In the wake of sensationalist articles about Zyprexa and weight gain you would think that the next big story would be all those horrible side effects caused by typical antipsychotics like Haldol - which people like Robert Rosenheck and his cheerleaders inthe NY Times claim are just as good -- and cheaper -- than Zyprexa.
Some of Haldol's side effects.
The risk of tardive dyskinesia is around 4% per year in younger patients, higher than with most other antipsychotic drugs. In patients over the age of 45, the percentage of those afflicted can be even higher. Other predispositive factors may be female gender, prexisting affective disorder and cerebral dysfunction. See chlorpromazine for further details.
Other side effects include dry mouth, lethargy, muscle-stiffness, muscle-cramping, restlessness, tremors, and weight-gain; side effects like these are more likely to occur when the drug is given in high doses and/or during long-term treatment. Depression, severe enough to result in suicide, is quite often seen during long-term treatment.
Oh, and then there's the 'revelation' that painkillers like aspirin cause more liver injury than, say, Ketek, Senator Grassley's drug of choice.
Where are the Haldol and aspirin lawsuits? Or at least where are they in proportion to lawsuits against Lilly for weight gain associated with Zyprexa or Sanofi for 12 cases of liver injury?
Slip and fall litigation is pursued without regard to public health risk but with respect to profit.
So for those of you who commented about our earlier posts regarding the source of legal documents (and more on that later) it does matter. As long as journalists think its kosher to report the sources of income of respected academic researchers in the same sentence as they report what they say about a subject, we believe it is kosher to request that they report the source of everyone's income, particularly if that information source has a vested interest in the outcome of the case or decision that the reporter is writing about.
Some of Haldol's side effects.
The risk of tardive dyskinesia is around 4% per year in younger patients, higher than with most other antipsychotic drugs. In patients over the age of 45, the percentage of those afflicted can be even higher. Other predispositive factors may be female gender, prexisting affective disorder and cerebral dysfunction. See chlorpromazine for further details.
Other side effects include dry mouth, lethargy, muscle-stiffness, muscle-cramping, restlessness, tremors, and weight-gain; side effects like these are more likely to occur when the drug is given in high doses and/or during long-term treatment. Depression, severe enough to result in suicide, is quite often seen during long-term treatment.
Oh, and then there's the 'revelation' that painkillers like aspirin cause more liver injury than, say, Ketek, Senator Grassley's drug of choice.
Where are the Haldol and aspirin lawsuits? Or at least where are they in proportion to lawsuits against Lilly for weight gain associated with Zyprexa or Sanofi for 12 cases of liver injury?
Slip and fall litigation is pursued without regard to public health risk but with respect to profit.
So for those of you who commented about our earlier posts regarding the source of legal documents (and more on that later) it does matter. As long as journalists think its kosher to report the sources of income of respected academic researchers in the same sentence as they report what they say about a subject, we believe it is kosher to request that they report the source of everyone's income, particularly if that information source has a vested interest in the outcome of the case or decision that the reporter is writing about.
