Once again, we’re entering the realm of taboo subjects. The information I’m about to reveal today is so hush-hush that your doctor probably doesn’t even know about it.
A new study from Canada reveals something very disturbing for those over the age of 50 who take a certain class of drugs.
We are a sad nation, apparently…a sad continent, actually, given that Canada has joined the antidepressant drug craze. Data suggests that 1 in 10 Americans are on some sort of antidepressant medication, and antidepressant prescriptions have increased more than 350% in Canada between 1981 and 2000. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report1 in 2011 that showed a dramatic increase in the use of antidepressants in Americans from 2005 to 2008. The CDC report claims that 11% of Americans over the age of 12 take antidepressant medication.
In addition, women are far more likely to take antidepressant medication than men at all levels of depression severity. The CDC data also revealed that 23% of women in their 40′s and 50′s take an SSRI. This is higher than any other age group!
That’s what I call sobering news, especially given the effect of antidepressants on your bone density.
The Canadian study2 revealed something alarming about a particular kind of antidepressant – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs – and the damage it does to the bones of people over the age of 50.
The patients in the study took commonly-prescribed SSRIs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Celexa, on a daily basis. Even when factors such as hip bone mineral density, age, and estrogen levels were taken into account, researchers concluded that the risk of “fragility fracture” actually doubled when these SSRIs were taken daily.
This is shocking news, considering that fragility fractures were already considered a problem among this age group.
Not only are these drugs harming the bones; alarmingly, a study3 published in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that antidepressants don’t even help depression. The study exposed Big Pharma’s brazen cover-up of actual data that shows the ineffectiveness of antidepressants. Not surprisingly, drug companies selectively published only those studies that showed the benefits of antidepressants, but suppressed almost all of the studies that showed clearly that these drugs are ineffective.
Even the studies that showed apparent benefits of antidepressants were presented inaccurately. Reviews of the actual data from those studies indicate that the antidepressants were only 20% more effective than a placebo. In other words, 80% of the participants in the studies found relief from depression with just a placebo.
And let’s not forget the side effects of antidepressants. Besides increasing fracture risk, SSRIs can have side effects that range from unpleasant (nausea, dry mouth) to unhealthy (weight gain, insomnia) all the way to life-threatening (increased risk of suicide).
It looks like we’ve been deceived again.
Drug companies are preying on some of the most vulnerable among us. Depression clouds decision-making, and presents its own set of physical health problems as well, such as exacerbating bone loss.
Interestingly, those who suffer depression may be more at risk for fractures even without taking medication. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has shown that depressed menopausal women had a greater fracture risk. The study also showed less bone mass in the hips (specifically, the femoral neck) of 17% of women with depression, compared to only 2% of women without depression. And in 20% of depressed women, low bone mass was observed in the lumbar spine, compared to only 9% of non-depressed women.
