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More evidence emerges that Americans are drugged out of their
minds
S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Wednesday , January 13th, 2010
As NaturalNews has previously reported, the U.S.
is a nation seemingly hooked on mind-altering drugs (http://www.naturalnews.com/027054_d...).
A study released last fall in the Archives of General Psychiatry
documented a dramatic increase in the use of antidepressant
drugs like Prozac since l996. In fact, these medications are
now the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S.
Think Americans are maxed out on the number of psychiatric
meds that huge numbers of them are taking? Think again. A new
report says U.S. adults are increasingly being prescribed combinations
of antidepressants, anti-anxiety and antipsychotic medications
-- and they could be experiencing serious side effects as a
result.
The study, published in the January edition of Archives of
General Psychiatry, investigated patterns and trends in what
is known as psychotropic polypharmacy, meaning the prescribing
of two or more psychiatric drugs. Ramin Mojtabai, M.D., Ph.D.,
M.P.H., of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore and Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia
University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric
Institute, examined data gathered from a national sample of
office-based psychiatry practices. In all, the researchers looked
at the medications prescribed between 1996 and 2006 during more
than 13,000 office visits to psychiatrists by adults.
The results showed a significant increase in the number of
mind impacting drugs prescribed over these years. The percentage
of doctor visits which resulted in two or more medications being
prescribed increased from 42.6 percent to 59.8 percent. What's
more, the percentage of visits at which three or more drugs
were prescribed soared from 16.9 percent to 33.2 percent. And
the median number of medications prescribed at each appointment
with a psychiatrist increased on average by of 40.1 percent.
The combinations of drugs being prescribed with increasing
frequency include antidepressants with sedative-hypnotics (the
most prescribed combination), antidepressants given along with
antipsychotics and combinations of several kinds of antidepressants.
But at least the doctors prescribing these mixed drugs are only
doing so based on solid research showing the combos are safe
and effective, right? Wrong.
"Because scant data exist to support the efficacy of some
of the most common medication combinations, such as antipsychotic
combinations or combinations of antidepressants and antipsychotics,
prudence suggests that renewed clinical efforts should be made
to limit the use of these combinations to clearly justifiable
circumstances," the authors wrote in their paper. "At
the same time, a new generation of research is needed to assess
the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of common concomitant
medication regimens, especially in patients with multiple disorders
or monotherapy-refractory conditions."
In other words, drugs are being given to patients in all sorts
of combinations without sound science showing they even work
well together -- much less that these drug cocktails are safe
to take. In fact, the researchers point out specific dangers
of taking multiple psychiatric drugs.
"While the evidence for added benefit of antipsychotic
polypharmacy is limited, there is growing evidence regarding
the increased adverse effects associated with such combinations,"
they concluded. A case in point: some combinations cause increases
in body weight and total cholesterol level. Others have been
associated with an increase in fasting blood glucose level.
For more information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
"When the people find they can vote themselves
money, that will herald the end of the republic."
- Fall Of The Republic - Buy
the DVD here
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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