by Gwen Olsen
In 1988, Wesbecker’s psychiatrist prescribed the new wonder drug known as Prozac. Wesbecker stopped taking the drug after only a couple of days claiming it “didn’t suit him.” He then went on disability in the spring of 1989. His psychiatrist suggested he try Prozac again. A month later, when Wesbecker returned for a follow-up appointment, his psychiatrist found he was agitated and combative. His psychiatrist requested that Wesbecker discontinue the Prozac, but Wesbecker refused. When asked why, Wesbecker claimed it had helped him remember an incident at work in which he had been required to perform fellatio on a foreman while other workers watched.
Several witnesses reported Wesbecker was not himself over the next few days. He was agitated, could not sleep, and paced the floor endlessly. His appearance was slovenly and unkempt. His wife claimed he had gotten up three times to use the bathroom during dinner the night before the murders and he had barely eaten any food.
On September 14, Wesbecker went to the Standard Gravure printing presses with an AK-47 and other guns. He then killed eight people and severely wounded twelve others. He was reported to have walked methodically through the plant firing his weapons. Then he shot himself.
As it turned out, Wesbecker’s psychotic delusion in which he alleged sexual abuse is a type of adverse reaction to Prozac. It has since been reported in other settings, and it was also a phenomenon that was found in Eli Lilly’s Prozac trials (Healy, Let Them Eat Prozac, 64-65).
Later, it was discovered Eli Lilly’s attorneys had struck a private deal with the plaintiffs. The defense counsel bartered with the prosecution and promised a substantial financial settlement, regardless of the case’s outcome, if they would withhold the submission of critical evidence. All of this was done behind the back of the presiding judge, John Potter.
In 1996, Judge Potter discovered the deception and filed documents demanding Eli Lilly be forced to disclose the secret terms of the settlement they had reached with the plaintiffs. He later told the Kentucky Supreme Court that “Lilly sought to buy not just the verdict, but the court’s judgment as well” and further claimed Eli Lilly had widely publicized the not guilty verdict to imply they had “proven in a court of law that Prozac was safe.” Judge Potter insisted “a full and open disclosure of the terms of the settlement [was] a necessary public safety issue” (Tracy 2001).
Come to find out, the damaging evidence that was withheld from the jury was information about the Oraflex scandal in the 1980s. Eli Lilly’s track record of hiding information from the FDA about liver-related deaths that had occurred in clinical trials with this drug would have established a precedent of Eli Lilly’s blatant disregard for public safety and previous misrepresentation of data to regulatory agencies. This backhanded agreement had assisted the defense in winning its not guilty verdict. Therefore, the record was later revised to reflect a settlement. Unfortunately, by that time, the media was no longer interested in the case, and few people were aware of the deception.
The Forsyth Case
William Forsyth retired with his wife of thirty-five years in 1990. They relocated to beautiful Maui, Hawaii. Bill was sixty-one years old at the time. His wife, June, was fifty-four. Bill had trouble adjusting to his new life circumstances, resulting in marital difficulties. However, with marriage counseling, Bill started coming around. Nevertheless, three years after the move, Bill still didn’t feel quite settled, so the psychiatrist he had been seeing over the past year prescribed Prozac. He did not believe Bill to be suicidal or seriously depressed at that time.
After only two days on Prozac, Bill’s condition deteriorated. He admitted himself to the hospital and stayed there for ten days. He was still on Prozac when they released him. The next day, when Bill and June failed to show up for a planned family outing, their son went to their home and found them. They were both dead, lying in a pool of blood. Eleven days after initiating Prozac therapy, Bill Forsyth had taken a serrated knife and stabbed his wife fifteen times. He then fixed the knife to a chair and impaled himself on it. Bill Forsyth, Jr. sued Eli Lilly for wrongful death.
