Suicide Warning

google melatonin, it is used as a sleep aid and is natural, maybe it is an alternative for you.

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/tc/melatonin-overview

I asked about this and she said over the counter meds were not as safe.

I've been very pleased with the doc and the care I received up until this point that I didn't think to question it. The drug was Trazadone.

Trazodone is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for sleep aid. Yes, it is mostly "labeled" an anti-depressant, but it is more commonly prescribed as a sleep aid. It is one of the few, effective, NON narcotic sleep aids on the market. If Benadryl/Unisom isn't working and Melatonin isn't working I suggest giving the Trazodone a chance.

I worked as a Pharmacy Technician for 5 years, I know drugs pretty well...just in case you are wondering where I got my info

That goes along with the typical "American Doctor" way - Treat the symptoms, not the problem. The symptom is you can't sleep, but what's the real problem behind it? Too many doctors give a quick fix rather than actually pay attention to the patient.

I've been having trouble sleeping lately and called inquiring about whether the dosage for my thyroid could be off, causing me to wake after a few hours of sleep.

You need to call the Dr. back and have him order a blood draw to check your thyroid. My wife has been on medication for years for this and when her levels change, she can't sleep, her hair starts to fall out and she either gains or loses weight for no reason.

On the other topic, I have been taking Klonopin for years as needed for general anxiety. I take it sometimes if I am restless at night and NEVER had any side effects. NEVER.....and my sample size is probably 10 years.

Good luck getting your thyroid adjusted...I think your sleep will return to normal once that is regulated.

That goes along with the typical "American Doctor" way - Treat the symptoms, not the problem. The symptom is you can't sleep, but what's the real problem behind it? Too many doctors give a quick fix rather than actually pay attention to the patient.

My feelings exactly. And they do get benefits from drug companies for this type of thing. If some of you think big Pharm isn't going to do everything they can to expand their business...

What sleep aid is it? I use Ambien on occasion and have never had such a side effect.

Not that I'm aware of.

I've been having trouble sleeping lately and called inquiring about whether the dosage for my thyroid could be off, causing me to wake after a few hours of sleep. I spoke with the nurse, who in turn spoke with the doctor, and she thought a sleep aid might help. So I figured I'd try it or at least have it for weeks where I just can't sleep. I'm definitely not taking it now.

Are you on Synthroid or natural Armour thyroxine? You should visit the thyroid forum---there are some VERY knowledgeable ladies there who can give you guidance. A much more natural sleep aid is melatonin (it is a hormone that your body produces under the influence of low light and it prepares one for sleep). My husband takes it and sleeps like a baby now--in spite of chronic sciatic pain. But I'm not sure that hypothyroid folk can/should take it. Ask over on the thyroid forum---there's bound to be someone there who knows about it. Another thought is to lower the lights an hour before bedtime (and you should stay off the computer and television as well). The bright light into the eye, stimulates the pineal gland and diminishes your own natural supply of melatonin.

The reason why your doc prescribed an antidepressant is likely because, waking after a few hours of sleep and being unable to get back to sleep is a "symptom of depression". He's (and even female docs often believe this) been trained in medical school that most women are depressed most of the time. If what you have been prescribed is an SSRI, you should know that there are actual structural changes that occur in the brain after a few weeks (that is why it takes up to six weeks for them to begin "working"). I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. In the counseling I have done with people who are on them (both before and after they went on them), I have discovered that it affects thought processes. No one really talks about this "side-effect" but I'm convinced that it does something to disturb normal thinking. It isn't well-known (and it is hushed up in the corporate media) but most of the homicidal shooters have a long history of being on psychoactive drugs of some sort--but particularly SSRIs. The drug companies have known for a long time that about 5% of the people who are on them "long-term", will have a "psychotic break" at some point. Not everyone becomes homicidal when they have a psychotic break---I knew one lady who ended up in E.R. claiming she was the reincarnated Queen of Sheba.

What makes you think it's that the antidepressants caused their break? It seems more likely that they had an underlying mental illness that caused them to need antidepressants and to eventually have a psychotic break. Maybe I'm missing something?

There is no proof that the antidepressants "caused" their break, but in clinical trials, the drug companies themselves uncovered the link to psychotic breaks. It stands to reason that anything powerful enough to cause structural changes in the brain are strong enough to disturb normal cognition. Pretty much all of the homicidal mass shootings have occurred since the invention and widespread use of SSRIs in 1987. There are MANY now in the psychiatric profession who are growing very uncomfortable with the level of psychiatric drugs that are part of their profession. "Talk therapy" is a thing of the past. I'll post some links later to some websites where psychiatrists themselves are speaking out.

Since 1900
July 1914: Simone Pianetti took his rifle and shot and killed 7 people. Upon his attempt to be captured by the Carabinieri he ran off into the mountains and was never seen again and a body was never found.

