"Vets' Sudden Cardiac Deaths Are Not Suicides or Overdoses" says doctor

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD Announces: Vets' Sudden Cardiac Deaths Are Not Suicides or Overdoses

EL CAJON, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD today announced the results of his research into the "series" of veterans' deaths acknowledged by the Surgeon General of the Army.


Upon reading the May 24, 2008, Charleston (WV) Gazette article "Vets taking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder drugs die in sleep," Baughman began to investigate why these reported deaths were "different." And, why they were likely, the "tip of an iceberg."


Andrew White, Eric Layne, Nicholas Endicott and Derek Johnson were four West Virginia veterans who died in their sleep in early 2008. Baughman's research suggests that they did not commit suicide and did not overdose as suggested by the military. All were diagnosed with PTSD. All seemed "normal" when they went to bed. And, all were on Klonopin (a benzodiazepine), Paxil (an SSRI antidepressant) and Seroquel (an antipsychotic).


On January 15, 2009, the New England Journal of Medicine (Ray et al), reported that antipsychotics double the risk of sudden cardiac death.


On February 7, 2008, Surgeon General Eric B. Schoomaker, said there has been "a series of deaths in Warrior Training Units" -- "often as a consequence of the use of multiple prescription and nonprescription medicines and alcohol ... we all saw the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger, the 'Brokeback Mountain' star, who died from an accidental overdose."


But Ledger was not on any heart-toxic medication. When found, his pulse and respirations were intact! When found, none of the veterans were breathing or had pulse. There's, most likely, were sudden cardiac deaths!


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Vets Sudden Cardiac Deaths Are Not Suicides or Overdoses
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Miracle Drug, Poison or Placebo?

Miracle Drug, Poison or Placebo?
Do antidepressants work?
Effectiveness may vary from person to person
By Maia Szalavitz for MSN Health & Fitness


Modern antidepressants have been blamed for deadly shooting rampages and violent suicides. At the same time, they’ve been hailed as miracle drugs that transform baleful Eeyore-types into bouncing Tiggers.

Now the latest review of the research claims that the effects of the drugs are only marginally different from those of placebos or sugar pills.

It seems impossible that the same substances in the same dosage ranges could simultaneously be poison, miracle drug and placebo. But the diversity of responses is remarkable—and it points to the possibilities and pitfalls of personalized medicine.

For example, Stacy*, a 48-year-old woman who works in public relations in Ohio, describes her experience with Zoloft like this: “It felt like water after being in the desert. It wasn't an experience of elation or anything bi-polar … I'm far happier, more confident, far more relaxed.”

Lisa*, a 33-year-old business consultant from Maryland, had experienced severe suicidal thoughts as early as kindergarten. She says of taking Effexor, “My entire life is different and I finally feel like a normal person with normal emotions. These days I can honestly say I am a happy, well adjusted person.”

But JoAnne*, a 35 year-old educator and dancer living in the Washington, D.C. area, reported that both Zoloft and Prozac produced muscle weakness and excessive sweating—and no benefits.

And Bernice*, a 53-year-old science journalist in California, described her experience with a Prozac-like antidepressant this way: “It made me feel disconnected from myself and my family, so that I no longer felt any empathy and did not really care what happened to them or to me. It was a terrifying sensation of flatness and I definitely felt depressed and hostile in a way that I had never felt before.”

Bizarre experiences abound as well: Bernice had “a vivid nightmare of being shot in the head,” and the sensation she felt of dripping blood did not immediately disappear on awakening. Others report elimination of sexual desire, weight loss, weight gain, heart palpitations and elevated blood pressure.

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http://health.msn.com/health-topics/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100202836&GT1=31009

Vets taking PTSD drugs die in sleep

May 24, 2008
Vets taking PTSD drugs die in sleep
Hurricane man's death the 4th in West Virginia
By Julie Robinson
Staff writer
By Julie Robinson

jul...@wvgazette.com

A Putnam County veteran who was taking medication prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder died in his sleep earlier this month, in circumstances similar to the deaths of three other area veterans earlier this year.

