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WARNING!
DO NOT SUDDENLY QUIT ANY SSNRI, SSRI or MAOI!

If you need help click here

This site is dedicated to the millions of people whose lives have been harmed by the
dishonesty of the “Profit before patients” pharmaceutical industry,
Especially those whose lives were lost or destroyed because of antidepressants.

     Welcome to The effexor activist. The core of this site is a library consisting of hundreds of articles from newspapers and medical journals.
To access library of articles and studies, Click here.

     This vast library covers topics such as: How to avoid the effects of withdrawal, Side effects, SSRI & SSNRI facts, Help for depression, Antidepressant violence, Suicide, Other risks, Pharmaceutical industry corruption, Children & antidepressants, Antidepressants in bipolar disorder, Industry lies, Advertising drugs, Effexor information, Videos, Books & Films and much more.

     Few people realize the lengths the industry is willing to go to, in order to sell drugs. Click here to watch a clip from the educational documentary, "Money Talks", by the maker of "Side Effects" we can not rave about this film enough.

The media is largely controlled by their advertisers. The pharmaceutical industry buys more advertising then any other industry. (The media tends to resist biting the hand that feeds). Every day Americans are subjected to a barrage of advertising by the pharmaceutical industry.

It took a freedom of information act to expose the truth. The drug makers have been hiding the negative studies. Click Here

Now a new Meta Study INCORPORATES the Hidden Studies: SSRI & SSNRI Antidepressants Work No Better Than Placebos for the vast majority of depressed people. Click Here

     When new data from the Center for Disease Control showed an increase in the teen suicide rate in 2004, (The year drug makers were first forced to include child suicide warnings on labels). Misleading news reports, suggesting that it was the warnings that were causing an increase in child suicides, flooded the media.

     But the claimed “child” suicide rate causal linkage was negated by the facts:

     Most of the suicides were among older teens, according to the data, published in the journal Pediatrics.

     Prescriptions for antidepressants for kids up to age 12 dropped by 6.8 percent in 2004 compared to 2003, and by less than 1 percent among 13 - 19 year olds.

However, In the first six months of 2004, antidepressant prescriptions for children increased by almost 8 percent, despite the new drug labeling.

In fact The most recent available statistics indicate that the black box warnings are having a positive effect. Between 2004 and 2005, the total number of suicides declined from 32,439 (2004) to 31,769 (2005). More specifically, the number of suicides declined for persons ages 25 to 44 (11,712 to 11,262), ages 15 to 24 (4,316 to 4,139), and ages 5 to 14 (285 to 270). These declines occurred despite decreasing overall SSRI prescriptions among these age groups.

     When a recent study showed that Antidepressants are of little, (if any), benefit for manic depression, the media claimed that the same study showed that use of antidepressants did not increase the risk for a manic episode.

      What the news stories failed to tell, was that, Almost 90% of the patients in the study were using a mood stabilizer. Thus, the study did not even address the possibility that antidepressants can cause mania in patients with bipolar depression in the absence of a mood stabilizer.

      Every now and then the media does tell the story, But we get only a fraction of the truth. See ABCS PRIMETIME LIVE - PAXIL COVER UP STORY: Click here

HOW CAN WE TRUST ANY INDUSTRY THAT IS SO WILLING TO MISLEAD US?

      If you or someone you know has been put through hell by antidepressants, then you are aware of how these drugs can cause negative effects. You may not be aware of just how dangerous these drugs can be, or of how corrupt the FDA and the entire drug industry have become. You may not be aware of the astonishing profits these companies are hauling in.

      The FDA receives and is now dependent on major funding, (user fees), from drug manufacturers. Many FDA members have deep pocket connections to the pharmaceutical companies. Members who are honest have been forced to be whistle blowers in order to get information out about dangerous drugs! It seems that it is only after information becomes public that the FDA acts to protect the public.

      Donations tie drug firms and nonprofit, tax exempt "patient advocacy" organizations. These groups are becoming lobbyists of a sort, testifying before the FDA on subjects such as The “harm” that child suicide warnings on labels would supposedly do. Yet most studies show that SSRIs are no more effective than placebos for children.

    A recent Columbia University study has shown that children and adolescents, (aged 6-18 years) who had committed suicide, were significantly more likely to have been on antidepressants.

       The following six organizations took in $29 million in drug company
donations last year: American Diabetes Association (ADA); National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI); National Gaucher Foundation; Children & Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD); Arthritis Foundation (AF); National Organization on Rare Diseases (NORD).

         The industry has more than two lobbyists for every member of Congress in Washington. "They are powerful," says Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "You can hardly swing a cat by the tail in that town without hitting a pharmaceutical lobbyist". Drug companies spent more on lobbying than any other industry. Between 1998 and 2005 - $900 million, according to the Nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. They donated a total of $89.9 million in the same period to federal candidates and party committees, nearly three-quarters of it to Republicans. The drug lobby continues to wield tremendous power in the Democratic controlled Congress. It also still has the backing of the White House.

      Prescription drugs are now one of the nation's leading killers, Source: Consumer Reports. The number of people needlessly hurt or killed by prescription drugs has become staggering. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that in one year, over two million patients suffered serious drug reactions, resulting in 106,000 deaths. Another article in JAMA estimated that only 1 in 20 reactions are reported.