During the trial, Eli Lilly’s internal documentation revealed considerable awareness within the company about the risk of suicidal behavior. A letter sent to Eli Lilly in 1984 from the British Committee on Safety of Medicines read:
During the treatment with [Prozac] 16 suicide attempts were made, two of these with success. As patients with a risk of suicide were excluded from the studies, it is probable that this high proportion can be attributed to an action of the preparation [medication].
In 1985, German authorities expressed concern about suicidal risks and required warnings of possible akathisia and suicide appear in the “Fluctin” (which is the German brand name for Prozac) labeling. Another document dated March 1985 suggested a rate of suicide for Prozac 5.6 times higher than for the older tricyclic antidepressants. It concluded “the benefits vs. risks considerations for fluoxetine [Prozac] currently [did] not fall clearly in favor of the benefits” (DeGrandpre). Sadly, none of these revelations would sway the jury to find Eli Lilly guilty of any wrongdoing. The plaintiffs lost their suit, and Eli Lilly once again walked away scot-free.
Additional Case Studies
One of the most comprehensive reviews I have read about the SSRIs and their dangers is Dr. Ann Blake Tracy’s book, Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? She opens it with a profound, disturbing quote:
I am alarmed at the monster that John Hopkins neuroscientist, Solomon Synder and I created when we discovered the simple binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago (Tracy, 2001).
Why is it so chilling? Because this statement was made by Dr. Candace Pert, a research professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and past head of the brain chemistry department at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Pert was one of the discoverers of the SSRIs. She goes on to further state:
Prozac and other antidepressant serotonin-receptor-active compounds may also cause cardiovascular problems in some susceptible people after long- term use, which has become common practice despite the lack of safety studies (Tracy, 2001).
Dr. Tracy is truly a heroine who has dedicated her profession and time to educating laymen and professionals alike on the dangers of the SSRIs. She has also served as an expert witness in some litigation. In her book, Dr. Tracy exposes a series of complications that have surfaced surrounding the use of these drugs and tells the moving anecdotal stories of victims who have been forever silenced. There is not room here to recount them all, but a couple of the following stories sound eerily familiar. So I have included them as additional evidence.
Fran Turner was a paramedic in Tacoma, Washington. Her life changed completely one night after she assisted a woman who had been stabbed and still had a knife embedded in her chest onto a hospital gurney. She ruptured a disc in her back. Fran was in her early thirties when the first operation was performed on her back. Nobody thought to ask her if she smoked or took birth control pills before administering anesthesia. That was Fran’s first adverse drug reaction. The combination caused her to have a stroke. After several years of relearning to do things and living with continual back pain, Fran decided to see a psychiatrist. He prescribed Prozac. Fran had several grand mal seizures, the kind an epileptic might experience. She also listed a large number of side effects such as “total sleep deprivation, radical rise in depression, increase in muscle spasms (severe and prolonged) in L4-5 back, increase in spasms in left hip, increase in pain in both legs, decreased sensation in both feet, increase in (severe and prolonged) headaches, diarrhea, dehydration, total loss of appetite and alternating chills and sweating” (Tracy 240).
The list of drugs her doctor prescribed for her grew as she experienced more and more adverse side effects. Fran, still having some presence of mind, finally demanded she be taken off the drugs. Her psychiatrist refused. He insisted her family doctor should be the one to discontinue some of the drugs he was prescribing. Only days before she died, Fran, on her own, discontinued the Prozac, Halcion, Serax, Di
lantin, Midrin, Lasix, and Vistaril she was taking. However, she continued taking the Darvocet, Soma, Lioresal, and Deseryl she had been prescribed.
Fran wrote the following note to her psychiatrist, just before she pulled a gun in his office and shot herself. It read:
I was depressed so you fed me Prozac. I couldn’t sleep so you gave me Hal- cion and Sinequan. Whenever I was pushed beyond my limits you ordered Serax. These drugs were your choice of treatment, not mine. If anybody is responsible for me staying on them for too long it’s you, not me. Your course of treatment was to deal with the symptoms—not the underlying causes…The next time you order your favorite drugs for someone, think of me and be aware that patients need the counseling skills you’ve learned far more than the drugs your ‘MD’ allows you to cop-out with (Tracy 240241).