May 18, 1927: The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings set off by Andrew Kehoe; in Bath Township, Michigan. A total of 38 students and 7 adults were killed; with at least 58 people were injured. The incident still stands as the deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history.

May.1938: In a rural village close to Tsuyama City in Okayama, Japan the Tsuyama Massacre took place. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 30 people and the serious injury of three. The event was conducted by a man known as Mutsuo Toi.

Sept. 1949: Howard Unruh left his house for a twelve minute walk around his Camden, New Jersey neighborhood, shooting people at random and killing 13.

Jan. 1958: Charlie Starkweather & Caril Ann Fugate went on a gunning spree after killing Caril's parents and sister. The two of them traveled through Nebraska and were captured in Wyoming ultimately killing eleven people.

July 1966: Charles Whitman barricaded himself in the University of Texas clock tower and began shooting at students below. The shoot off lasted 90 minutes and ultimately killed 18 people and wounded 30 others.

Dec: 1972: Mark James Robert Essex hid down the street from a police station and target police with a .44 magnum killing 10 people and wounding 13 others in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Mar. 1975: James Ruppert shot and killed his mother, brother, sister-in-law and eight nieces and nephews at an Easter Sunday dinner in Hamilton, Ohio. The 11 victims were shot a total of 35 times.

July 1976: Edward Charles opened fired with a .22 caliber rifle in the basement library of the California State University in Fullerton. He killed seven people and injured two.

March 1978: Dalal Mughrabi and her Palestinian Fedayeen unit of eleven members captured a bus and after being chased by the local military shot, killed and ultimately blew up the bus killing an estimated thirty five civilians and six Palestinian guerillas and left seventy-one civilians wounded.

1982: Carl Brown shot and killed 8 people at a Miami machine shop where he just recently had his lawn mower worked on. He was then caught trying to escape and ran over by civilians chasing him.

April 1982: A police officer gathered weapons from the local armory and used his police status to enter homes and kill those who were there. He either shot them or killed them with grenades. The officer continued this for eight hours.

Sept 1982: George Banks went on a shooting spree and killed 13 people with an AR-15 high-powered rifle in Wilkes-Barre City and Jenkins Township.

July 1984: James Oliver Huberty dressed in camouflage and went to McDonalds in San Ysidro. At McDonalds he opened fire and killed 21 people before a sniper shot ended his life.

Aug. 1986: Pat Sherrill, a postal worker, killed 14 people and wounded six others with a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol in Edmond, Oklahoma post office.

Aug. 1987: Michael Ryan in Hungerford, England killed 16 people and wounded 14 others then shot himself.

You were very specific about mass shootings and not just mass murders. These are just a few I found in 30 seconds from 1900-1987. I'm pretty sure I could find quite a few more in just as little time. Then there is the list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers (and may god have mercy on my soul for citing wikipedia but you know, just for a quick reference). Anyway, nowhere near "pretty much all homicidal shootings" have been perpetrated since 1987.

I took a heartburn medication to assist in producing breast milk....

Sometimes medication has "off Label" uses, doesn't make them not effective or safe.

Call your Doctor and ask why he/she prescribed that medication and any reasonable alternatives... or alternative sleep therapy recommendations.

Not that I'm aware of.

I've been having trouble sleeping lately and called inquiring about whether the dosage for my thyroid could be off, causing me to wake after a few hours of sleep. I spoke with the nurse, who in turn spoke with the doctor, and she thought a sleep aid might help. So I figured I'd try it or at least have it for weeks where I just can't sleep. I'm definitely not taking it now.

if it has a suicide warning maybe it means you can easily overdose with out realising and not that it will make you suicidal?

I'm feeling super left out that melatonin seems to be some kind of miracle supplement for 90% of the people in this thread.

It's pretty good stuff. It seems to work well for people who have mild sleep issues. The thing is that oral melatonin doesn't actually make you sleepy; it really just helps bring about the earlier onset of your natural rhythm. There are a large number of reasons for not recommending or prescribing melatonin to someone, especially when they're already on hormone-affecting medications.

Certainly, there are enough valid reasons in the world not to give the OP melatonin that automatically assuming the physician is a moron or criminal is galactically stupid and, frankly dangerous. Instead of making this poor woman terrified that her doctor is a criminal idiot who is giving her dangerous medication because he's either stupid or corrupt, when she's already irrationally afraid of the meds because she read about one of its other uses, is a horrible thing to do.

Most of the people in this thread should be ashamed of themselves for ignorantly and dangerously scaring the OP off her physician and his medical opinion just because he didn't give her the pill they like best.

they do get benefits from drug companies for this type of thing.

Oh yeah? You sure about that?

The amount of ignorance and BS in this thread is horrifying. People seem to pretty much believe anything they want to believe.

Watch "Love and Other Drugs"... While it is a movie, it is based on the rise of Prozac and Viagra. See what the Reps do in order to push the drug. Tell me they don't get bonuses.

