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SSRI's are not the same - by Dr. Wagemaker

	...read the Taming Oedipus Intro ...read Intro to Psychiatric Medications Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorders The Surprising Truth About Depression Taming Oedipus Boys and Violence, Why? Psychiatric Medication and Our Children: A Parent's Guide
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Since the mid-50’s, depression has been treated successfully with medications. The theory behind this is that depression runs in families and is a genetically induced illness. Depression is caused by changes in brain chemistry. Medications have been developed that change altered brain chemistry back to normal.
The first medications that were developed were the Tri-Cyclic anti-depressants. These medications were very effective in treating in depression, but they had some side-effects, such as dry mouth, constipation and blurred vision that patients had problems with. In the mid-1980’s, a new group of anti-depressants where developed, these included Prozac, Paxil, Elavil, Zoloft and others. In 2005 some of these drugs came off patent, and the generic SSRI’s became available. These medications were cheaper and many psychiatrists started using them. I started using generic SSRI’s in 2006, and started a lot of my patient on them.

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I followed these patients closely and noticed that most of my patients were not improving. This got my attention and soon realized that fluoxetine was not an effective medication, at least not in my patient's population. I also found out that other psychiatrists had the same experience. Because of this, I stopped using generic SSRI’s and started using only the brand name SSRI’s with my patients. Using just brand name SSRI’s created problems for me and my patients. Insurance companies with medication plans will pay for generic medications but usually won’t pay for name brands. They feel that the generic brands work as well as name brands. I had a patient who was insured by Tri-Care, the insurance company that covers military personnel, who I put on Prozac.

They changed the medication to fluoxetine. When I found out about this, I called Tri-Care and was told they wouldn't pay for brand-name Prozac. I also found out that the VA would not allow for their depressed patients to be on brand-name Prozac. This means that our service personnel suffering from depression or PTSD are not being treated effectively. I see patients frequently who have been treated with generic SSRI’s. Some of them have been treated for 6 months or a year and they are still depressed. I changed them from generic medications to brand-name medications and they showed good improvement in their depression within 8-12 weeks. All generic medications are not effective.

Psychiatric Medication in Children

"Finally, a book about complicated medical problems, which is readable for regular folks. Dr. Herb Wagemaker puts complex research studies, understanding about psychiatric illness, and up-to-date information about medicines in a common sense format. Straight talk about tough issues and practical advice on treatment is Dr. Wagemaker's approach in this useful guide to parents. If your child might be in need of a drug therapy or if you want more knowledge about psychiatry in children... do read this book!"
Steven Lippmann, M.D.
Louisville, KY

...read Intro to Psychiatric Medications

Ponte Vedra (April, 2008) -- We would eliminate the problem of not effective SSRI's if the FDA would require generic medications to go through the same double blind drug studies that are required of brand name medications. That would be very costly however and take some of the generic drug companies producing generic medications off the market. In Florida, we have another problem. Pharmacists can change my prescriptions from brand name to generic, if I don’t write on the prescription blank brand name medically necessary. Pharmacists are not physician’s, they do not follow patients. They think that the generic medications are the same as brand names. Some are, but in the case of the SSRI’s they are not.

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