Suicide Attempt & Rages Paxil 18/03/2002 Pennsylvania 9 Year Old Girl Becomes Worse on Meds
Summary:
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/AC/04/transcripts/4006T1.doc
DR. RUDORFER: Number 37, please.
Marion Goff
MS. GOFF: I do not have any financial
ties. I am her with my daughter, Alex. We are
here to tell you about her twin sister, Devon, when
she was 9 years old. We are also joined by Senator
Lincoln Chafee's wife Stephanie who is a friend of
ours.
In 2002, Devon developed an
obsessive-compulsive disorder very suddenly and
very severely. In a three-month period, she lost
10 pounds. We consulted a specialist who
prescribed Zoloft on her second visit with him.
Soon thereafter, he increased the Zoloft to 50
milligrams or more, but it didn't help, so he
changed her prescription to Paxil.
She was hospitalized and Devon's medical
condition was compromised in that she had developed
a cardiac arrhythmia and had to be placed on a
heart monitor. She was in the hospital for one
month, and she was on the heart monitor and bed
rest for the entire time.
During this time, her Paxil was increased
to 20 milligrams. A few days later she was started
on Zyprexa also. Devon was not getting any better,
in fact, her behaviors grew worse. She began
hitting her head against the metal hospital bed.
She threatened to jump out of the window on two
occasions.
On two other occasions, we found a pair of
sharp scissors in her bed. Our child was never
suicidal before these medications. At one point,
my 9-year-old child, who weighed little more than
60 pounds, was on 30 milligrams of Paxil and 10
milligrams of Zyprexa.
Our gentle daughter would now fly into a
rage several times each day. It became part of our
life to have my husband and myself restrain Devon
at times for fear that she would truly hurt
herself.
During these times, she would try to
inflict injury upon herself by banging her head on
walls, beds, floors. She would punch herself in
the legs and arms. She grew extremely violent
toward us. She would run to the silverware drawer
and get a knife and attempt to stab herself.
The worst moment happened when I looked in
on her, in her room one night, to find her by her
open second floor bedroom window with one leg out
the window in a position as if she appeared she
would jump.
Devon is presently being treated for Lyme
Disease. In summary, our experience has been one
of absolute terror to watch your 9-year-old
daughter suffer so much, so suddenly, and to be so
lost in helping her.
So often we would ask why this was
happening, and we were told to forget about the
etiology.
DR. RUDORFER: I am sorry, we are out of
time. Thank you very much.