SAN ANTONIO — Relatives of the Texas mother of a 3 1/2-week-old boy found dismembered in his bedroom said she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and postpartum psychosis, and the father of the slain baby said he wants the woman executed.
Otty Sanchez, 33, is charged with capital murder in the death of Scott Wesley Buchholtz-Sanchez. When authorities found the infant’s body Sunday, Sanchez told officers the devil made her do it, police said.
“She was a sweet person and I still love her, but she needs to pay the ultimate price for what she has done,” the baby’s father, Scott W. Buchholtz, told the San Antonio Express-News Monday. “She needs to be put to death for what she has done.”
Relatives and Buchholtz told the newspaper Sanchez’s mental health deteriorated in the week before her son’s death. Buchholtz, who called his son “baby Scotty,” said she often talked about how she needed to see a counselor. Sanchez told detectives she had been hearing voices.
Otty Sanchez’s aunt, Gloria Sanchez, told The Associated Press that her niece had been “in and out” of a psychiatric ward, and that the hospital called several months ago to check up on her.
Sanchez was hospitalized Tuesday with self-inflicted stab wounds and was being held on $1 million bail. Police have said she does not have an attorney. Authorities found the baby with three of his toes chewed off, his face torn away and his head was severed.
Otty Sanchez’s sister and her sister’s two children, ages 5 and 7, were in the house at the time, but none were harmed.
Sanchez and Buchholtz lived together during the pregnancy and the first two weeks after their son was born, Buchholtz told the Express-News. The paper reported that an infection complicated Sanchez’s recovery from giving birth, and she was required to use a catheter for about a week. That setback darkened her mood, and she was soon diagnosed with postpartum depression.
She moved out of the couple’s shared home July 20. On Saturday, she showed up to see Buchholtz at his parents’ house. She became agitated when he told her he needed a copy of the baby’s birth certificate and Social Security card, Buchholtz told the paper.
Sanchez ran out of the home with her son in a car seat, threw the car seat into the front passenger seat of her car and sped away without buckling him in, the paper said. She left behind a diaper bag, her purse and her medication.
Buchholtz’s mother called 911, and a sheriff’s deputy investigated the incident as a disturbance, according to court records. The next day, authorities said, she killed her son.
Officers called to Sanchez’s house at about 5 a.m. Sunday found her sitting on the couch screaming “I killed my baby! I killed my baby!” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
McManus described the crime scene as so grisly that police officers barely spoke to each other while looking through the house.
I’ve been a vocal supporter of home birth for many years.
As a childbirth educator I felt it was my job to tell pregnant women the truth, even if what I said was uncomfortable and painful for them to hear.
A few months ago I read a blog post by Heather Armstrong AKA Dooce. Heather is considered an expert on post partum depression and motherhood. She is also a liberal ex-mormon – sort of the anti-Jenny Hatch. She regularly stands against just about everything that is important to me.
I found that she was an articulate, smutty, sometimes funny but mean spirited blogger. And that those who tended to comment on her blog also used tons of profanity and were hostile to my LDS religion.
I was intrigued by the amount of conversation going on about Antidepressants. It felt like her readers were asking her drug consultation questions as if she was some sort of a medication guru. I was extremely dismayed to read that she was pregnant with her second child and had been taking anti depressants during her pregnancy.
But as with all of my personal judgements around issues with pregnancy etc al…I did not feel the need to contact her personally and let her know how deadly and damaging her choice would prove to be to her unborn daughter.
I get annoyed when others write me emails telling me how I am a bad mother for giving birth at home, and I am a very live and let live person.
When she wrote a vitriolic post about Freebirth on friday, I read through the comment section and decided to jump in the pool, as I usually do when unassisted childbirth is being discussed in the blogosphere.
I defended freebirth and shared some links about orgasmic birth.
In the post and the comments we were called stupid, crazy, and some of the language was extremely insulting to our home birth community.
My inner childbirth educator decided to share the facts about antidepressant use in pregnancy and how it is a BAD thing for the baby and then linked to several sites where readers could learn more. Heather has a loyal following of dedicated commenters and many became indignant that I would heckle her for her lifestyle the same way that she had judged me and my friends in the home birth community.
I said:
“Heather has chosen to be a shill for Big Pharma by loudly proclaiming her addiction to Prozac and her use of this dangerous drug during pregnancy….do I care? Sure, I feel bad for her unborn daughter, and any potential heart problems she may have, but does that mean I am going to go on a campaign to convince or tell her I won’t tolerate her lifestyle? No.”
I summed up the conversation by explaining to those reading that we all make choices every day that impact the health of our kids. Some choose to give birth medically and use drugs for all that ails them, and we who give birth at home have decided that the medical people don’t have a whole lot to offer our children.
