they experience when they try to stop the drugs reported the Times . Brian , a 29-year-old Chicagoan who did not want his name used , told me in an interview that he has remained on a SSRI antidepressant for years despite his wish to quit . “ Every time I try to stop , I get something that feels like an electrical current in my head and I can ’ t do it ,” he said .
The Times article drew a huge backlash from psychiatrists . “ By amplifying the social media echo chamber , the article creates the unfortunate impression that most patients are forced to continue antidepressants out of fear of withdrawal rather than out of prevention of recurrence ,” wrote 39 psychiatrists , terming depression “ chronic ” and “ undertreated .” Will they read the 2022 research in Molecular Psychiatry that discredits the serotonin theory that sold so many antidepressants bogusly ?
Other Problematical Prescription Drugs
Hepatitis C drugs and SSRI antidepressants are far from the only prescription drugs once presented as safe that have come under safety clouds in the last few years , often after wide usage .
• Long term use of proton pump inhibitors ( PPIs ), aggressively marketed for gastroesophageal reflux disease and other gastrointestinal disorders , is now linked to the “ risk of fractures , pneumonia , Clostridium difficile diarrhea , hypomagnesemia , vitamin B12 deficiency , chronic kidney disease , and dementia ,” according to the Mayo Clinic Proceedings .
• The seizure drug Topamax @ was found to present a two to five-fold increase in the risk of cleft lip or cleft palate in infants born to mothers who used the drug in early pregnancy .
• In 2016 , the FDA strengthened warnings about the link of fluoroquinolones ( a class of antibiotics which includes Cipro and Levaquin ) to “ disabling and potentially permanent side effects with tendons , muscles , joints , nerves and the central nervous system .” Two years later the agency strengthened warnings about “ mental health side effects and serious blood sugar disturbances ” with the antibiotics drug class .
• In 2019 , the FDA held a Joint Meeting of the Pediatric and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committees to address growing reports of neuropsychiatric events linked to the asthma drug Singulair @ in pediatric patients including suicides . The next year a “ black box warning ,” the highest warning , was added to the drug and the FDA said it should “ only be used to treat patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma that do not tolerate or do not respond to alternative medications .”
• In 2020 , the FDA requested the withdrawal of prescription and over-the-counter ( OTC ) ranitidine from the market , a heartburn drug sold as Zantac @, due to the presence of a contaminant known as N-Nitrosodimethylamine ( NDMA ).
38 x The Trial Lawyer
Meanwhile , a 2019 follow-up of subjects in the federal Women ’ s Health Initiative found the “ hormone replacement therapy ” ( HRT ) depicted in the chapter , “ Weapons of Hormonal Therapy ,” is still unsafe years after the original study revelations . “[ B ] reast cancer risk from menopause hormones may last decades ,” said the follow-up . The study found that women prescribed hormone replacement therapy had a 29 percent greater incidence of breast cancer 19 years after using the drugs than those who never used the drugs , said the analysis .
Big Food Gets Bigger Milk Sales Continue To Fall And Milk Alternatives Rise
The tanking milk sales and desperate try-anything marketing that was covered in the first edition of this book has bottomed out . “ Got milk ? You probably don ’ t . Or you do , and it ’ s just a splash in your coffee . Or you do , but it ’ s not from a cow ,” wrote Fast Company as it reported that “ Dean Foods , the largest U . S . milk producer ,” had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019 .
“ Despite our best efforts to make our business more agile and cost-efficient , we continue to be impacted by a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption ,” said Eric Beringause , a newly installed CEO at Dean in 2019 . Dean “ has found itself unable to compete as plant-based and lactose-free dairy alternatives rise in popularity ,” agreed the New York Times .
Not only was Dean Foods a casualty of the many non-dairy milks now available , the milk producer “ increased its ownership percentage in leading brand of flaxseed-based milk alternatives , Good Karma ,” unabashedly joining the other side according to Food Table TV . The turnabout parallels the meat giants like Tyson , Smithfield , Purdue and Hormel who now offer plantmeat alternatives in their product lines — as in “ if you can ’ t beat ‘ em , join ‘ em .”
Nondairy milks available today include soy , rice , oat , coconut and almond milks as well as pea , hemp , flax , cashews , hazelnut , pistachio , walnut , peanut , macadamia , pecan , lupine , quinoa , garbanzo bean , sesame seed , tapioca starch and even potato milks . While some are refrigerated , many are in the dry goods section of the grocery store which further propels sales because of their greater shelf life .
Why the sea change in milk drinking behavior ? The new milks presented less of dairy milk ’ s negatives like cholesterol , calories , antibiotics and hormones and often offered nutritional or taste advantages . Just as important were ethical reasons that vegan-oriented food consumers cited for abstaining from cow ’ s milk : the dairy industry ’ s shocking treatment of cows and calves , depicted in the food chapters of the first edition of this book . Additionally , manure and fly-saturated dairy operations exert such negative environmental effects , they have been called “ rural crack houses .”