Betty Broderick, a wealthy California woman, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the fall of 1992. Betty had broken into her ex-husband’s bedroom in November 1989. She then shot and killed him and his new wife. Not one word was mentioned about the fact that Betty had been on Prozac at the time of the murders. Oprah’s questions brought out all of the symptoms of Prozac adverse reactions reported by other Prozac survivors. Betty said all the classic things: She thought she was evil. She had intended to kill herself as well, but she did not have any bullets left in the gun. Betty also appeared to have no remorse, suggesting an inability to feel emotions or guilt. She displayed paranoid behavior, and she said she believed her husband was trying to ruin her. She even portrayed herself as the victim in the situation. Betty was described by others as being extremely narcissistic, that is, she lacked empathy and was unwilling to recognize the feelings and needs of others. All of these signs and symptoms have been exhibited by patients who were in trouble on Prozac (Tracy 239-240).
Emotional Blunting
One of the most prestigious preceptorships I attended was at the Bethesda Naval Academy in neurology. It was an awesome, hands-on experience and gave me further insight to the complex workings of the brain. As a neurology/cardiology specialist for Syntex Labs, I sold Ticlid (ticlopidine), a drug to prevent stroke. This added yet another dimension to my continued education and medical discovery of the human anatomy.
As I learned about the functioning of the various hemispheres and areas of the brain, I found out, not only memory, but emotion, affect (facial expression), and inhibition are all controlled by the limbic system in the frontal lobe of the brain. This is where we feel our experiences. This is also the area where our survival instincts originate. From an evolutionary standpoint, this part of the brain is designed to be our center for paranoia. The limbic system remains alert for environmental dangers and, if detected, mounts an emotional response (Whitaker 163). Furthermore, this is the part of the brain that tells us when to put the brakes on inappropriate behavior. This was relevant to me because, in addition to a loss of memory and cognitive function, I also experienced an emotional blunting, that is, somewhat of a mild chemical lobotomy, for several months after taking that chemical deluge of antidepressants.
Furthermore, I went through a period afterward in which I felt completely uninhibited and began behaving and dressing differently, in ways which were uncharacteristic for me. I spent money impulsively, sometimes recklessly. I was completely unconcerned about social or economic repercussions. However, once the chemical fog lifted, I was embarrassed and upset about my risky behavior and adventures. It was like waking up to an alternate reality in which I was acting out someone else’s fantasies. All of a sudden, the observer self was back in touch, and the realization of my actions was painfully humiliating.
Experts in psychiatry have postulated this drug-induced emotional blunting was responsible for the systematic killings that took place at Columbine High School in 1999. One of the gunmen, Eric Harris, was reportedly taking Luvox, another new antidepressant. Eric’s parents are now suing Solvay, the drug’s manufacturer. Within hours of this news hitting the airwaves, the American Psychiatric Association refuted that theory and was quoted as saying:
Despite a decade of research, there is little valid evidence to prove a causal relationship between the use of antidepressant medications and destructive behavior. On the other hand, there is ample evidence that undiagnosed and untreated mental illness exacts a heavy toll on those who suffer from these disorders as well as those around them (Healy, Let Them Eat Prozac, 175).
In June 2001, Andrea Yates, a Houston woman who drowned her five children in the bathtub, was suffering from severe postpartum depression. Andrea was taking a cocktail of psychoactive drugs, including Effexor, Zyban, Remeron, and Haldol. Effexor had been prescribed at one and a half times the maximum dose (Tracy, 2001). Her psychiatrist had just discontinued Andrea’s Haldol two days before the murders. Andrea said she heard voices telling her to kill her kids. She did not appear to have any homicidal tendencies before this incident. Her husband and friends were stunned. When she appeared in court, Andrea seem ingly had no remorse for her actions. She was initially sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her children at the age of thirty-six. However, the case was reopened when it was discovered one of the expert psychiatrists had provided false testimony during the original trial. As a result, Yates was remanded to a state mental facility to serve out her sentence.