I'm feeling super left out that melatonin seems to be some kind of miracle supplement for 90% of the people in this thread.

Melatonin is not a solution for all sleep disorders. It has been proven that melatonin cannot treat true insomnia. What melatonin can help with is delayed sleep on-set disorder. Most people with sleeping issues actually have delayed sleep on-set and not true insomnia. That means that their bodies do not produce a sufficient amount of melatonin at the right times of the day. So taking melatonin increases the melatonin levels in their brain at the time that they want to fall asleep rather than on its natural (or unnatural) schedule due to Circadian rhythyms. Taking melatonin at the same time every day will teach your brain to produce melatonin at those times, and thus, adjust your Circadian rhythym.

Insomnia is a completely different beast and usually related to anxiety.

Many drugs have different uses. The best thing to do is talk to your doctor about your concerns surrounding the medicine and request that she try a Rx sleep aide instead.

But, as I said, many drugs are primarily used for one ailment but then have been found to remedy others as well. For example, I struggled with daily migraines for three months. Pain killers wouldn't help, migraine Rx's wouldn't help, a shot of Toridol in my *kitten* wasn't effective either.
I had an MRI done, a CT scan, a spinal tap: results were A OK.
Then, my neurologist prescribed me Topamax. It was an anti convulsant, primarily, but was found to be effective in treating chronic migraines.

A side story: that med DID work. My migraines were practically gone once I was at 50mg in the morning/100mg at night. But, at the highest dose, I was having terrible mood swings and dealing with an all-out hormonal imbalance (it had been progressing for some time, as the doses kept rising, so did the severity of it all). I was a wreck.
I also had constant bloodshoot eyes and a red line going horizontally across each eye. It wouldn't go away for the most part.
I ended up weaning off of those meds and am now mood swing free and, 75% of the time, also migraine free.
Despite my side effects, the medicine did help and, imo, seemed to have fixed something in my brain. Or else I'd again be having those daily migraines.

I took some tablets that had a side effect of male lactation once (I tried to milk myself to no avail). It's how medication works. There are side effects. They have to list every one of them to prevent them getting sued.

Having worked in medical offices before and meeting with drug reps consistently - this is very true, no matter how minuet the chance of a side effect, they have to list it. Did you know that Tylenol can cause liver damage? It's only with extremely high doses of repeat usage, but they must list it. Working in a urology office, there was a medicine that was made and used for a male problem - but the drug fixed a female problem when used (or maybe it was the other way around, but you get my point).

Talk to your doctor about why he suggested this specific drug - maybe he can prescribe something else instead. I am for more holistic care when possible so try the tea with chamomile and lavender - very calming, melatonin I have heard works. My grandmother swore by warm milk (I don't like warm milk, so haven't been able to stomach that), And get that thyroid medicine right, that could fix everything. Good luck to you and hope you can get some sleep.

they do get benefits from drug companies for this type of thing.

Oh yeah? You sure about that?

The amount of ignorance and BS in this thread is horrifying. People seem to pretty much believe anything they want to believe.

Unfortunately many people seek out information that bolsters whatever fear they've decided to have, while avoiding information that would show that the fear is either completely invalid or disproportionate to the situation. Sigh.

Drug reps leave gifts, buy meals for Dr offices, and all kinds of things just so the doctor will prescribe their brand of pharmaceuticals. That's for all their products, not just the latest and greatest. Even if the product has gone generic, the company that created the formula gets a portion of the sales for all generics for up to 7 years after the generic has been authorized. This is a pretty common practice with the medical community and Big Pharma.

Thank you for illustrating my point. Free meal = doctors in thrall to a drug company. Yup. That's completely reasonable. :laugh:

Well if someone selling anything bought you lunch, wouldn't you be more inclined to recommend their product to your friends, family members, and co-workers. Same difference.

they do get benefits from drug companies for this type of thing.

Oh yeah? You sure about that?

The amount of ignorance and BS in this thread is horrifying. People seem to pretty much believe anything they want to believe.

Unfortunately many people seek out information that bolsters whatever fear they've decided to have, while avoiding information that would show that the fear is either completely invalid or disproportionate to the situation. Sigh.

Drug reps leave gifts, buy meals for Dr offices, and all kinds of things just so the doctor will prescribe their brand of pharmaceuticals. That's for all their products, not just the latest and greatest. Even if the product has gone generic, the company that created the formula gets a portion of the sales for all generics for up to 7 years after the generic has been authorized. This is a pretty common practice with the medical community and Big Pharma.

Thank you for illustrating my point. Free meal = doctors in thrall to a drug company. Yup. That's completely reasonable. :laugh:

Well if someone selling anything bought you lunch, wouldn't you be more inclined to recommend their product to your friends, family members, and co-workers. Same difference.

No. That is just silly. I can't imagine a rational person being so easily influenced. The only way that would work would be if the product in question was the food itself.