My Bad – Mothering Magazine Promotes “Antipsychotics” Not Just Zyprexa

Note

For background you should read the following blog posts:

• Mothering Magazine Publishes Letter Reaming Them for Being So “Anti-drug”
• Open Letter to the Editor of Mothering Magazine – Re: “Beat The Baby Blues” by John Breeding and Amy Philo

Recently John Breeding and I published an open letter to the editor of Mothering Magazine. After reading an unsettling letter to the editor which promoted Katherine Stone’s Postpartum Progress in the next edition of Mothering, I sent out an alert to everyone that they should express their disapproval with the magazine for promoting antidepressants and Zyprexa.

Even though the editor, Peggy O’Mara, had not responded to our letter when John Breeding emailed it to her (for weeks), she did choose to respond to one of the other letters to the editor (within three hours) as follows:

We have not recommended Zyprexa in any of our articles.
Peggy

My first reaction was, “OMG she is so full of it, yes they did.”

So I set out to find the old article. Unfortunately, I no longer have the hard copy because I gave it away at my speech in April in Austin. I searched for everything online and then I realized that I had probably made a technical mistake. I eventually figured out how it happened – that I had mistakenly come to think of their May 2007 article as one where they recommended Zyprexa. What I found online was a categorical statement that moms can take antipsychotics while breastfeeding and that antipsychotics are required for psychosis. I then remembered that at one point, in disbelief at Mothering’s promotion of antipsychotics for breastfeeding, I went to Thomas Hale’s website and searched for antipsychotics, and found that he was recommending Zyprexa for breastfeeding. Then, over time the two pieces of advice began to merge in my mind as I talked and wrote about them. What can I say, I’ve had a pretty busy 3 1/2 years and rewired lots of brain cells to devote large portions of my mind to the task of cramming for law school finals every semester. My bad.

Filed under: adverse drug reactions, antidepressants, pharmacology, Postpartum Progress, Postpartum Support International, PPD, antidepressants, Beat the Baby Blues, Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding and Depression, breastfeeding on antidepressants, breastfeeding on antipsychotics, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, meds, Mothering Magazine, Paxil, Peggy O'Mara, SSRI, Thomas Hale, Wellbutrin, Zachary Stowe, Zoloft, Zyprexa

Open Letter to the Editor of Mothering Magazine – Re: “Beat The Baby Blues” by John Breeding and Amy Philo

Note

Please see updates to this letter on the following blog posts:

• My Bad – Mothering Magazine Promotes “Antipsychotics” Not Just Zyprexa
• Mothering Magazine Publishes Letter Reaming Them for Being So “Anti-drug”

To The Editor:

In May 2007 Mothering magazine published an article titled “Overcoming Postpartum Psychosis.” It featured the story of a woman who nursed while taking antipsychotic drugs but eventually found recovery through alternative means. The article also featured an excerpt from Kathleen Kendall-Tackett stating that Zyprexa was a good antipsychotic to use for breastfeeding moms who go psychotic.

This month (Sept/Oct 2010 edition of Mothering) the same article promoting Zyprexa to breastfeeding mothers is referenced at the end of the Kathleen Kendall-Tackett article on breastfeeding helping moms to “Beat the Baby Blues.” Adding insult to injury, you chose to publish a graphic encouraging the use of Wellbutrin, Paxil, and Zoloft for breastfeeding as though they are “compatible.” Based on what definition of compatible?

That breastfeeding helps alleviate depression, and co-sleeping helps prevent depression, is a wonderful topic for an article. We are very deeply concerned, however, about the misinformation regarding breastfeeding on psychotropic drugs! With all due respect to the admirable premise of the article, helping to encourage breastfeeding, it is a tragic mistake to encourage the notion that mothers can safely breastfeed while taking the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa—a drug that is well-documented to cause excessive sedation, diabetes, permanent neurological damage and high rates of death. Zyprexa is an extremely toxic and dangerous drug, and decidedly unsafe for babies.