But ultimately I said that we should all live and let live.
Before Dooce locked the thread to more comments, a few more readers were talking about anti-depressants andthe tone was this almost pleading tone in the comments…”Dooce, take the blue pill, please oh please, take the blue pill….Dooce tell me I’m on the right meds, tell me I’m doing the right thing. Tell me the reality Jenny Hatch has just described does not exist….help me to know that the drugs I am eating every day are not deforming and killing my child…”
The emotion was real, and Heather did not respond, perhaps because she is at the hospital right now birthing her second child.
All I know is that I completely agree with Peter Breggin and his wife Ginger who in July of 2007 at the Huffington Post made the case that PREGNANT WOMAN SHOULD NEVER TAKE ANTI DEPRESSANT DRUGS.
They summed up their excellent post with these words:
“No one can or should blame the parents. But when the mother has been taking an SSRI antidepressant, increasing her risk by 240%, we must hold responsible the doctor who prescribed it, the drug company who manufactured and falsely promoted it, and the medical establishment that covers up and minimizes the drastic hazards associated with these toxic chemicals, including risks to adults, children and the unborn.”
I don’t judge ignorant women who eat antidepressants while pregnant, but I do have a sense of wanting to smack them upside the head and scream “how dare you judge me and my mothering choices when you are killing your child every single day with the toxic POISON you are eating! Wake up woman!”
I would like to challenge Heather Anderson to take the red pill and find out how far down the rabbit hole goes in terms of the truth of the coverup surrounding pregnant women taking antidepressants.
The media largely trashed Tom Cruise when he suggested alternatives to drug therapy to a mentally challenged Brooke Shields. And millions of women daily dope and numb themselves with chemicals designed by thieves who have made billions from the mental challenges of birth traumetized women. And here we are a couple of years later and come to find out in the Wall Street Journal this week that the very scientist charged with conducting the government research on antidepressants for pregnant mothers is getting paid hand over fist by the drug company that makes the drugs.
“In a letter earlier this month to Emory, Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) said he learned the school had informed the NIH last summer that Dr. Stowe had financial conflicts of interest. The senator said records he obtained from GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the maker of the antidepressant Paxil, indicated Dr. Stowe was paid $154,400 by the drug company in 2007 and $99,300 during the first 10 months of 2008. The totals included payments for at least 95 promotional talks on behalf of the company. A Glaxo spokesman was unavailable for immediate comment.”
Parents, it is time to wake up and throw the shackles of medicine off our backs!
I wonder about Heather….and how this next postpartum will go for her and her child. See, it’s not just about the mother and her feelings. It is about the health and well being of the baby too. And if the baby is born without a frontal lobe, or has a heart defect or painful drug withdrawal for days in the NICU, I think a Self Righteous, know it all blogging Mom perhaps needs to accept just a bit of responsibility for her choice to eat deadly toxins and live as a psychiatric slave.
I wonder if she will take the blue pill – go back to bed, wake up, and continue with psychiatric care for her emotional issues. I wonder if she will continue to be a loud voice for drugs, gleeful in her mania, confident that none are as funny, wise, and all knowing as she in her “all is well in ZION” psychedelic high, and I wonder if she and her readers will continue to judge, hate, and mock us homebirthers and psychiatric survivors for our choice to live free.
“So he made a minor tweak to my meds and asked me to come back and see him in two weeks, and I am not even kidding, I felt better that night. In fact, better does not do what I was feeling justice. I felt free.”
I’m glad Heather feels free on her meds. I was court ordered to take my toxic cocktail and it felt like slavery to me.
“So what about breastfeeding? That’s what you’re all wondering, I know, and this is what I’m going to say: he thinks that what I’m taking is perfectly safe to take while breastfeeding. He’s prescribed it before to women who are breastfeeding and everything has been perfectly fine. No, I’m not going to talk about what I’m taking because one, it’s no one’s business, and two, I don’t care that you think I’m poisoning my baby. I also think that anyone going through this needs to consult their own doctor and make an informed, personal decision about their individual situation. And then go on and live a better, happier life.”
Since I was the only person on Heathers blog who mentioned antidepressants being toxic in the comment section of her Freebirth post, and since I shared links to articles that proved this was the case, I can only presume that she is responding to what I wrote when she says that she does not care what I think.
That’s cool, I also do not care that she thinks I’m “stupid” for being into Freebirth. But she may want to pause for a sec and think about how her daughter will feel about her casually taking toxic poison every day while she is pregnant and nursing, and she may want to consider how her husband might feel about her eating her big bowl of prozac flakes with zoloft milk every morning while nursing her daughter, especially when true healing is to be found at the local Whole Foods market.