       In 1999 a study conducted by Adrian Preda, M.D.; Rebecca W. MacLean, M.D.; Carolyn M. Mazure, Ph.D.; and Malcolm B. Bowers, Jr., M.D. found that 8.1% of Psychiatric Admissions to hospitals were due to Antidepressant-Associated Mania and Psychosis (J Clin Psychiatry 2001;62:30-33). The number must be higher now because the numbers of people taking antidepressants has risen significantly.

      The Royal College of General Practitioners reports that the pharmaceutical industry encourages the unnecessary prescribing of costly drugs and overemphasizes the dangers of mild conditions such as: anxiety, mild depression, slightly-elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol and osteoporosis. Doctors are now receiving much of their drug information from the drug makers. Most doctors seem to have no idea how corrupt the industry has become. Even medical journals are being influenced by their main advertising client: the drug companies.

       Drug makers are allowed to hide many drug studies from the FDA, the doctors and the public, showing only the studies they choose to show. Drug companies have repeatedly been caught hiding alarming data, using false advertising and many other underhanded methods to sell drugs. And yet when they are caught they receive a slap on the wrist, (relative to profits). On top of all that, drug makers have attempted to harass and discredit some of the doctors who have publicly stood up to them.

 

CLICK HERE For a video that every parent should see !

     The Product Information Leaflet (PIL) for venlafaxine (Effexor) now recognises aggression and homicidal ideation (At times leading to violence) as a side effect of effexor.

     In a series of historic warnings in 2004, the FDA has asserted that "adult and pediatric patients" on antidepressants can develop an array of side effects, "anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania, and mania" that may make them suicidal "when the dose either increases or decreases," that is whenever the dose changes.
Reference: "The Antidepressant Solution" by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.

To see well over 1000 news stories about possible SSRI caused violence
Click HERE

     Up to 78% of Effexor users will experience withdrawal. Because of a half life of 5 hrs. Withdrawal can start after one missed dose. This can be dangerous when people are in circumstances where they can not get the medication such as emergency situations. More then ten thousand people have signed the Effexor petition. The Prozac petition has over 16,000 signatures.

ANTIDEPRESSANT WITHDRAWAL

     Drug makers claim that antidepressants are not “habit forming” but fail to mention that all antidepressants can cause withdrawal. People often do not realize that withdrawal is causing their symptoms.

     Gradual dose reduction (also know as tapering) will alleviate symptoms for most people. (For many people the reduction in dose needs to be in miniscule amounts requiring the painstaking cutting and measuring of medication.) And yet many doctors do not know the proper methods for withdrawal and fail to fully warn patients.

ANTIDEPRESSANT WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS.

1. Crying spells
2. Worsened mood
3. Low energy (fatigue, lethargy, malaise)
4. Trouble concentrating
5. Insomnia or trouble sleeping
6. Change in appetite
7. Suicidal thoughts
8. Suicide attempts
9. Anxious, nervous, tense
10. Panic attacks (racing heart, breathless)
11. Chest pain
12. Trembling, jittery,or shaking
13. Irritability
14. Agitation (restlessness, hyperactivity)
15. Impulsivity
16. Aggressiveness
17. Self-harm
18. Homicidal thoughts or urges
19. Confusion or cognitive difficulties
20. Memory problems or forgetfulness
21. Elevated mood (feeling high)
22. Mood swings
23. Manic-like reactions
24. Auditory hallucinations
25. Visual hallucinations
26. Feeling detached or unreal
27. Excessive or intense dreaming
28. Nightmares
29. Flu-like aches and pains
30. Fever
31. Sweats
32. Chills
33. Runny nose
34. Sore eyes
35. Nausea
36. Vomiting
37. Diarrhea
38. Abdominal pain or cramps
39. Stomach bloating
40. Disequilibrium
41. Spinning, swaying, lightheaded
42. Hung over or waterlogged feeling
43. Unsteady gait, poor coordination
44. Motion sickness
45. Headache
46. Tremor
47. Numbness, burning, or tingling
48. Electric zap-like sensations in the brain
49. Electric shock-like sensations in the body
50. Abnormal visual sensations
51. Ringing or other noises in the ears
52. Abnormal smells or tastes
53. Drooling or excessive saliva
54. Slurred speech
55. Blurred vision
56. Muscle cramps, stiffness, twitches
57. Feeling of restless legs
58. Uncontrollable twitching of mouth

Up to 78% of effexor users will experience withdrawal.
This can happen with one missed dose. paxil 66% zoloft 60%
Reference: “The Antidepressant Solution”
by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.
We have no connection with Dr. Glenmullen

PLEASE get educated about the dangers posed by antidepressants
and other legal drugs.

Be sure to check out our links pages.
Even more links will be found in the ARTICLE LIBRARY.

     As individuals we have very little power to effect change in the public awareness of the dangers posed by the casual dispensation of antidepressants. Together we CAN make a difference! Think of all the people who are being given these drugs as you read. JOIN US! Together we will do what the doctors and F.D.A. have failed to do. Make people aware of the nightmare side effects that can be caused by antidepressants.

 Our mission is to take action. Calling and writing policy makers and the media.

If you wish to join our letter writing
campaigns, CLICK HERE

 

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http://www.prescriptiondrugtruth.org/Drugs/Home.html


Read the facts from the amazing movie "SICKo"
Click here
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(This information is our opinion based on two years of research, hundreds of articles and many books, sites and films. Most of which you can find at this site. Our only expertise comes from a LOT of reading. If you can show us evidence showing that any of this information is incorrect, we will gladly change it!)

This site has no connections to ANY religion.

Note: The information on this website is not a substitute for diagnosis and treatment by a qualified, licensed professional.

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