After examining the literature critically we are sure that in 2007, the existing data, including one study cited by Thomas Hale as evidence of supposed safety which examined blood samples from only six babies, did not warrant a statement by anyone that Zyprexa is fine for nursing. As just one example of why it is still the case that Zyprexa cannot be considered safe for babies, consider a 2008 article by S. Gentile (J Clin Psychiatry, 2008; 69(4): 666-73.), “Infant safety with antipsychotic therapy in breast-feeding: a systematic review,” which specifically warns against using Zyprexa in breastfeeding mothers, stating, “The drug seems to be associated with an increased risk of inducing extrapyramidal reactions in the breast-fed babies.”

A vital omission for a magazine with such a critical eye on research is to forward any information based on studies, without mentioning that the research was conducted by people under Senate investigation for financial conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies.

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett has published other misleading statements in the past regarding antidepressant effectiveness. One example was a statement in an article on PPD alternatives in Leaven magazine, which claimed that antidepressants and exercise worked at relieving depression equally, when the actual study showed that by the end of the experiment, the medication groups relapsed while the exercise groups improved.

Presumably the editors of Mothering assume that mothers must be told to use antidepressants or antipsychotics because they cannot possibly be expected to get through the horrors of depression or psychosis without taking psychiatric drugs. The assumption is that babies will miss out if their mothers wean them. We think it is a regrettable mistake to ignore the immediate risk of death to the infant in favor of a hypothetical benefit from taking psychiatric drugs.

For a magazine such as Mothering to condone the use of drugs during breastfeeding that cause infants to develop serotonin syndrome, or vomit, aspirate, suffer seizures, slip into comas and die from various toxic reactions, and to ignore the other serious nonfatal risks of these drugs is unconscionable. The wide readership of breastfeeding advocates gives your magazine added responsibilities, and we urge you to reconsider your position.

Mothering has taken seriously the topics of the risks of medicated births, vaccines, circumcision, and even chemicals in toys. In almost every respect Mothering is satisfied with nothing less than perfection in the information conveyed which can affect the way that we raise our children. But we see a blind spot when it comes to the so-called experts that Mothering endorses on the topics of postpartum depression and psychosis.

We encourage the magazine to spend some time investigating the deaths of babies linked to psychiatric drugs and breastfeeding. If you refuse to address the issue honestly you will lose not only the trust of your readers, but credibility in the much larger community of critics and informed consent advocates.

Sincerely,

John Breeding, PhD
Amy Philo

Filed under: antidepressants, antipsychotics, pharmacology, PPD, Pregnancy, antidepressants, Beat the Baby Blues, Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding and Depression, breastfeeding on antidepressants, breastfeeding on antipsychotics, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, meds, Mothering Magazine, Paxil, Peggy O'Mara, SSRI, Thomas Hale, Wellbutrin, Zachary Stowe, Zoloft, Zyprexa

Zoloft Frequently Causes Heart Defects in Babies: BMJ

Another study (this time in the BMJ) finds an increased risk in heart defects, the severity of the risk depending on which SSRI you took. I see no mention of Paxil, which is curious in and of itself. (See: Paxil more powerful teratogen than Cocaine, court documents from the first Paxil birth defect trial, and other related articles concerning this trial on the Seroxat Sufferers blog. By the way, thanks to Fiddy for embedding our @pledgie “Stop Preventable Infant Deaths and Birth Defects” link!)

Also they seem anxious to let other birth defects off the hook and to regard not using SSRIs as not getting treatment. That’s ridiculous considering antidepressants can barely be considered to work at all and that they can actually make you worse and induce violence. How well do they work when your baby dies because of them? Are you supposed to feel happy if you keep taking your drugs?

This study seems to indicate that “about two” babies per 250 women who took an SSRI were born with a heart defect. I assume (though I haven’t read the study yet) that nobody looked at the heart defects leading to abortions or that they were not thinking about the babies who had so many other defects that they died in utero or after birth from some sort of “syndrome.” Probably like in other studies they would have excluded those babies with genetic problems that were linked to heart defects and multiple other defects, without considering if the rate of genetic defects was higher in the SSRI exposed group. If you don’t count all the miscarried babies either and you try to look at each individual type of heart defect and birth defect separately you can pretend the risk is small. But if you group all the risks together the supposed benefit pales in comparison to the risk. We know that antidepressants usually work about as well as a placebo (about one third of people showing mild improvement). But we also know that one third of women who expose their babies to antidepressants have a baby who is born early or underweight, who has seizures, or who dies (“women who take SSRIs have an increased risk of giving birth to a fetus who dies, having a premature delivery, giving birth to an underweight baby, and delivering babies who experience seizures. According to the study almost one-third of women on SSRIs experienced at least one of the complications”). So think about all the risks you would be exposing your baby to and then ask yourself if that’s depressing.