“Sorry hunny, I know you can’t put two thoughts together in order to solve that math problem and you started menstruating when you were five, and now as a sixteen year old you are growing a beard… but it was just so important that I not be panicked when you were a newborn, and dammit, only stupid people ignore doctors advice and go looking for alternatives to drugs.”
Hey, to each her own.
“I’ve been on the new meds for over five days, and I haven’t had a panic attack once. I feel like a regular person who has an infant and can handle it, and during my pregnancy that was exactly what I was aiming for. Turns out I needed a little help, a tiny adjustment, but here I am and I am loving it. I love what it has done to my relationship with Leta, what it has helped me see and appreciate in Jon, and I love that I can barely stand to be away from that baby for a minute. Jon has been watching Marlo so that I could write this, and a little bit ago he came rushing downstairs with this kicking, yelling, hungry bundle in his arms, and it was like I hadn’t seen her in years. And that yelling… that raucous, staccato, one-too-many-beers yelling… it didn’t make me cringe, it made me laugh.”
As the fake ad for Zoloft says “Zoloft does EVERYTHING!” (I’m only guessing that Heathers doc put her on Zoloft because it is considered the safest to take while nursing.)
Everyone should watch Amy Philos Zoloft movie to hear her story about that nasty drug…
Pills, Pills, Pills…
ANTIDEPRESSANTS - pills, pills, and pills
“Perfectly Safe”, according to Heather’s doctor…
Please Mommies, Heather Armstrong is NO EXPERT on drug use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. (Neither am I, I only consider myself an expert on my own body and brain.) And it sounds like her doctor has drunk the big pharma koolaid when it comes to nursing moms eating this crap.
Please take the time to research, pray, and thoughtfully explore alternatives to drug therapies when making the choice whether to eat antidepressants during pregnancy and lactation.
No amount of symptom relief from panic/depression/anxiety will help you overcome the guilt and horrifying feelings you will experience when you realize that your child has been permanently brain damaged by these toxic medications. Alternatives do work! And the biggest lie of all is that only drug therapies can be used when a Mother is in the throes of postpartum emotional illness.
In a large number of expectant mothers, once they give birth, an often profound feeling of loss and depression sets in. This, as knowledgeable doctors, nurses and midwives know, is normal since the shared circulatory system that existed between the mother and the baby with all of its attendant hormones created a “high” that is missing once the baby is born. For millennia, most mothers – using common sense and good nutrition – simply got up, dusted themselves off, and got on with the business of life and rearing their children. But in today’s Brave New World of the 21st Century, some argue that there must be another solution.
Call in the Government Of Course
In 2006, the Governor of New Jersey signed legislation requiring health-care professionals who provide prenatal care to educate women about postpartum depression (”PPD”) and to see that new mothers receive treatment for the disorder. Then, in a press release, it was stated that 80% of women experience some degree of depression following childbirth. And, most recently, both Illinois and Pennsylvania are also attempting to get similar legislation passed as well.
Not to be outdone, in the United States Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has slipped a controversial bill called The Mothers Act into an omnibus package called “Advancing America’s Priorities Act” (S.3297). The legislation, as first enacted in New Jersey, would require pregnant and new mothers across the U.S. to be screened and treated because they are deemed to be at risk for mental disorders. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) jumped on the bandwagon, proudly proclaiming that, “We must attack postpartum depression on all fronts with education, screening, support, and research so that new moms can feel supported and safe rather than scared and alone.”
Fortunately, S.3297 stalled in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) committee for months. But the Democratic majority, ever concerned for the welfare of Americans, acted. On July 22nd, Majority Leader Reid circumvented normal Senate procedure by having the bill placed on the Senate Bill calendar without a vote in the HELP Committee. On July 28th, Senate Republicans filibustered the bill and blocked a full Senate vote and passage. Following Reid’s unsuccessful effort to force a Senate vote, the bill was withdrawn from consideration but remains on the Senate calendar and can be brought back for a vote at any time. There are only seven Senators cosponsoring the bill (Senators Biden (D-DE), Boxer (D-CA), Feinstein (D-CA), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), and Lieberman (I-CT)).
The Mothers Act is supported by a powerful drug-funded coalition, including The Guttmacher Institute/Planned Parenthood, Postpartum Support International, National Mental Health Association, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), Illinois Academy of Pediatrics, and the Illinois Psychiatric Association.
Follow the Money
These pharmaceutical-industry-funded groups are using the very same strategy as they did with Teen Screen (a controversial national mental-health and suicide-risk screening program for students and adolescents in the United States), although the focus is now on expectant mothers. The obvious objective is to find a way to broaden the drug industry’s market in every way possible. For years, it was adults (especially seniors). Once they had basically saturated that market, then they began targeting our kids (even very young preschoolers). Now, the only untapped large market appears to be expectant mothers.
