Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has issued a “Dear Doctor” letter to health professionals warning them that its antidepressant drug Effexor (venlafaxine) is not effective in treating depression in children and teenagers. Recent studies have found increased reports of “hostility and suicide-related adverse events,” such as thinking about suicide and self-harm, among children and teens taking Effexor.
Comment Wire reported that, “In one of the studies, 2% of children with major depression reported suicidal thoughts with a further 2% displaying hostility – more than double the proportion of children receiving placebo. In an additional study 1% of children with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) showed abnormal or changed behavior versus none with placebo. However, no children in the trials committed suicide.”
This warning comes after U.S. and British regulators in June 2003 issued a similar warning against prescribing the popular anti-depressant Paxil to children for depression, because it could increase the risk of suicide or suicide thinking in young people.
(via CommentWire)
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ive been on the drug two years and im am feeling the same way many of you feel. forgot to take it and I became very ill throwing up and all of the side effects
So glad I found Someone else who feels the same way I do about Effexor. I have been on it for a couple months and want off of it. It is evil to say the least. It should come off the market. It is distroying many lives. It causes more problems than you had before the Effexor was prescribed. It does not help me at all and I have many more problems to deal with, now coming off of it is really going to be the biggest problem I ever had. God help all of you that have to take it and can’t get off of it. I saw where there is a class action suit against the maker. Good, now maybe they will do something about it. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS DRUG IF YOU CAN, IT IS A LOADED GUN……
After reading all these comments I now relize I am not losing my mind, there realy is something wrong with this drug EFFEXOR I have been taking effexor for about 4 years and have wanted to come of of it on numerous occasions only to be told by my doctor that the side effects that I get are all part of my deppression and that I probably need to be on this drug for the rest of my life. Boy it sure is great to be told this after the fact. If I had known all this befor-hand I would never have touched this drug. I would like to sue the people who make this drug does anyone know how? please help me.
i stopped taking effexor 4 weeks ago and i have been on them for 2 and a half months. i stopped taking right after i found out the serious side effects that my doctor never told me about and double dosed my prsecription. i never told him i stopped taking them i just switched doctors and now i feel better knowing i aint taking a risk in ending my life.
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