Tag Archives: ADD

Top 12 Legal Violence Producing Drugs

Last weekend, I saw on most of the major networks multimillion dollar advertisements of the smoking cessation aid called Chantix. I also remember reading recent reports about some of the most commonly prescribed drugs that are associated with violence and violent crimes.

Although my lead came from the Mercola emailed newsletter, I will focus on the primary source of Mercola’s report, a Time article, and others. The source is a multi-authored medical research report
published by the online professional journal Plos One. The title of the report is “Prescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others.”

The medical researchers identified 484 drugs that accounted for 780,169 serious adverse event reports. Of these reports, 1,937 cases met their violence criteria. The violence cases included 387 reports of homicide, 404 physical assaults, 27 cases indicating physical abuse, 896 homicidal ideation reports, and 223 cases described as violence-related symptoms. The patients were 41% female and 59% male with a mean age of 36 years.

Among 484 evaluable drugs, 31 drugs met the researchers’ criteria for a disproportionate association with violence, and accounted for 1527 (79%) of the 1937 violence cases. The drugs are listed in Table 1. They include varenicline (a smoking cessation aid), 11 antidepressant drugs, 3 drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and 5 hypnotic/sedatives. No violence cases were reported for 324 (66.9%) of the 484 of all evaluable drugs. Thus, for 84.7% of all evaluable drugs in widespread clinical use, an association with violence appeared highly unlikely.

Let’s identify the top 12 drugs of the 31 mentioned above and their better known brand names:

Quite Smoking Prescription Drug:
Verenicline is none other than Chantix, the highly advertised “quit smoking” drug.

Attention Deficit Disorder Prescription Drugs:
Amphetamines for ADHD include AdderAll, DextroStat, Dextedrine, and Vyvanse
Atomoxetine is better known as Strattera

Anti-Depressants Prescription Drugs:

Fluoxetine is Prozac also known as Reconcile, Rapidflux, Sarafem, and Selfemra
Paroxetine goes by the trade names of Paxil and Pexeva
Fluvoxemine goes by the trade name of Luvox
Venlafaxine goes by the trade name of Effexor
Desvenlafaxine goes by the trade name of Pristiq
*Sertraline is better known by brand names Zoloft and Lustral
Escitalopram is called Lexapro as well as Cipralex, Seroplex, Lexamil, Lexam

Hypnotic/Sedative Prescription Drugs:
Trizolam goes by the trade name Halcion and is also known as Apo-Triazo, Hypam, and Trilam
*Zolpidem goes by the trade name Ambien as well as Zolpimist, Edluar, and Tovalt ODT

* The asterisk indicates drugs with the same statistical rating for their association with reports of violent behaviors.

Dr. Mercola provides some perspective on anti-depressant drugs. First, he points out that anti-depressant drugs do not correct the underlying cause of depression. Second, he reveals research proving their never has been any evidence supporting the widely held belief that depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It has always been a marketing ploy to sell drugs to the American public. Third, the risks of taking anti-depressants outweigh the presumed benefits: The risks include damaged to the immune system, developing bipolar depression, and loss of cognitive ability. The risks are very high for 25% to 50% of kids who are taking some form of depressant or ADH medication for five years or more. Fourth, there are other ways of fighting depression, according to Mercola. They include a healthier diet, mental and physical exercises, and similar non-drug remedies. Prayer and meditation have been employed by many people for millenniums as means to resolving emotional issues.

Sources:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0015337

Top Ten Legal Drugs Linked to Violence


http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/02/top-ten-legal-drugs-linked-to-violence.aspx

Cell phone use during pregnancy and childhood behavioral problems

In the July edition of Epidemiology, researchers reported that children whose mothers used cell phones while pregnant were more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems.

A team of scientists looked at a group of more than 13,000 children, including their time in utero. When the children reached age 7, mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their own cell phone use in pregnancy and their child‘s use of cell phones, as well as their children‘s behavior and health.

Children with both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure were 80 percent more likely to have emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, or problems with peers. Children who were only exposed prenatally had a higher likelihood of behavior problems compared to those who were only exposed postnatally, but not as high as those who were exposed at both times.

Dr. Mercola believes that an 80 percent increase in behavior problems is pretty drastic. In a recent article on the subject, he wrote,

“Could it be, as some have suggested, that mothers who use cell phones frequently are simply not very attentive parents? Sure. But those children who were only exposed in utero had significant increases in behavior problems too, which suggests there may be something deeper going on.”

Dr. Mecola also explained that something deeper.

“Electromagnetic radiation from cell phones poses a unique hazard to a developing fetus. Animal studies have shown that electromagnetic fields in that frequency range can affect their liver enzymes, glands, muscles, hormone balance, and heart and bone marrow. In fact, the cellular stresses caused by information-carrying radio waves can actually alter the DNA structure of both you and your child.

Autonomic nervous system expert Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt has noted this radiation can easily flip certain genes in the mitochondria. If this gene sequence is altered in a pregnant woman, she can pass her damaged mitochondria on to the child.

The child can then develop a mitochondrial disorder, which can include muscular atrophy and severe developmental problems. Even autism has been associated with cell phone use.

Because children are still growing, they also have far thinner skulls than adults. This makes their brains far more susceptible to these information-carrying radio waves. If you are, say, holding your infant while talking on a cell phone, the radiation plume can easily reach the child and penetrate their skull.

Of course, if you allow your child to talk on the cell phone himself, then this radiation will reach him directly.

To see an illustration showing just how much higher the electromagnetic radiation absorption rates are in a 5- and 10-year old’s brain versus that of an adult, see this article from a previous newsletter.

It’s very important that you keep cell phones away from infants, babies, children and pregnant women now, as the damage may not start showing up for 10 years or more, and by then it will be too late.

So, why hasn’t our government done something about this? A part of the deeper problem is that they are powerless. They serve the interests of the powerful, which means those corporations and politicians making big money. Yes, the FDA, FCC, and EPA have called for research on the problem, but the study reported by Epidemiology was conducted in the Netherlands not the USA. Dr. Mecola also goes into greater detail why the federal agencies are not doing much about the problem.

I should add that scientists have known about 20 years (maybe more) that high doses of electromagnetic waves is harmful to animals and humans. As Dr. Mercola points out, “[t]hese radio waves are literally everywhere, transmitting signals to wireless computers, cordless phones, cell phone base stations and countless other wireless technologies.”

In another article by Dr. Mecola, “Why Your Cell Phone Can Hurt Your Children,” a list of health problems caused by RF radio waves (cell phone, wireless, etc.) included:

*  Alzheimer’s, senility and dementia
*  Parkinson’s
*  Autism
*  Fatigue
*  Headaches
*  Sleep disruptions
*  Altered memory function, poor concentration and spatial awareness
*  Cancer and brain tumors
*  Sterility
 

Notice, health problems like sleep disruptions, headaches as well as the problems mentioned in the Epidemiology study such as hyperactivity, emotional and behavioral problems are related. In a previous post, I reported on the discovery that ADD and hyperactivity were often related to lack of sleep and even mild appendicitis. Yet, children have been drugged out the wazoo for profit not for a cure. The cure is to limit or end cell phone, wireless computer, iPod, and cordless phone use and maintain good health practices.

Read Dr. Mecola’s articles for tips on cell phone safety, good health practices, or for more in-depth information.