According to just this study, on average about two out of every 250 women taking SSRIs had a baby with a heart defect, compared to about one out of 250 who did not take SSRIs. But the same study said that the risk was more than three times higher with Zoloft than the non-exposed group, more than doubled with Celexa, and almost five times higher with more than one SSRI.

“Sertraline more than tripled the risk, while citalopram more than doubled it. Using more than one SSRI nearly quintupled the risk of the heart defect.”

According to the drug label, 1/100 to 1/1000 is an “infrequent” event, and fewer than 1/1000 is a “rare” event. “Frequent” means it occurs in at least 1/100 patients or more.

Two out of 250 is the same as .8 people per 100, or .008. That’s pretty close to bordering on the drug companies’ version of “frequent.” It’s definitely not in the rare category. But with Sertraline (Zoloft) it would be .012 or 1.2 babies per 100 babies, well into the frequent reaction zone. This is just one study and it’s hard to say without having read the whole thing how they came up with their results or what type of heart defect they looked at. I will update more later as I have time to do more research.

To see reports to the FDA of birth defects and deaths with psychiatric drug exposure go here: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/MothersAct.html

See Dr. Tracy’s commentary on the drugawareness.org website here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58O39F20090925

Antidepressants in pregnancy up heart defect risk

Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:58am EDT

By Anthony J. Brown, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study.

However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants – known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – do not have such defects, the researchers are quick to note.

Earlier studies have tied SSRIs during pregnancy to heart defects, but also to even more serious birth defects. According to the new study of nearly half a million children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2003, however, only heart defects are likely to be associated with the antidepressants, note co-author Dr. Lars Henning Pedersen, from Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues.

Along with fluoxetine, sertraline (marketed as Zoloft) and citalopram (marketed as Celexa) seemed to increase the risk more than others, as did using more than one antidepressant at a time, according to the report in the September 25th Online First issue of BMJ.

Overall, SSRI use in early pregnancy, defined as 28 days before to 112 days after conception, doubled the risk of a particular kind of heart defect involving a piece of tissue that separates parts of the heart.

Sertraline more than tripled the risk, while citalopram more than doubled it. Using more than one SSRI nearly quintupled the risk of the heart defect.

However, the number of children born with such defects was still quite small: For about every 250 pregnant women who did not take SSRIs, one infant was born with the defect, while about two were born with the defect for every 250 women who took one SSRI, and four for every 200 mothers who took more than one.

Pedersen told Reuters Health that the results surprised the team.

Still, in an accompanying editorial, Dr. Christina Chambers, from the University of California, San Diego, comments that doctors and patients “need to balance the small risks associated with SSRIs against those associated with undertreatment or no treatment.”

SOURCE: BMJ, online September 25, 2009.

Filed under: antidepressants, Congress, Melanie Stokes, mothers act, pharmacology, PPD, Pregnancy, suicide, antidepressant, British Medical Journal, Celexa, citalopram, Danish, exposure, fluoxetine, heart defects, Prozac, sertraline, SSRI, SSRIs, Zoloft

In Memory of the Roberts Family (Zoloft)

Filed under: antidepressants, suicide, Andrea Roberts, Dylan, FDA, gun, homicide, maternal, MedWatch, Micayla, Michael, mother, shooting, SSRI, suicide, violence, Zoloft

SSRI Stories: Postpartum Depression & Mothers Murdering Their Children

I have been extremely busy for a few days now, so I apologize for not posting the Evelyn Pringle article (Part III of The Mothers Act Disease Mongering Campaign series) sooner. You can see it on the previous post as well as on Natural News where it was published on Friday.