Worst of all, though, is the deliberate attempt to get legislation passed. State by State as well as on a national level, to mandate mental-health screening, first with children and now their mothers. They would rather that you had absolutely no choice in the matter (an overt attempt to take away our freedom to make choices for ourselves and our children). They have already taken away our choice regarding healthcare by assuring that natural therapies and supplements are not covered by insurance. If they have their way, all of our health conditions (both physical and mental) will be totally controlled by the pharmaceutical industry and coercively mandated by our governments, both State and Federal.
Of course, the “accepted” treatment for PPD just happens to be counseling and drug therapy with antidepressants! And these same people are deliberately very specific as to exactly how the program is to work, assuring that they take advantage of every opportunity to diagnose a mother with PPD, who would thus be in need of the “appropriate medication.” An excerpt from Illinois Senate Bill 15 is especially representative of their approach:
“Physicians and other licensed health care workers providing prenatal and postnatal care to women shall assess new mothers for postpartum mood disorder symptoms at a prenatal check-up visit in the third trimester of pregnancy, prior to discharge from the hospital or other healthcare facility, and at the initial postnatal check-up visit and at each postnatal check-up visit thereafter until the infant’s first birthday.
Physicians and other licensed health care workers providing pediatric care to an infant shall assess the infant’s mother for postpartum mood disorder symptoms at any well-baby check-up at which the mother is present prior to the infant’s first birthday in order to ensure that the health and well-being of the infant are not compromised by an undiagnosed postpartum mood disorder in the mother.” (emphasis added) (See http://tinyurl.com/35zkec.)
But it gets worse. A “hospital” in Illinois is actually proposing that if a mother is even thinking about getting pregnant maybe she should be tested for depression! The following was posted at the Sierra Times website:
“The Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Illinois continues to recommend that SSRIs be used to treat pregnant women even despite recent warnings concerning birth defects arid other life-threatening disorders in children born to mothers who took antidepressants during pregnancy. ‘Any woman,’ the Hospital warns, ‘who is thinking about becoming pregnant, is pregnant, or had a baby within the past year can be affected by depression or other mood disorders.’” (emphasis added) (http://www.sierratimes.com/07/04/75_8_37_98_67891.htm)
Any doctor who would come up with conclusions that ridiculous must be normally influenced financially by the industry whose own financial interests would benefit, in this case by those producing and promoting antidepressants. (I personally think they should consider re-naming the hospital!)
Although it appears as a concern, just like TeenScreen, it is just another marketing strategy by drug companies to get everyone possible on their highly profitable medications. Unfortunately, far too many women have been placed on (and often remain on) antidepressants throughout their pregnancy, which just increases the potential for them experiencing PPD following delivery. As can never be emphasized enough, the highly elevated stress hormone cortisol, stimulated by antidepressants such as Prozac™ on a daily basis, is the best way I know of to deplete the mother’s adrenals, which are responsible for producing several critical hormones.
Mental Evaluations and Drugs Are Not the Answer
Most importantly, mental evaluations never have been, and never will be, based upon science. The “science” of mental health is really nothing but a collection of theories and opinions. If anything, it is an art, not a science. Thus, any evaluations would be based on nothing but someone’s personal opinion, as would be the solutions. And, as the promotion of the mental-health program is always funded (either directly or indirectly) by the pharmaceutical industry, the “proper solution” would obviously be influenced as well.
According to psychiatrist Dr. Grace Jackson, author of Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent.“Prescribing SSRIs as a preventative measure during pregnancy is a terrible idea.” (See http://www.sierratimes.com/07/04/04/75_8_37_98_67891.htm). In fact, regarding the overall scheme of screening all women before, during, and after pregnancy and putting them on SSRIs, Dr. Jackson has stated, “In sum, there could not be a more foolhardy public health practice than this one.”
“The problem isn’t correctable with drugs.”
As you will soon discover, though, there is a very good explanation for PPD, based upon science and not conjecture. Instead, as usual, there are effective drug-free solutions available.
PPD Explained
Suddenly going from an unbelievable high to an unexplainable low is not Bipolar Disorder or coming off of cocaine; rather, it is a surprisingly common phenomenon. In his March 2007 Alternatives newsletter (www.drdavidwilliams.com), Dr. David G. Williams does an excellent job of explaining exactly how PPD develops, as follows:
“PPD is a very real problem, but it definitely doesn’t stem from a drug deficiency. The added nutritional and hormonal stress of pregnancy often leaves the mother’s body chemistry totally out of balance following childbirth. One of the most common problems seems to stem from depletion of the adrenal (or stress) glands.