This case represents a blatant failure by the system to help Andrea and protect the Yates children. Andrea had a history of hospitalizations for mental illness. In her unstable condition, the children should never have been left alone in this poor woman’s care.
Another recent tragedy that occurred in late March 2005 involved a sixteen- year-old, Jeff Weise. After first killing his grandfather and his companion, Jeff went on a shooting rampage at Red Lake High School in Minnesota. No one knows what motivated Jeff to kill nine people before he shot himself. He didn’t leave a note, but Jeff had suffered tremendous emotional pain and loss in his adolescence. His father had committed suicide four years before, and his mother is currently confined to a nursing home with a brain injury she suffered in an automobile accident. Weise had been admitted to a psychiatric ward in Thief River Falls in the summer of 2004 after he concerned friends with suicidal messages he had posted on the Internet. He was prescribed Prozac. Family members reported Jeff’s dosage had recently been increased to 60 milligrams daily. “I can’t help but think it was too much, that it must have set him off,” an aunt told reporters (“Friend: School Shooter on Prozac”).
Nearly every day, I read or hear about something else on the news related to violence or homicides that are committed by people taking antidepressants. Maybe it is like buying a new car in which you suddenly start noticing that model everywhere on the road. However, I cannot help but wonder how many people are making the connection. There is obvious emotional blunting that is being exhibited by these individuals and a pattern of crimes of violence committed by people under the influence of antidepressants. Someone should take a serious look into these statistics and establish this correlation as fact, once and for all.
It is particularly disconcerting to know that large numbers of our young people are currently returning from Iraq and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These young men and women have already been desensitized to violence because of their exposure to war. Now, they will also be prescribed high-risk medications that, as an end result, could still make them (and/ or their families) fatalities of the war, even though they managed to make it back home to American soil in one piece.
5
Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher
“In the middle of the journey of our life,
I found myself in a dark wood,
for I had lost the right path.”
—Dante
It is pretty safe to say an outside sales rep’s life in the industry revolves around one major relationship, the relationship with his or her district manager. This individual can make or break a sales rep’s motivation and self-esteem, and he or she controls a large percentage of t
hat individual’s income as well. Interestingly enough, as much as I hated structure, I excelled under some of the most hard- nosed leaders, who were mostly ex-military men, when others flailed under the pressure of their demands. Their high expectations appealed to the overachiever syndrome I had developed as a child. I literally worked myself to utter exhaustion at some points in my career, simply because I knew no less than that was expected from me!
I was fortunate to have started in the pharmaceutical industry under an old- school district manager who shot from the hip and never compromised his ethics. From the beginning, he made it clear to me that it was a grievous mistake to refer to any drug as safe. Nothing was further from the truth. Every drug, depending on the individual taking it, could prove to be deadly. He encouraged full disclosure and taught me to sell my products based on their merits instead of bad- mouthing my competition.
I respected this man immensely and a couple of other managers I worked under later in my career. However, when it came to this attitude, I found these managers to be the exception, unfortunately, not the rule. Most middle managers intended to attain their quotas at all costs, fearing humiliation and embarrassment at meetings in front of their sales reps and fellow managers. I remember a manager saying on more than one occasion, “If it were me, I’d do such and such (as he or she disclosed some “pearl” of impropriety)…but don’t ever say I said so because I’ll deny it!”
The ink was barely dry on my newly signed contract with McNeil Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, before one of its popular NSAID drugs, Zomax (zomepirac), was recalled. The drug had enjoyed tremendous launch success, and reps had instructed office staff to take it for everything from menstrual cramps to headaches. The problem was that the drug was not indicated for acute pain. All of the clinical studies had been conducted on long-term use in arthritis patients. Reports of severe allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis began surfacing with the intermittent, or occasional, use of the drug in the general population. Several patients died as a result.