altering drug. Implying that there is a drug for every symptom only increases the false belief that we can self medicate away our fears and inadequacies with illegal mind altering substances.

Paxil And Birth Defects
The Food and Drug Administration is warning that a study has suggested that the antidepressant Paxil may be associated with birth defects. Paxil's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, said it will include the results of the study in the drug's list of precautions. A retrospective study found increased numbers of babies born with birth defects to women who were taking Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy, as compared with women on other antidepressants, according to the FDA and the company. To learn more about anxiety and depression please click on the link below to view a past newsletter.

 Health News from Dr. Murphree