Physical or mental stress, poor diet (excess sugar or carbohydrates), skipping meals, alcohol, and smoking are some of the primary causes of weakened adrenals. During and immediately before pregnancy a poor diet, particularly consuming too much sugar or high-carbohydrate meals, will quickly weaken the adrenals. [WRITER'S NOTE: Coffee is also a stimulant known to deplete the adrenals, as is the NutraSweet™ found in diet beverages.]
During the first three months of pregnancy many women experience a great deal of fatigue and a total lack of energy. Beginning sometime during the second trimester they oftentimes get a huge burst of energy and heightened sense of well-being. These women will say things like, “This is the best I’ve ever felt in my life.” And this newfound energy remains with them until they give birth, when all of the sudden it feels like the whole world collapses around them (PPD).
During the second trimester the child’s adrenal glands begin to develop, along with the thyroid, pituitary, and other glands. And since the mother and child share a circulatory system she begins to benefit from the baby’s hormones. In effect, she begins to “feed off” the baby. She begins to experience more energy and that overall sense of well-being. It couldn’t get any better. Her body has discovered a fresh new source of everything she’s been missing.
But when the baby is born, the mother is abruptly cut off from her newfound lifeline. Within a day or two of giving birth, the mother can go from the highest high to the lowest low and never know what hit her. No one offers her an explanation. If anything, she might be told it’s normal to experience the depression and fatigue and it’s something she just needs to work through – and maybe some antidepressants might help.” (pp. 167-168) (emphasis added)
Recommended Drug-Free Solution For Postpartum Depression
Dr. Williams continues:
“The underlying problem, however, needs to be corrected. The adrenal glands (and often the thyroid and pituitary glands) must be given nutritional support. Sugar has to be eliminated. Additional minerals, B vitamins, and essential fatty acids (predominantly omega-3s) must be added to the diet. I’ve seen dramatic changes in just a matter of days through proper nutritional support, particularly using glandular supplements for the adrenal, thyroid, and pituitary glands. The problem isn’t correctable with drugs.” (Alternatives, 2007 March, p. 168).
It just so happens that Standard Process™ is a company that has a dietary glandular formula for women called Symplex F, which contains all three glandulars (adrenal, pituitary, and thyroid extracts), which Dr. Williams recommends, along with ovary extract. They also have another formula called Drenamin™, with several plant-based nutrients specifically formulated for helping rebuild weakened adrenals. Their products are only available through doctors (including chiropractors).
The adrenals (especially when depleted) need adequate salt. The only salt I would recommend is Celtic sea salt, sold through the Grain & Salt Society. It comes in coarse crystals and fine ground. As the “coarse” is cheaper, I would recommend swallowing one teaspoon daily with water. Or, you can use the “fine” for everyday seasoning. That is the only salt I have used during the past 18 years, and unlike common table salt, it is actually healthy as it contains over 80 trace minerals. Celtic sea salt is available at most health-food stores, or directly through the Grain & Salt Society.
Avoid stimulants and stressors. As Dr. Williams recommended, avoid coffee, sugar, and NutraSweet™, as they all stress the adrenals. And most importantly, avoid physical or mental stress as much as possible. I would also recommend avoiding drugs such as Prozac™, which greatly increase the level of the stress hormone cortisol. If you happen to experience unavoidable stress for some reason, just take a couple of capsules of the very calming herb valerian root. It will safely help you relax, and it appears to do so without causing drowsiness.
Stay hydrated! Don’t forget to drink at least ten 8-ounce glasses of water daily, which is especially important during pregnancy. The nausea many women experience during pregnancy is often the result of inadequate water intake.
It’s also important to take a potent vitamin B-complex such as B-100, as well as a good multi-mineral containing at least calcium, magnesium, and zinc.
Essential fatty acids such as flax and fish oils also play an important part in our mental health. I would recommend a minimum of two large soft gels of Flaxseed oil, and two of fish oil, daily.
Applying all of the above recommendations throughout pregnancy would greatly reduce the risk of experiencing PPD. Just remember that the typical approach of “drugs for everything, and nothing but drugs for anything” is a dangerous and self-destructive approach that never has, and never will, truly resolve any health issue, whether physical or mental.
This article was extracted in part from the 2007 book by Dr. David W. Tanton, Ph.D., Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, and Stimulants—Dangerous Drugs on Trial and expanded upon for this Health Freedom News article. Special thanks are given to Dr. David Williams for his kind permission to quote his writings from Alternatives in this article.
Dr. David Tanton graduated with honors from Clayton College of Natural Healing with a Ph.D., in Holistic Nutrition, and is the founder and research director of the Soaring Heights Longevity Research Center. He is also the author of the award-winning book A Drug-Free Approach to Healthcare. At the age of 74, Dr. Tanton is 100-percent drug free and is in optimal health. For more information, visit www.DrTanton.com.
