2004N-0330 - Joint Meeting of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Pediatric Advisory Committee

FDA Comment Number :

EC8

Submitter :

Mrs. T McClain

Date & Time:

08/30/2004 02:08:58

Organization :

Mrs. T McClain

Individual Consumer

Category :

Issue Areas/Comments

GENERAL

September 29, 2003, that is a date that changed our families' lives forever. As I looked at my beautiful daughter laying in her hospital bed I was in a state of shock and disbelief. About 2 weeks prior my daughter had come to me telling me that she thought she had an eating disorder. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, I made an appointment for her to see her pediatrician. My daughter was a happy, socialable high school junior who had many friends at school. She was not depressed. When someone has an eating disorder it is not that they want to die. It is almost the opposite. The child once to fit in so badly and have their place in the world that they would stoop to self-distructive habits to get there. The pediatrician said that my daughter needed therapy and he wrote us a prescription for Zoloft. The Dr. stated that the zoloft was for the "compulsiveness" of the disease. Not for depression! I am the daughter and grandaughter of pharmacists and I know that it is important to take medication that is prescribed to you. My child took the Zoloft for 6 days. In 6 days our daughter became frightingly manic. She became extremely agitated. Her moods were swinging wildly. She became paranoid and dillusional. She felt as if everyone hated her and she saw weird "patterns" on her wall. She was so hyper and just completely out of sorts. Everyone asked me what is wrong with our daughter. I thought she had just really lost it. I could not figure out what was wrong with her. However, I kept giving her the Zoloft because I knew that would make her better. On September 23, 2003 my husband and I decided to go and speak with our child's pediatrician while she was at her therapist.Earlier in the day, her boyfriend had come over and said that she was "stalking" him! We thought she had totally lost it! We went to her therapist office to tell our daughter about what her boyfriend had said. She seemed OK about it and after some counseling we decided to go home. We left in 2 different cars. Our daughter never came home. My husband and I went out to look for her. After what seemed like an eternity she called me on her cell phone. "Mom, I love you" she said" Please call an ambulance. I have taken some pills. I am so sorry. I love you and Daddy. Please forgive me". At the hospital our daughter was given treatment for the overdose. The treatment was brutel. At one point black liquid poured out of her nose and eye sockets! The therapist was there and was in just as much shock as we were!!She made a comment that our child seemed to be OK at her office! The hospital psychiatrist asked our child why she had done that and she said she didn't know!! When I told the PA at the Dr's office that I thought it was the medication that caused our daughter to take the pills she replied,"well, if that makes you feel better"!!!! Almost a year later, getting back to normal has still not happened.Due to panic attacks which our daughter has never had before, we thought it was best that she change schools to a small private school.Her grades plumeted. All family members began questioning her sanity! I think she was even questioning it! Her short-term memory has still not gotten up to where it was before. This is her senior year. She will apply to colleges soon. I totally understand that many parents you will hear from are not as fortunate as we are. Their children did not make it. But how do we explain the horrible grades our daughter sustained her Junior year? Do we have to tell every admissions office our story and hope that they believe our child is not crazy? If in fact the drug companies knew that anti-depressants caused some teens to try to take their lives it is a deplorable shame that our children have been their "guinea pigs". Would the drug company executives give these medications to their children knowing what we all know that they knew years ago? Please come clean on the research. We want to know the truth!

T. McClain