Date:  Thu Mar 15, 2001 5:35am

Hi everyone,
Today my withdrawal symptoms were really rough, so I decided on a plan of 
action. This is much worse than the depression I had in the beginning.
Every time they get unbearable I'm calling the FDA  1-888-463-6332 and asking 
to talk with someone there. They always tell you to discuss this with your DR. 
Then I tell them I've left him several voice mails and my calls have not been 
returned and that I'm feeling really shaky and confused and would like to talk 
with a medical professional.  Of course you don't really get to do this, you'll 
get to tell your problem to many people until you end up leaving, you guessed 
it folks, a voice mail message. I'm very careful as to what I say so I don't 
end up with an expensive 72 hour stay at the Macadamia Motel. Then I called the 
manufacturer of Effexor, Wyeth-Ayerst 1-800-934-5556 and do the same thing. If 
it's after business hours, I go to the FDA's web site www.fda.gov and report an 
adverse drug reaction. Hopefully someone will get the hint.  This is really bad 
stuff. Hell hath no fury like a woman that was not told a drug could be 
addictive. Can barely go in a grocery or department store because the lighting 
bothers me. I start getting real confused and sweaty.

Those doctors were required to tell me about the side effects and they didn't. 
My last psych doc said "you're lucky your not withdrawing from Paxil, that's 
even worse. Guess he'd forgotten he prescribed both Effexor and Paxil for me to 
take at the same time. There's no telling what the serotonin in my brain is 
doing. Not only that, the med I was prescribed for headaches, Zomig, messes up 
the serotonin and these 3 meds shouldn't be taken simultaneously. Three docs 
and one hospital knew I was on these meds and never told me of any interactions 
nor did the pharmacy where they were filled.  
 
I've talked with several lawyers and no one wants to touch this. Even called a 
referral service to try and find a lawyer. I'm considering filing a civil suit. 
I have very little background in law and will file myself if I have to. I've 
read about the serotonin syndrome. When I admitted myself into a mental 
hospital, I was shaking uncontrollably, was very confused and disoriented and 
felt like I couldn't breathe.  After the initial input interview, I was place 
on a wing of the clinic and told to go watch TV that I'd see a Dr. the next day.
He wanted me to take Zoloft and stuck his finger in my face and told me if I 
didn't play the game their way they wouldn't help me.  Also I was interrogated 
by a therapist.  Why do you want to kill yourself?  Is there anyone you'd like 
to kill? (yes, and I mentioned the name of a government official, of course I'd 
also like to get the person that invented phone menus, but I didn't get the 
chance to mention that) Do you own a gun? (no) Do you want to own a gun? (yes)  

Well she called the FBI and I was interrogated by police from the state capitol.
They were the nicest of any of the people that I encountered at the hospital. 
They informed me that what I said could result in Life in a Federal 
Penitentiary without any chance of parole. The power of words. I was almost 
ready to leave with them, since they had at least been somewhat kind. When I 
explained the situation and that I didn't even have an unpaid parking ticket 
they said they would be turning the matter over to the County DA, told me 
they'd me watching me, and took mug shots. All I really wanted was help to get
off my meds. I never said anything to the effect that I was going to kill or 
hurt anyone. That will definitely be a chapter in a book.

Nina

Date:  Thu Mar 15, 2001 3:34pm

Response1:
The drug czars factor in the cost of lawsuits, so it's really no big deal to 
them to pay out a few million bucks when they are raking in $6Billion a year 
on Prozac alone.  There have been 175 lawsuits filed against Prozac.  Most 
have been dismissed or settled out of court.  The system is so corrupt that 
the very government that allows this crap to be sold legally actually 
believes the bogus statistics that 40% of all Americans are mentally ill and 
NEED these kinds of medication.  They have a propaganda machine to rival that 
which Joseph Goebbels created for the Third Reich.  The average american also 
believes that these pills are for the good of those who are mentally ill.  
Every time I hear someone say "If these drugs were dangerous, the FDA 
wouldn't have approved them."  BULLCRAP!  The FDA only knows what it's told 
and clinical data is skewed all the time, not to mention all the FDA folks 
who get bribed. The whole system stinks, and I would almost guarantee that a 
documentary will be just a spark, not a bonfire, in the war against SSRIs.  
But every little bit helps because if we keep silent, like the Germans in the 
30's, the next holocaust will be SSRI-related.     

Trisha

Date:  Sat Mar 17, 2001 1:05am

Response2:
All I can say is...no, I have no words. What a horror. I just wish I could actually be surprised by such a tale. 

Heidi