http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4272t1-part1.pdf

DR. PINE: Thank you.
4 The next speaker is Angela Heck.
5 DR. HECK: Hello. My name is
6 Angela Heck. My husband William and I are both
7 here of our own accord from Toledo, Ohio. My
8 husband and I had been together for 12 years at the
9 time he attacked me tried to kill me with a knife
10 (weeping).
11 Approximately, three years ago, my
12 husband was prescribed Paxil for anxiety. My
13 husband is not an alcoholic. He has never tried
14 illegal drugs in his lifetime. In addition, he has
15 no prior history of assault, violence, or
16 aggressiveness issues. He does not have any
17 history of mental illness. He is a normal, healthy
18 male.
19 Do you know what it is like to be trapped
20 in your own bedroom thinking you're going to be
21 wrapped in a blanket and your parents are not going
22 to know what happened to you? Or, do you know what
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1 it's like to wonder how you could do something so
2 terrible, so contradictory to your values and
3 beliefs?
4 My husband and I do because of what a
5 well-respected psychiatrist stated in the attached
6 letter regarding the whole incident, and I quote:
7 "I find it to be consistent with
8 dissociative episode and in all likelihood caused
9 by serotonin reuptake inhibitor, Paxil. You are
10 familiar with the details of the unfortunate
11 assault on his wife during that dissociative
12 episode."
13 To this day, he still does not remember
14 what happened on that horrible day. He only knows
15 what has happened from me telling him. This tragic
16 event turned out lives upside down.
17 Resentment and anger do not even begin to
18 describe how we feel towards the makers of these
19 dangerous antidepressants. I always knew that
20 money made the world go around, but I did not think
21 a company was so greedy that they would not care
22 how many people's lives are ruined or lost.
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1 I know some people have trouble believing
2 that a drug like Paxil could cause something like
3 this. If it wasn't me and how well I know my
4 husband, I would probably be one of those people.
5 There is no doubt in my mind that these
6 drugs have several terrible side-effects. If I had
7 any doubt, I would not be back with my husband.
8 I also strongly believe that the drug
9 companies are aware of these side-effects as well
10 or they would not have hidden the clinical trials
11 for so long.
12 I strongly urge the FDA to do something
13 about SSRIs and how they are prescribed. These
14 drugs are being given to people as though they are
15 as safe as Tylenol®. We all know this is not the
16 case.
17 Antidepressants are something that either
18 should not be used at all or as a last resort.
19 They have become the first choice for all sorts of
20 problems due to a lot of expensive marketing by the
21 drug companies.
22 We trusted the medical profession, drug
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1 companies, and the FDA to give us safe medication,
2 and that obviously has not happened. The drug
3 companies have gained control of the entire process
4 with their deep pockets.
5 We hope and pray that the FDA finally
6 makes a drastic change regarding antidepressants as
7 these drugs are extremely dangerous and family
8 physicians should not be prescribing.
9 Thank you for your time and
10 consideration.
11 (Applause.)
12 DR. PINE: Thank you.