Strattera for ADHD: Deadly Black Box Warnings Ignored by Doctors

This article is written to educate the many people being prescribed this drug without proper warnings from their doctor. I have a friend who was recently prescribed this medicine by his physician, and was told that the worst side effect he might experience is dry mouth. He was not informed about any of the recent black box warnings related to the use of this drug. This drug is still being prescribed as a drug with mild, non-serious side effects. This is endangering the lives of children and adults who take this drug. This is an outrage that this is still going on in 2010.

Points To Keep In Mind About All Drugs:

Strattera has been out in the market place since 2002. It is approved by the FDA to treat ADHD in adults and children over the age of 6. When it was first released into the marketplace, it was given lots of great press. It was considered a much safer drug because it was not a stimulant drug nor a controlled Schedule II drug like Ritalin and Adderall. This drug was peddled to the doctors and the public as a mild drug that had few side effects and not addicting. This has been the case for hundreds of drugs proved later to be more deadly than the effects of the disease it was prescribed for.

You need to realize that almost all drugs have negative effects on the body and the liver over time. The manufacturer only performs short term clinical trials on these drugs with limited numbers of patients under controlled circumstances. There are no long term studies on any of these drugs when first released for sale.

There are no long term studies on how these drugs affect the growing minds and bodies of children over time. You are making your child and yourself a guinea pig with any of these new drugs.

Deadly Side Effects From Using Strattera:

Adverse Reactions:
From 2004 to 2006 there have been 31,835 reported adverse reactions where Stattera was the primary drug offender in over 9,000 individual cases. This ranks Stattera as one of the top three drugs with the most reported adverse effects. In 1,562 cases of the 9,250 cases, the adverse reactions stopped when the drug was discontinued and reoccurred when the drug was resumed.

Deadly Liver Toxicity Symptoms: In December of 2004, the FDA required a new black box warning for this drug. Some patients had suffered liver toxicity leading to liver failure. Liver failure serious enough that could lead to the need for a liver transplant. The medicine's insert now gives warnings to look for liver toxicity symptoms including itchy skin, jaundice, dark urine, upper-right side abdominal pain or tenderness, and unexplained flu-like symptoms. The label also states that the actual cases of liver problems have been under-reported. If you are taking Strattera, you should be given liver function tests every year while taking this drug.

Psychiatric Symptoms: In view of all the psychiatric complaints, the FDA in 2005 issued new black box warnings for this drug. The black box warning states increased risk of suicidal thoughts and possible suicide attempts.

After less than three years on the market, there have been 10,988 adverse psychiatric reactions to this drug. This statistic was reported according to the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency as of Jan 2006.

There are 870 international reported cases of suicide and self-injurious behavior as of May of 2007. Despite all this evidence, Europe's, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has failed to do anything to restrict this drug or properly warn patients of the danger in Europe. In fact there is much evidence to support that this regulatory agency has repeatedly ignored the deaths and adverse reactions linked to Strattera. There are a number of groups demanding that Europe take this drug off the shelves and giving evidence of their failure to protect consumers.

Male Urinary Tract Problems: Adult male adverse reports include: genitourinary tract symptoms including Prostatitis; painful urination; urinary retention; and pain and unusual symptoms following sexual intercourse.

Interactions with other drugs: Both Prozac and Paxil inhibit Strattera's effectiveness. Your physician needs to carefully monitor your drug reactions when using Strattera with other antidepressants together.

References:

http://jannel.se/letter.mhra.strattera.jan08.pdf

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2005/01/06/ADHD-Strattera050106.html#ixzz0lZK7wj8c

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2005/01/06/ADHD-Strattera050106.html

http://www.johnswank.com/Strattera.htm

http://adhd.emedtv.com/strattera/alternatives-to-strattera.html

http://www.focuset.com/Strattera_a/136.htm