Author Archive

Sex and Psych Drugs – Young Couples Beware

June 2nd, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

Although the adverse effects of women taking psychiatric drugs while pregnant related to birth defects and infant withdrawal syndrome are often discussed or reported, the serious adverse effects on the sex lives and reproductive systems of millions of young couples are rarely mentioned.

Whatever the reason, due to the ever widening marketing campaigns by the psycho-pharmaceutical industry, young people need to be warned before they get conned into taking psychiatric drugs. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Cymbalta, Invega, Mothers Act, paxil, Prozac, Risperdal, Seroquel, SSRI, Zyprexa
Posted in Emerging Issues | 29215 Comments »2009-06-03+00%3A59%3A31Evelyn+Pringle

Antidepressant Suicide Reports Continue to Mount

May 28th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

This week, journalist Philip Dawdy reported on the popular website Furious Seasons that Wyeth’s Effexor me-too drug Pristiq, FDA approved in early 2008, had already generated 1,272 adverse event reports in the FDA’s MedWatch system through the end of 2008, and wrote with live links to the reports:

“It’s discouraging that 17 of those reports involve completed suicides through the end of 2008. There are also 48 reports of suicidal ideation through the end of 2008.”

“That’s a lot in such a short period of time, especially considering that this drug isn’t exactly widely used,” Dawdy points out. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Effexor, paxil, Pristiq, Prozac, SSRIs, Zoloft
Posted in Defective Products, Drugs/Medical | 2044 Comments »2009-05-28+15%3A24%3A55Evelyn+Pringle

Flu Vaccinated Kids More Likely to Be Hospitalized

May 26th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

On May 19, 2009, researchers presented a study that found children who received the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine [TIV] had a three times greater risk of hospitalization for the flu than kids who were not vaccinated at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

To determine whether the vaccine was effective in reducing the number of hospitalizations over consecutive flu seasons for 8 years, the researchers conducted a study of 263 children between the ages of 6 months and 18, evaluated at the Mayo Clinic between 1996 and 2006, with laboratory-confirmed influenza and reviewed records to determine which kids had received a flu shot before the illness and hospitalization. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: autism, flu, Offit, thimerosal, vaccine
Posted in Defective Products, Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues, Personal Injury | 19810 Comments »2009-05-26+14%3A42%3A32Evelyn+Pringle

Feds Turn Up the HEAT on Medicare and Medicaid Fraud

May 21st, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

On May 20, 2009, US Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the creation of the Heath Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team to take up the battle against Medicare and Medicaid fraud with senior officials from HHS and the US Department of Justice working together.

“With this announcement, we raise the stakes on health care fraud by launching a new effort with increased tools, resources and a sustained focus by senior-level leadership,” Attorney General Holder said in a May 20, 2009 DOJ press release. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Fraud, Medicaid, Medicare
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 1671 Comment »2009-05-21+13%3A47%3A47Evelyn+Pringle

Throwing Billions Down a Psych Drug Rat Hole

May 18th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

From 1996 to 2006, prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased by 73% among adults and 50% with children in the US, according to a new study in the May/June 2009 issue of the journal “Health Affairs.”

Another study in the same issue, found spending for mental health care grew more than 30% over the same 10-year period, with almost all of the increase due to psychiatric drug costs.

On April 22, 2009, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, reported that in 2006, more money was spent on treating mental disorders in children aged 0 to 17 than for any other medical condition, with a total of $8.9 billion.

By comparison, the cost of treating trauma-related disorders, including fractures, sprains, burns, and other physical injuries from accidents or violence was only $6.1 billion. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Prozac, psychiatric drugs, suicide
Posted in Emerging Issues | 159No Comments »2009-05-18+12%3A20%3A22Evelyn+Pringle