Derek Johnson, 22, of Hurricane, served in the infantry in the Middle East in 2005, where he was wounded in combat and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder while hospitalized.

Military doctors prescribed Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel for Johnson, the same combination taken by veterans Andrew White, 23, of Cross Lanes; Eric Layne, 29, of Kanawha City; and Nicholas Endicott of Logan County. All were in apparently good physical health when they died in their sleep.

Johnson was taking Klonopin and Seroquel, as prescribed, at the time of his death, said his grandmother, Georgeann Underwood of Hurricane. Both drugs are frequently used in combination to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Klonopin causes excessive drowsiness in some patients.
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http://wvgazette.com/News/200805230640

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http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36129

Paxil, murder-suicide and PTSD

He had been prescribed Paxil, an anti-depressant, but did not consistently take the medication, said Judy Lopez, his mother.

Lovell murder-suicide shatters 2 families
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau

LOVELL, Wyo. - Two families joined by marriage and grief struggled Tuesday to make sense of a shooting that left a husband and wife dead and two young children without parents.

Ongoing depression over the hardships of serving in Afghanistan and Iraq may have played a role in sparking the incident, said relatives of Steven D. Lopez.

An active-duty sergeant in the U.S. Army, Lopez, 23, shot his wife, Brenda Lee Davila, 22, before turning the gun on himself Monday afternoon.

"Our hearts go out so much for Brenda's family," said Daniel Lopez, Steven Lopez's father.

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Lovell murder-suicide shatters 2 families
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau

LOVELL, Wyo. - Two families joined by marriage and grief struggled Tuesday to make sense of a shooting that left a husband and wife dead and two young children without parents.

Ongoing depression over the hardships of serving in Afghanistan and Iraq may have played a role in sparking the incident, said relatives of Steven D. Lopez.

An active-duty sergeant in the U.S. Army, Lopez, 23, shot his wife, Brenda Lee Davila, 22, before turning the gun on himself Monday afternoon.

"Our hearts go out so much for Brenda's family," said Daniel Lopez, Steven Lopez's father. "We can't even begin to - it's terrible. It's the ultimate pain, to lose a child, and it makes it so much worse to know your child took a life. We feel so bad for the other family," he said.

Outside Brenda Davila's Carmon Avenue residence Tuesday afternoon, her mother, Martha Davila, laid a single red rose on the concrete walkway leading from the sidewalk to the home.

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Warning about Paxil and Seroxat

We really have to wonder if some of the suicides are linked to the medication they are given.

According to a Norwegian study, adults taking the antidepressant drug paroxetine are at a higher risk of attempting to commit suicide than those not taking medication.
In this new analysis, of previous clinical data on paroxetine use, the antidepressant is added to the list of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) that have been shown to increase suicidal tendencies in adult patients with depression.

In their study Ivar Aursnes and colleagues from the University of Oslo, Norway, re-examined data from 16 selected paroxetine trials, in which patients diagnosed with depression had been randomly given either paroxetine or a placebo drug.

Neither the participants nor the researchers conducting the initial studies knew what the participants had been given.

Aursnes and his team did a statistical analysis of the results of these studies, in order to evaluate the incidence of suicide attempts in both groups.

Their work took into account the amount of time the participants had been exposed to paroxetine, and their results discovered that there were seven suicide attempts in the group on paroxetine, but only one among the patients on the placebo.

Although it is recognised that Paroxetine can increase suicidal attempt rates in children and teenagers, previous studies have failed to reach a conclusion regarding the effects of the drug on suicide attempt rates in adult patients.

Way back in February this year, David Gunnell of Bristol University and colleagues, warned doctors about an increased risk of suicidal behaviour in patients treated with SSRIs.
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Paroxetine (Paxil, Seroxat) is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant. It was released in 1992 by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. In 2006 it was the fifth-most prescribed antidepressant in the United States retail market, with more than 19.7 million prescriptions.[1] The prescription of this drug is controversial because of side effects such as suicidal ideation and withdrawal syndrome which have resulted in legal proceedings against the manufacturer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paroxetine