Seroxat - has anybody experienced crazy side affects with this Prozac-type drug

asks Julia:
A. Seroxat is a type of anti-depressant called SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors), as is Prozac. SSRIs were brought out as an alternative to tranquillisers such as Valium, which was widely prescribed in 1950s and 1960s - until it was recognised that they were highly addictive.

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Q. So are SSRIs safer
A. It was always believed so. However, Seroxat manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline, have been forced to warn patients and doctors about the possible side-effects when coming off the drug.

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Q. Why
A. GlaxoSmithKline was recently found to be in breach of the pharmaceutical industry's code of practice. It had always denied that Seroxat could cause dependency. Then, last year, one of its executives stated on US TV that 'it happens very rarely'. ('Very rarely' is technically one in 10,100 people.)

The British watchdog Social Audit complained that this comment was misleading and breached the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Associations code of practice.
The Federation agreed that GlaxoSmithKline was in breach of the code, and ruled that the comment promoted the drug and that it was wrong. The Federation said that side effects did not occur 'very rarely', but were 'rare' (i.e. one in 1,000 cases).
But it may be more than that...

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Q. How much more
A. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which licenses medicines in the US, quoted recent trials for new uses of the drug (for post-traumatic stress disorder, for example) and found that two out of 100 people suffered abnormal dreams or pains resembling electric shocks - even when the dose was gradually reduced. The FDA warning on Seroxat acknowledges that side effects occurred 'frequently' (i.e. more than one in 100 cases).

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Q How does this affect the people who have been taking the drug for some time
A. A court action has been filed in the US by people who claim that their lives have been shattered by their dependency on Seroxat. And there are about 60 people in the UK who are considering legal action.

Charles Medawar, of the pharmaceutical watchdog Social Audit, has called for drug companies to investigate what happened to the people who had been taking prescribed SSRIs for long periods of time because their information is from trials where volunteers took the drugs for short periods.

For more information - and stories from 500 people who had side-effects - visit the Social Audit website.

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Do you have an experience of SSRIs Post your say here

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By Sheena Miller

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