Potentially Dangerous Side Effects from Common Psychiatric Drug?
After reading this article in today’s New York Times, I’m tempted to write a letter to my doctor thanking him from taking me off of Zyprexa and switching me to Zoloft.
According to the article, “Mother Wonders if Psychosis Drug Helped Kill Son,” in today’s Business section,
An autopsy showed that the 41-year-old Mr. Kauffman [who had been taking Zyprexa for 5 years], who was 5 feet 10 inches, weighed 259 pounds when he died. His mother believes that the weight he gained while on Zyprexa contributed to the heart disease that killed him.
According to publicly available drug information, many of the common side effects of Zyprexa are major risk factors for heart disease. However,
Lilly says side effects from Zyprexa must be measured against the potentially devastating consequences of uncontrolled mental illness. But some leading psychiatrists say that because of its physical side effects Zyprexa should be used only by patients who are acutely psychotic and that patients should take other medicines for long-term treatment.
This is yet another installment in the debate as to which is worse: adverse effects of treatment or adverse effects of nontreatment. What do you think?
Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King
Tags: drugs, Health, heart-disease, Mental Health, risk-factors, treatment, woman, women, Womens-HealthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Heart Health
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1 opinion for Potentially Dangerous Side Effects from Common Psychiatric Drug?
Daniel Haszard
Jan 5, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I took Eli Lilly zyprexa 4 years for PTSD didn’t do me any good made me gain weight and gave me diabetes.The zyprexa cost $250.00 a month all during that time too.
Zyprexa, which is used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, accounted for 32% of Eli Lilly’s $14.6 billion revenue last year.
Zyprexa is the product name for Olanzapine,it is Lilly’s top selling drug.It was approved by the FDA in 1996 ,an ‘atypical’ antipsychotic a newer class of drugs without the motor side effects of the older Thorazine.Zyprexa has been linked to causing diabetes and pancreatitis.
Did you know that Lilly made nearly $3 billion last year on diabetic meds, Actos,Humulin and Byetta?
Yes! They sell a drug that causes diabetes and then turn a profit on the drugs that treat the condition that they caused in the first place!
I was prescribed Zyprexa from 1996 until 2000.
In early 2000 i was shocked to have an A1C test result of 13.9 (normal is 4-6) I have no history of diabetes in my family.
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Daniel Haszard
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