Senate Bill Proposes to Screen and Medicate MothersBy Ann Shibler Published: 2008-03-13 18:24 Email this page printer friendly version
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:Called the MOTHERS Act, S. 1375 seeks to encourage and implement education, screening, health services, and anti-depressant medications for mothers-to-be or new mothers for post-partum depression, all according to the dictates of the federal government.
Follow this link to the original source: “MOTHERS Act Seeks to Drug Expectant Mothers with Anti-depressants to “Treat” Postpartum Depression”
COMMENTARY:Here’s another fabulously clever way for the government to have more people drawn into its clutches through a nationwide screening program, this time focusing on post-partum depression. And it is brought to you by the very busy and liberal Senator Robert Menendez, (NJ), and co-sponsored by Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Introduced in May 2007, and presently lodged in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, S. 1375 would provide the impetus and funds necessary to institute a program that would promote referral of mothers-to-be and new moms by nurses, doctors and mid-wives to “mental health care specialists” if they exhibit any signs of “mood disorders,” even if it’s during the pregnancy.
The bill is a bitter pill, but its language is unsurprisingly sugar coated:A bill to ensure that new mothers and their families are educated about postpartum depression, screened for symptoms, and provided with essential services, and to increase research at the National Institutes of Health on postpartum depression.
The use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of antidepressants — i.e., psychotropic drugs — would be recommended and administered as part of the “essential services” program. The effectiveness of SSRIs that include Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, etc., have been questioned. There have also been concerns about side effects from the drugs leading to violent behavior.
Most SSRIs carry black box warnings for “suicide” as a side effect, or even “homicidal ideation.” Obviously real physical and mental damage could occur in unborn developing babies if their mothers are coerced into taking these dangerous, addictive, and unpredictable drugs, not to mention to the mothers themselves. A popular opinion among medical caregivers these days is that “post-partum mood disorders” are a sign of an underlying biochemical imbalance, so the answer must be drugs. But many women report getting through their real post-partum depression with the love, help, and support of family and friends, and alternative methods. Some have discovered alternatives (scroll down toward the end) to treating post-partum depression that can be as simple as diet changes, supplements, or exercise.
The relative effectiveness of drug treatments for post-partum depression or for any other medical condition is not really the point, however. The real issue is federal involvement. A course of treatment should be an individualized arrangement formed through doctor-patient consultation. The federal government should not be involved, given the potential that Big Pharma lobbyists might well desire a program, such as the one proposed, because it would lead to lucrative sales. Not content with “mental health” screenings for school children and military veterans that have real and permanent consequences, now big government plans to intrude into the womb as well.Ann ShiblerAnn is the Editorial Assistant for the John Birch Society.
The hypocrisy of conclusions in “But is it safe for my baby” and “Overcoming Postpartum Psychosis” featured in Mothering Magazine, and other actions of breastfeeding advocates is quite disturbing.
I feel that it is relevant to include some background about the way that families have been led astray, particularly by institutions and people who claim to be promoting natural health.
First, here is some background on how I became aware of the issues that tie breastfeeding and psychiatric drugs.
In 2004, my 3-day-old son suffered a life-threatening choking incident (from formula he could not digest) only a few minutes after we arrived at Children’s Hospital, having brought him in on the recommendation of paramedics due to the fact that he was overly lethargic and looked like he was blue around his mouth, on his hands, and on his feet. The staff at Children’s hospital saved his life and admitted him for observation overnight, but I was so upset about having witnessed him choking nearly to death that I became extremely anxious about his safety. To make a long story short, I was given Zoloft samples by my OBGYN at 6 days postpartum, for anxiety, and as a “preventive” treatment to ward of the possibility of severe PPD. By postpartum day 9 (day 3 on Zoloft), I was suicidal and homicidal. I checked into an ER and they forcibly held me in a psych unit for 2 days. They tried to give me several new drugs in addition to Zoloft and told me that I had to keep taking Zoloft. If I had not been breastfeeding my son, I may have agreed to take them, but all of the new drugs they tried to give me (one of which was Zyprexa) were listed as being clearly contraindicated for nursing mothers. I declined the new drugs.
I observed other patients in the hospital who were sleeping nonstop for the first couple of days they were there, and one man who was so disabled by his medications that his speech was slurred, he could barely keep his balance, and he was extremely confused. I also observed a patient locked in a padded room who jumped violently at the window and stared out with wide bloodshot eyes- he reminded me of an angered caged animal. I was thankful that I had not become as disabled as they were and it was obvious to me that the drugs I was taking were not quite as physically toxic as the ones they wanted me to add.