I also haven’t checked up on any news on the Otty Sanchez case to see if anything has come to light about what the medication (which she left in her purse/diaper bag at the home of her ex, less than 24 hours before she killed her baby) actually was. I am really curious if blood was drawn to determine what meds or their metabolites may have been in / absent from her blood or whether they are going to release the details of her history with meds. I can attest to the frightening effects of withdrawal, as you probably have already heard if you’ve read my story. If I find out anything new I will post it here as soon as I get a chance.

I thought I would also check the SSRI Stories Website to see how many more cases they had archived on mothers murdering their children after starting or improperly / suddenly discontinuing psychotropic drugs. I am going to post the Postpartum Depression cases separately from the other archived stories that made the news (mothers killing their kids while on / withdrawing from antidepressants).

To see recently released, decrypted MedWatch reports on homicide and antidepressants as well as all other psychiatric drugs from 2004 on, go to CCHR’s new social media website, cchrint.org, and look for the drug side effects database.

Also, check out our newly completed launch page for MADNAP, over at momsandmeds.com/medsinmilk.com.

From ssristories.com:

Murder Attempt-Suicide Attempt	Effexor & Paxil* [Seroxat]	2003-06-17	Australia	*Mother Acquitted by Using SSRI Defense
Murder Attempt	Antidepressants*	2002-11-04	Arizona	*Mother Acquitted of Attempted Child Murder
Murder	Paxil & ADHD Drug*	2000-05-18	Washington	*Mother Stabs Daughter: Not Guilty by Reason of Drug Induced Insanity

