Suicide Attempt Paxil Withdrawal 29/08/2004 Nebraska Woman Alleges Addiction to Paxil: Lawsuit
 
 Summary:<br><br><!--StartFragment -->Paragraph 9 states: &quot;<strong>Since then, she&#39;s tried to quit three times and says her overwhelming desperation even drove her to attempt suicide. She&#39;s constantly irritable, nervous and edgy&quot;. <br /><br /></strong><a href="http://www.theomahachannel.com/health/3687581/detail.html">http://www.theomahachannel.com/health/3687581/detail.html<br /><br /></a><h1><strong>ConsumerWatch: Suit Alleges Paxil Addiction</strong></h1>POSTED: 2:56 pm CDT August 27, 2004<br />UPDATED: 3:12 pm CDT August 27, 2004<br /><br />Paxil is the drug of choice for many doctors seeking to help people beat their depression, but a lawsuit charges that the medication is addictive and that some people sink into a deeper depression while on it. <br /><br />In 1997, Vickie McCarthy says she was going through a tough time in her life. Her doctor suggested the prescription drug Paxil. <br /><br />&quot;He said, &#39;When things calm down in your life and you&#39;re feeling better, you can stop taking it,&#39;&quot; McCarthy said. <br /><br />She took the antidepressant and felt the side effects. <br /><br />&quot;I had headaches, and these little electrical zaps, like you&#39;ve just touched an open electrical wire,&quot; McCarthy said. <br /><br />It got worse when she tried to quit. <br /><br />&quot;I couldn&#39;t stand any sounds whatsoever. Everything seemed magnified. I was dizzy, confused, and very restless. I couldn&#39;t sit still,&quot; she said. <br /><br />Since then, she&#39;s tried to quit three times and says her overwhelming desperation even drove her to attempt suicide. She&#39;s constantly irritable, nervous and edgy. <br /><br />&quot;I hate it. I really hate the fact that this drug has control of my life,&quot; she said. <br /><br />McCarthy isn&#39;t alone. She&#39;s one of 4,000 plaintiffs who have joined a class-action lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil. They say they&#39;re hooked on the drug and unable to quit. <br /><br />&quot;The drug company has a duty to warn the medical community,&quot; said attorney Karen Barth Menzies. &quot;Clearly, they have failed that duty.&quot; <br /><br />The suit claims the drug company has been aware all along that Paxil is dangerous. <br /><br />&quot;Not only does the drug, in fact, cause dependence and withdrawal symptoms -- which they&#39;re now reluctantly having to admit -- the drug companies have known about that for years. Instead of informing the medical profession, they hid those risks,&quot; Menzies said. <br /><br />&quot;For the few people that claim these drugs hurt them, there&#39;s 99 percent of patients who have done wonderfully with these drugs,&quot; said psychiatrist Dr. James Margolis. <br /><br />Margolis is director of the Sutter Center for Psychiatry. He said the lawsuit is absolutely wrong, and that there&#39;s no evidence that one can become addicted or dependent on antidepressants. <br /><br />He said he has seen patients who think they&#39;re addicted, when really, they have a different condition that&#39;s aggravated by Paxil. <br /><br />&quot;We have a lot of emotionally disturbed people who may not have depression. They may have personality disorders or other things, and they haven&#39;t done well with these medications. We wouldn&#39;t expect them to,&quot; Margolis said. <br /><br />McCarthy still takes 20 milligrams of Paxil each day. She&#39;s joined a support group online and hopes to quit Paxil once and for all. <br /><br />GlaxoSmithKline said Paxil has been used &quot;to treat tens of millions of patients, helping them to lead fuller, more productive lives.&quot; <br /> 
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