Antidepressants can lead to suicidal thoughts in patients
Q: I’m 48 and have battled depression for most of my life. After being on fluoxetine for several weeks, I attempted suicide. Prior to that, I remember feeling unreasonably angry and physically aggressive. I attributed that to my stressful job. It never occurred to me that it could be from the medicine.
I was hospitalized after my suicide attempt. I was very depressed, worse even than before I was admitted, so the psychiatrist increased my dose.
I knew within a few days that the medication was making me worse! I tried explaining that to the doctor, to no avail.
So, I started “cheeking” my pills and disposing of them carefully. I felt better within a week. When I was discharged, I was off the fluoxetine.
A: Prozac (fluoxetine) was introduced in 1987. It took until 2005 for the Food and Drug Administration to require a black box suicide warning for most antidepressant drugs. Initially, it was limited to children, but in 2006, the caution was extended to cover people up to 25 years old.
The FDA urges family members to monitor patients closely for unusual changes in behavior. Symptoms such as anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility and aggressiveness are red flags.
Controversy remains over the risk of suicide in middle-aged adults. Your story reminds us how important it is for family and friends to be aware of potential problems associated with antidepressants.
Q: My question is about hawthorn supplements. I know someone who takes it to lower blood pressure and blood sugar. It seems to work well for her, lowering those quite a bit.
I currently take hydrochlorothiazide for blood pressure and was on metformin for blood sugar. However, that gave me an upset stomach all day and awful stomach pain at night. So, I stopped it. My doctor doesn’t have any suggestions other than writing a prescription for more powerful drugs. I’d prefer to go the natural route if there are other solutions that may work. Might hawthorn be helpful?
A: Hawthorn has been utilized in several traditional formularies for problems likely related to elevated blood sugar or blood pressure (Frontiers in Pharmacology, Aug. 20, 2021; Natural Products and Bioprospecting, April 2021). However, most of the studies that have been done are in animals. In mice and rats, hawthorn extract can help lower cholesterol as well as blood sugar and blood pressure. Until we see a large, randomized controlled trial in humans, though, we cannot endorse hawthorn for blood sugar or high blood pressure.
Q: When the air gets dry in the winter, my husband uses a neti pot to rinse his nasal passages. This year, I switched him to Xlear sinus rinse packets. They contain xylitol,a natural antibacterial product. They work well; he’s had no sinus infections since.
A: A neti pot is a traditional method for being able to rinse out the nose and sinuses. An alternative would be a plastic device designed to wash the sinuses.
Xylitol is also known as birch sugar. This natural product inhibits the growth of some common bacteria found in the nose. Utilizing Xlear or other preparations for rinsing the sinuses makes sense, but we urge everyone to dissolve the packets in sterile water so as not to introduce new pathogens.