What an amazing subject SSRI antidepressants are, with so many controversies and conflicting opinions out there about them! It is an interesting subject however and one I've searched and researched many times these past five years. My searching was also prompted by the fact that I had five Doctors in a row try to prescribe SSRI antidepressants to me, early into my own treatment for hypothyroidism because of my experiencing some unresolved symptoms after treatment with thyroid hormone replacement therapy. These Doctors felt that the thyroid hormone therapy I was taking for hypothyroidism was always so highly successful in all patients, that my unresolved symptoms must have been psychosomatic or emotional ones. Once I received the correct dose of thyroid medication however, the symptoms resolved over time.

I believe these antidepressant/anti-anxiety drugs do have a purpose and that there are people who benefit from them. At times they have probably even prevented suicides. On the other side of the coin however, is the fact that Doctors get into the habit of prescribing them at every turn so-to-speak because they have been so convinced of their widespread compatibility with everyone they might be prescribed to. Some Doctors seldom seem to think about those people they might not be compatible with, who have adverse reactions to them. Some adverse reactions have also resulted in suicides but this is not common. I feel with these type possibilities however, in addition to other possible severe side effects, patients or the parents of patients that are prescribed SSRI antidepressants should be more thoroughly monitored and educated about them. I feel they should also have a hotline to their Doctors when starting these drugs and told to report the first signs of threatening side effects. Doctors should also be more willing to carefully switch patients to a different type medication if one has adverse effects, rather than telling the patient that the side effects are in their heads or just a sign that their emotions were on the verge of getting worse but was caught just in time and they were simply needing a dose increase of the SSRI drug.

Doctors don't always thoroughly inform patients about these things because they are routinely briefed by the pharmaceutical companies who insist the drugs can be mass prescribed with very little chance of any adverse effects in anyone. Again, this does not take away from the fact that the drugs are greatly beneficial to many people they are prescribed to but prescribing abuse is also a reality with some of these types of drugs.

The reason the FDA has had to step in and require stricter measures in regard to the warnings on labels of SSRI drugs, is because severe adverse reactions were happening in some patients taking them.

There are actually several areas of concern, including that mentioned above, in regard to SSRI antidepressants that simply need more Doctor and patient education. Patients in need of a trial of one of these drugs may not have the energy to read a long patient print-out, that is offered with the medication so need their Doctor to brief them on all areas of concern in regard to the drugs. One example in this area is the fact of some SSRI drugs and other types of antidepressants requiring the patients who take them to abstain from alcohol and is another warning their Doctors may fail to inform them about.

In regard to SSRI drugs lowering thyroid hormones in the body, I read about this possibility early on, after I was diagnosed with thyroid disease and the fact that they can indeed do this, was included in medical research articles and not just the opinion of non-medical people. In people who take thyroid hormone replacement, this would likely only result in a need to raise their hormone medication dose. In people who aren't hypothyroid however, taking an SSRI long term, might present the need for them to have thyroid hormone level testing every few months, to see if they are a patient whose levels are significantly affected by the SSRI drug. Most patient's, own bodies will adjust their thyroid hormone levels if the drug lowers them over time but might not be true in all cases. Here again, is a need for Doctor and patient education about these drugs.

If I were to sum up my opinion on the subject I would say that I believe many people are greatly helped by these drugs but I also believe some people have adverse reactions to them. I believe because of this, Doctors need to brief patients better about these facts. They are powerful drugs and in my opinion, it is extremely important that Doctors and patients become better educated about them.


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