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“…the Zoloft brought suicidal thoughts in like
wildfire into my brain.”
http://www.drugawareness.org/Archives/Survivors/record0028.html
My best friend of twenty-five years just died this
weekend, which I believe was due to Prozac. She had gone through high
school here in Oregon with me, and through undergraduate school at a
well-known private Oregon university, and then through graduate school
as a teaching assistant in music with me. We became like sisters over
the years, and after graduating and moving on from graduate school in
the early 1990s, remained extremely close. It was nothing for me or her
to email each other several times a month, and call at least once every
three months, if not once a month. I can truly say she was the friend I
loved best out of all the people God has put into my path, and was a
truly sweet, caring individual. She was also a gifted concert level
pianist, and played for many concerts and recitals I gave (I am also a
musician).
However, about three or four years ago, due to several incidences in her
life, most especially the death of her mother from diabetes
complications, the doctors put her on Prozac and one other SSRI
medication, along with some others which I don't know the names of (the
second SSRI I also don't know, but I do know it was an SSRI). I was
extremely alarmed, having had a horrendous experience taking Zoloft
myself for only three days about five or six years ago when I went
through a period of severe depression - I had lost a lot of weight and
such, but had never once had suicidal thoughts during my depression -
the Zoloft brought suicidal thoughts in like wildfire into my brain -
and I knew this was not right, so I told my doctor at the time that I
absolutely refused to take any more of them.
So I began attempting to dissuade this girl friend, who was now a mother
of two small children and living in Michigan, by both talking to her,
sending her some articles about the dangers of Prozac and similar type
meds via your email newsletter, and also sending her some audio tape
copies of some of your radio appearances. This was the only time we had
had a disagreement in the last ten years. I am fairly certain she
neither listened to the tapes nor read the materials I sent her, since
she adamantly insisted to me when I tried the very last time I saw her
in person while she was visiting family out here, that she "had to have
her Prozac" - calling it her Prozac, like an endearment or something. I
have also heard this from other people who are on the darned things.
Nothing I could say or do would dissuade her.
Well, this past Sunday night, her husband called us from Michigan late
in the evening. He said that she had come home from work (she had been
working a clerical full time position to make financial ends meet) to
tell us that she had had a minor argument with him Friday night,
December 5, and that she had appeared to be upset over something which
had happened at her job. When she did not return home, he became gravely
concerned and began calling neighbors, friends, motels, etc. looking for
her, with no success. Eventually he began enlisting friends and
neighbors to go out and look for her (they live on the upper peninsula
between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and I don't need to tell you
how cold it gets there). They did not find her until Sunday night at 10
p.m. or thereabouts EST. She had driven their truck into an empty field,
near some hunting blinds and they found a near empty bottle of hard
liquor, as well as an empty bottle of meds (he did not elaborate which
ones), but also evidence that she had tried to rid her body of what she
had consumed. But the tragedy was that between the alcohol and the
bitter cold, she had succumbed to the elements and died of exposure. The
coroner's office determined that she died sometime during the night
Friday, the 5th.
What is particularly frustrating to her whole family and to me is that
she had many, many friends in the area whom she could have gone to just
to talk and 'cool down,' especially when he said the argument was
nothing serious. Also, her husband has since learned that she initially
went to a neighbor's and talked to them after leaving her home, and said
that she would return home when she left to 'fix dinner' after leaving
the neighbor's home - but instead went out into this field and did this.
Her husband asked co workers what occurred on Friday which would have
gotten her so upset, and none of them have any idea what might have
happened. In fact, everyone he has talked to has said that she seemed
her cheerful self. In fact, she had written me an email on the morning
of the 5th, asking me about how life was treating me, and sounding
extremely cheerful, not at all like someone ready to go attempt suicide
a few hours later, and talking about plans to move back here to the
pacific northwest, to be near her old friends and family members. She
did NOT sound suicidal. Her husband also verified that she had told him
what she had wanted him to get her for Christmas, and other things, and
we know that she dearly loved her two children.
Therefore, we have no alternative but to blame the Prozac, for making
her do something so rash, so dire, so needless and senseless without any
real provocation. Also, after taking the SSRIs for a few years, her
liver function had become extremely poor, going to a level four (five is
the level when they generally have to get you a transplant), and I also
warned her that the Prozac was probably destroying her liver, but again,
she would hear none of it. So the alcohol might have finished her alone
due to the poor shape her liver has been in, and her continued use of
the SSRI meds. Her husband confirmed to me that she was still taking the
Prozac - had just had some prescriptions refilled. Even though she had
cut back her dosage from what it was some time ago, obviously the
building up of the stuff in her system was enough to push her over the
edge. I told him that I had a gut feeling that if anything bizarre or
tragic ever happened to her that I would know it was Eli Lilly that
killed her, and I truly believe that now.
Her husband, children, father and siblings, and all her close friends,
myself included, are completely devastated. There will never again be
such a dear, golden hearted person as this gal, at least probably not in
any of our lives, someone who accepted people as they are, and who was
always willing to give a shoulder to lean on, a sympathetic ear to
listen, etc. I am outraged that the drug companies have killed my best
friend. They have a lot to answer to the throne of God for, in my
opinion.
I thank you for taking the time to read this email, and if anything I
have written here can help anyone else who is dealing with a similar
situation, or if they have any loved ones on these medications, I would
beg you to post this message, what you can.
Yours very sincerely,
Mrs. MG, Oregon |