I returned home with strict orders from the psychiatrist to stay on Zoloft and see a psychiatrist, a therapist and take parenting classes. Over the next few months I experienced a dose-dependent worsening of homicidal thoughts from increases in Zoloft dosage. Finally I got off the drugs and went back to being a normal person not obsessed with homicide or suicide. Since then I have been following the actions of the FDA, drug companies, and breastfeeding advocates closely.
Thanks to the FDA black box warnings I am confident that my life, my son’s life, and many others that I have come in contact with have been spared. This is not good news for Eli Lilly, Pfizer, or any other multi-billion dollar drug company.
Prior to my decision to discontinue Zoloft, the homicidal urges were so bad that my psychiatrist recommended that I wean my son and go on Zyprexa. She clearly stated I would not be allowed to breastfeed if I took it, and this was one factor in my decision not to try Zyprexa. The continuation of Zoloft also eventually led to my realization that Zoloft was not working for me no matter how many months’ time I let it “start to work.”
I also wrote to Peggy O’Mara at Mothering Magazine to ask her to do an article about the dangers of pharmaceutical drugs like SSRIs for new moms.
To my surprise, this past spring Mothering Magazine (“Natural Family Living” is its subtitle) published an article titled “Overcoming Postpartum Psychosis” in which they cited Kathleen Kendall-Tackett’s opinions and Thomas Hale’s research (he is the author of Medications in Mother’s Milk) as justification to condone breastfeeding continuing, despite the use of drugs like Zyprexa.
This article was the story of one mother who went psychotic, and was hospitalized. In the hospital she recommended that her psychiatrist check out Hale’s book, and the psychiatrist actually allowed her husband and child to come to the hospital to stay with her 24-7 and cosleep and allow the baby to nurse on demand for the 9 day stay while she was also taking antipsychotic drugs. Breastfeeding was touted as the only connection the mother had left to reality and sanity and the only healing force in her life. (So why take the antipsychotic drugs?)
The author described her first experience in the hospital as one where they injected her with a drug because she was rambling off a paranoid delusional speech about her fears that someone was plotting to murder her grandmother, and after the injection she quickly passed out and slept for the first time in a long time. The article claimed that mothers should be allowed to take antipsychotic drugs while breastfeeding as long as they avoided nursing during peak concentration times.
I was truly shocked at the position of the magazine and the so-called health experts, both because of their failure to address the dangers of drugs, and their endorsement of a practice that puts mothers and babies at serious risk.
To make a very long story much shorter, over the past year I have seen antipsychotic drugs promoted for breastfeeding moms in New Beginnings (LLL magazine), Mothering Magazine, and on the Thomas Hale website. Knowing that Mothering Magazine’s online forums have a lot of natural-health minded people, I also attempted several times to post information about the dangers of psychiatric drugs. Almost invariably, my threads were deleted. At two different points I complained but I was told that my posts were deleted due to violation of the User Agreement. This seemed to be untrue because my posts were only deleted after I began posting proof of what I was saying by posting articles and abstracts that demonstrated the dangers clearly.
Prior to my providing additional proof when what I was saying had been “discredited” by drug users on the forum, I had violated the user agreement from the very first post. Yet the threads I was posting in were going on as debates for weeks before the threads eventually were removed altogether. (To read the paradoxical and restrictive user agreement, click here: http://www.mothering.com/mdc/mdc_useragreement.html It prohibits posting links to other forums, even if you wrote the thread, for instance my personal story on the CHAADA message board was not allowed because it disrupted the continuity of their message board by taking you to another, you are not allowed to post any links or text that go to a website that is critical of Mothering Magazine or their discussion boards or website, you are not allowed to debate sensitive topics, you are not allowed to debate with a moderator or raise any public questions about what the moderator has done, and you are not allowed to post text of any copyrighted material that exceeds 100 words despite fair use guidelines which allow this for educational and non-profit distribution).
After my threads were deleted (without warning, so I do not have a copy of the first thread which was removed) I got into a dispute over this issue with the administrators and Peggy O’Mara, and eventually I was quite rudely written off. I stayed away from the boards for a while but then went back to post on different topics and also noticed that some of my threads were removed without explanation or comment.
So if you go to the PPD board or any other board on Mothering.com’s discussion board, you can see that the only information that is invariably allowed and not subject to removal is that which promotes a pharmaceutical agenda. Although you may find information about alternatives, if you say anything negative (especially if the information is compelling) about psychiatric drugs, your posts are likely to be removed.
According to a friend I met on the forum who came to my defense, Mothering Magazine has been engaging in discrimination against certain sectors of society (including Scientologists) since the 1980s. This realization was a disappointment considering their appearance as being a magazine about acceptance and tolerance and natural family living. Why would a PPD forum which promotes drugs to new breastfeeding mothers fit in with that mission?
