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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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 Risk of depression dims hopes for anti-addiction pills 
#8320583 - 04/23/08 07:50 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Risk of depression dims hopes for anti-addiction pills
April 23, 2008 - thewest.com
Two years ago, scientists had high hopes for new pills that would help people quit smoking, lose weight and maybe kick other tough addictions such as alcohol and cocaine.
The so-called “super pills” worked in a novel way, by blocking pleasure centers in the brain that provide the feel-good response from smoking or eating. Now it seems the drugs may block pleasure too well, possibly raising the risk of depression and suicide.
Margaret Bastian of suburban Rochester, New York, was among patients who reported problems with Chantix, a highly touted quit-smoking pill from Pfizer Inc. that has been linked to dozens of reports of suicides and hundreds of suicidal behaviors.
“I started to get severely depressed and just going down into that hole ... the one you can’t crawl out of,” said Mrs Bastian, whose doctor took her off Chantix after she swallowed too many sleeping pills and other medicines one night.
The makers of the new drugs insist they are safe, although perhaps not for everyone, such as people with a history of depression. Having to restrict the drugs’ use would be a big setback because it would deprive the very people who need help the most, since addictions and depression often go hand-in-hand, doctors say.
A bigger fear is that the whole approach may be in trouble. Researchers say blocking pleasure, especially the way the obesity drugs do, might take the fun out of many things, not just the harmful substances and behaviors these drugs target.
“It certainly diminishes my enthusiasm” to see these side effects, said Mark Egli, co-leader of medicine development at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The buzz started four years ago, when studies showed rimonabant helped people shed weight and keep it off longer than previous pills had. It also was being tested for smoking cessation.
Doctors are now told to avoid giving the drug to people with a history of depression.
In February, the FDA said a link between Chantix and psychiatric problems appears “increasingly likely.” Pfizer added warnings to the drug’s label and said that although a link had not been proved, it could not be ruled out.
But a Pfizer vice president, Dr Ponni Subbiah, said nicotine withdrawal and even quitting smoking could cause mood swings and depression.
It is hard to know “what is causing what,” she said. “We know that smokers are at higher risk of suicide than non-smokers, and heavy smokers are at higher risk than lighter smokers.”
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 Coaster
Baʿal
 
Registered: 05/22/06
Posts: 33,501
Loc: Deep in the Valley
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Risk of depression dims hopes for anti-addiction pills [Re: veggie]
#8320616 - 04/23/08 07:58 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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if only people just had some self control...
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Visionary Tools
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
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Re: Risk of depression dims hopes for anti-addiction pills [Re: Coaster]
#8320623 - 04/23/08 08:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I wonder if these are just rebranded dopamine fucker-uppers/"anti"-psychotics.
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Coaster
Baʿal
Registered: 05/22/06
Posts: 33,501
Loc: Deep in the Valley
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Risk of depression dims hopes for anti-addiction pills [Re: Visionary Tools]
#8320653 - 04/23/08 08:05 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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i wish people would just got get addicted to food and drugs
i mean comonnnnnnnnnnn
or at least maintain a good live while addicted
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