Murder

Prozac*

2003-07-11

Louisiana

*Not Guilty by Reason of Prozac Induced Insanity: Mother Kills Daughter

Murder	Prozac	2000-01-05	New Hampshire	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills 2 Month Old Son
Murder	Med For Depression	1992-04-17	Virginia	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills 6 Week Old Infant
Murder	Antidepressant	2008-11-18	Australia	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills her Seven Month Old Child
Murder	Med For Depression	2002-04-09	Virginia	Postpartum Depression: Woman Murders Husband: Attempts Suicide
Suicide	Antidepressant, Antipsychotic & ECT	2009-07-10	Illinois	Postpartum Depression: Woman Who Ignited Mother’s Act Killed Self in 2001: Time Magazine
Child Endangerment	Antidepressants	2005-08-08	England	Postpartum Depression: Baby Disfigured by Mother
Murder-Suicide	Antidepressant*	2003-08-31	Minnesota	Postpartum Depression: College Professor Kills Baby & Self
Homicidal Thoughts	Antidepressants	2007-04-24	Mississippi	Postpartum Depression: Homicidal Thoughts Started on Antidepressants
Murder	Zoloft	2006-07-20	Texas	Postpartum Depression: Mom Drowns 1 Year Old
Murder	Antidepressant	2005-12-07	Louisiana	Postpartum Depression: Mom Puts Infant in Dryer
Murder-Suicide Attempt	Zoloft	2005-11-29	Virginia	Postpartum Depression: Mother Attempts to Drown Two Children
Murder-Suicide	Med For Depression	2008-04-04	India	Postpartum Depression: Mother Burns 6 Month Old & Herself to Death
Murder-Suicide	Antidepressant	2006-08-07	England	Postpartum Depression: Mother Hurls Self and Two Children in Front of Train
Murder-Suicide	Zoloft	2004-06-23	New Jersey	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills Baby & Self
Murder-Suicide	Zoloft	2000-01-02	New Jersey	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills Baby & Self
Murder	Paxil	1998-05-17	Virginia	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills her Baby
Murder	Zoloft	1998-07-02	Colorado	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills her Two Small Children
Murder	Antidepressants	2005-01-06	Alabama	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills Infant
Murder	Med for Depression	2005-08-03	Iowa	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills Infant
Murder	Antidepressants	2006-09-14	England	Postpartum Depression: Mother Kills Son: Feels Sudden Change When Given Medication
Murder-Suicide	Paxil	2004-08-26	Michigan	Postpartum Depression: Mother Murders Baby & Self
Murder-Suicide	Med For Depression	2008-03-27	Ireland	Postpartum Depression: Mother Murders Baby & Self
Murder	Antidepressants	2006-09-13	Illinois	Postpartum Depression: Mother Murders her Baby
Murder-Suicide	Med for Depression	2006-09-10	Florida	Postpartum Depression: Mother Murders Son
Murder	Med For Depression	2008-12-06	Australia	Postpartum Depression: Mother On Med For Depression Murders her 21 Month Old Son
Injury to Child	Med For Depression	2007-11-24	Tennessee	Postpartum Depression: Mother Passes Out From Med: Endangers Baby
Murder Attempt	Wellbutrin	2003-10-13	Alabama	Postpartum Depression: Mother Puts 14 Month Old Daughter in Oven
Murder	Med for Depression	2005-06-09	Michigan	Postpartum Depression: Mother Smothers 9 Month Old Daughter
Murder	Med For Depression Withdrawal	2007-01-13	Pennsylvania	Postpartum Depression: Mother Smothers Child: Recent Withdrawal Case
Murder Attempt	Med for Depression	2004-10-20	Texas	Postpartum Depression: Mother Stabs 4 Month Old Baby
Assault & Robbery	Prozac*	2005-01-20	England	Postpartum Depression: Street Muggings of Young Children
Stabbing	Paxil	2003-06-30	New Jersey	Postpartum Depression: Wife Stabs Husband
False Memory Syndrome/Psychosis	Med For Depression	1995-11-05	Colorado	Postpartum Depression: Woman Becomes Psychotic on Med & Falsely Believes She Was Incest Victim
Psychosis	Antidepressant	2005-04-02	Oklahoma	Postpartum Depression: Woman Develops Psychosis on Med
Adverse Reaction	Antidepressant	2005-01-12	New Jersey	Postpartum Depression: Woman in Coma for 7 Days Due to Med for Depression
Road Rage/Murder	Zoloft	2000-04-22	Indiana	Postpartum Depression: Woman Kills 7 People/ Attempts Suicide
Child Endangerment	Med For Depression: Recent Withdrawal	2007-01-31	California	Postpartum Depression: Woman Prepares to Drown Daughters During Recent Withdrawal From Med
Suicide	Med For Depression	1999-03-01	Pennsylvania	Postpartum Women Kills Self on Depression Medication
Hallucinations	Zoloft	2006-08-02	Texas	Postpartum: Mother Has Hallucinations & Suicidal Behavior on Zoloft: Quits Drug & Recovers
Murder	Celexa	2009-04-08	Oregon	Postpartum: Mother Kills Her Infant Daughter
Murder	Med For Depression	2009-07-28	Texas	Postpartum: Mother Kills her Infant: Dismembers the Child
Road Rage/Child Endangerment	Prozac	2008-08-16	Louisiana	Postpartum: Mother Deliberately Crashes Into Cars: Throws 15 Month Old Over 7 Foot Fence
Murder	Med For Depression	2009-07-06	Australia	Postpartum: Mother Kills 7 Month Old Twins: Attempts Suicide
Murder	Antidepressants	1998-05-17	Virginia	Postpartum: Mother Kills Baby
Murder	Prozac	2001-12-05	California	Postpartum: Mother Kills her 3 Children: Receives Death Penalty
Murder	Antidepressant	1999-05-08	Texas	Postpartum: Mother Murders her 4 Month Old Baby
Adverse Reaction	Antidepressants	2006-11-24	Virginia	Postpartum: Woman Becomes Worse on Meds

Filed under: pharmacology, #postpartum, antidepressants, baby, bridge, daughter, drown, kills, med for depression, mothers, murder, off, postpartum depression, SSRI, ssri stories, SSRIs, throw

Pregnant Pause May 2009 Vogue Article Slams Antidepressants During Pregnancy

http://www.box.net/shared/deulxo16fp

by Alexis Jetter

Check it out – this covers the SSRI-induced birth defects, PPHN, heart defects, miscarriages, etc.

Filed under: mothers act, antidepressants, Paxil, PPD, PPHN, Pregnancy, SSRI, SSRIs