Thursday, June 05, 2008

follow up: antiepileptic drugs & suicidal thoughts

In response to research showing an increased risk of suicidal thoughts among people taking antiepileptic medications (such as Depakote, Topamax or Zonegran), the FDA may require drug makers to add a suicide warning to their products.

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog
reports that although the suicide risk seems minimal, the FDA has become increasingly aggressive about requiring suicide-related warnings.

Some manufacturers argue there are differences in risk level between anticonvulsants drugs and object to the FDA's adoption of a policy requiring suicide warnings for all drugs in the category. The FDA has not yet released its findings from a review of clinical data on this subject, so it remains to be seen whether this argument has merit.

The FDA will conduct a public meeting on the issue in July.

If you have concerns about taking these drugs, please discuss them with your doctors. Do not stop taking a medication or change how you are using it without consulting with your doctor.

You can read more about these issues at the following links:

FDA Mulls Suicide Warning for Epilepsy Drugs
Epilepsy Drugs May Vary in Suicide Risk

Related Post:
Antiepileptic Meds Related to Suicidal Ideation

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Subscribe to the Somebody Heal Me feed: Subscribe in a reader or subscribe by e-mail.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Content by Diana E. Lee.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...