In addition, I was not the only one who was censored. A long-time member of the board who wrote a book on the dangers of vaccines was censored and angered to the point that she left the board altogether and all of her posts from several years were removed by moderators.
My friend’s posts have also been subject to censorship and removal and she has received warnings of being banned. The moderators even removed threads she had written about her husband’s death while she was newly grieving.
Although, it seems, based on the dates, that the magazine has just been confused. One year you need to be afraid, the next year breastfeeding is fine, the next year you better bring your lawyer and 2,000 supporters if you want to feed your baby.
Now it seems they have also begun to turn around on the stance against vaccines, publishing an article in the most recent edition by a doctor who is in favor of vaccinating every patient no matter the consequences. Mothering Magazine has long been known as the most radical of anti-vaccine advocates in all of the major parenting publications. They have even come out against HIV and AIDS drugs for women who want to breastfeed, saying that it’s perfectly ok to risk giving your baby HIV by breastfeeding, and not to use them to help your own case of HIV or AIDS (because they are contraindicated for nursing). Yet now it seems that to these breastfeeding advocates, an unnecessary and dangerous drug for a nonexistent chemical imbalance is fine to use while nursing an infant, and can rightly be promoted as a good preventive for severe cases of Possible Andrea Yates Copycat Disorder. (PAYCD)
It would not surprise me very much if they soon start to come out against cosleeping or in favor of circumcision or hospital birth with epidurals. Although the root of this recent position on drugs and breastfeeding seems to be the notion that you must breastfeed at all costs. However as I stated in the original UNITE article “Leading Families to the Slaughter” – formula has never put a baby into a coma, as far as I am aware.
Recent studies undertaken on antipsychotic drugs have revealed that patients on placebo actually improved more than those taking atypical antipsychotics, like Zyprexa. Any magazine or advocate who ignores the facts and censors those who try to get the word out about dangers poses a very serious danger to families and society and shows a total disregard for ethics. We have been slowly deluded and our society is being eaten away, our rights are eroded and ignored, and our health and safety threatened.
I have been reluctant to speak out against Mothering, Thomas Hale, Kathleen Kendall Tackett, and New Beginnings because I know people make mistakes. But this type of mistake seems to be more a generally intended goal than an accident.
I examined the research which has been claimed as evidence of safety of both SSRIs and of Zyprexa for nursing moms and what I found was disturbing. A full written analysis is forthcoming – but in short, the studies were done on extremely small samples, side effects were disregarded, and most of the women in the studies were not exclusively breastfeeding. When a significant portion of a baby’s diet is formula, it’s obvious that any exposure will be reduced.
Given the absolute refusal of the FDA and certain mental health advocates to accept the negative outcomes from our current slew of psychiatric drugs and interventions, it is not too surprising that others such as those in the media or in positions of influence in the natural health community can get away with ignoring the facts.
For anyone who has not seen it, the DVD Psychiatry: An Industry of Death is extremely informative on the history of psychiatry and psychology. I highly recommend you watch it. You can find it at http://www.cchr.org/index/5285/15242/
Needless to say, my subscription to Mothering Magazine is not being renewed. I encourage others to speak out if they too have been censored or if they disagree with the ideas in the magazine. The readers won’t continue buying the magazine if it becomes too full of false and dangerous ideas. In fact one of the only reasons to continue reading would be to monitor the manner in which decline of reason and the rise of dangerous dogma are promoted and innocent young families are unknowingly deluded.
To Mothering Magazine, should you read this blog, I urge you to prove me wrong by changing your ways and apologizing to those who have been censored. I also encourage you to overhaul your user agreement and revamp or remove the PPD and mental health forums so they will not be players in supporting one of the most evil of all enterprises we face in our world.
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Reblogged from The Bitter Pill: In the studies submitted to the FDA for approving Zoloft (a drug that has killed numerous families, babies, mothers, children), the drug maker covered up the fact that Zoloft failed to outperform placebo, according to a new consumer fraud lawsuit filed by the firms Baum, Hedlund Aristei & Goldman and [...]
In what was more than likely originally an attempt to prove that depression causes birth complications, researchers from Yale, Tufts, et al found in two new studies that antidepressants increase the risk of preterm birth and seizures. Read more at this link on the newly redesigned UNITE website.
Canadian Regulation on Fetal Exposure to Psychotropic Drugs – Public Input Needed (Cross-Posted on The Bitter Pill blog) Amery and Christiane Schultz have been asked to provide input on proposed recommendations regarding psychotropic drugs in pregnancy in Canada. Amery & Christiane are hard-working activists affiliated with UNITE and MADNAP. Please send […]
by Alexis Jetter
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