Psych. Med. Blunder?

[beebers2]

What is the name of your state? California
Wife was 38 year old white female with history of child abuse and suffering depression as a result. Incident happened in late 2000.
Wife was taking Prozac for several years. Doctor switched her to Welbutrin approx. Sep/Oct 2000 after wife complained of decrease in sex drive. For unknown reson wife was switched to Zoloft in Nov/Dec 2000.
Dec. 24, 2000, wife suffers multiple Gran Mal seizures and is admitted to hospital for approx. 2 weeks. Wife has no history, family or otherwise of epilepsy. Wife lost memory of nearly all events of three previous years. Wife has extremely poor short term memory. Doctors unable to determine cause of seizures. Wife continues to take anti-seizure medications to date and lacks short term memory. Could the Psych. Meds. have caused this? Any recomendations on pursuing legal action against HMO or Pharmaceutical companies?

 

[Devastated Mom]

Been there.

Ohio.
I have been in the same situation for 4yrs now. Been on all kinds of Psch Meds and didn't even need them. I was misdiagnoised with BiPolar Disorder and come to find out all it was was a B12 deficiency. I have also been told I have had a Heart attack and could not even tell you when. I was so messed up on Psch Meds from my Phychiatrist it has just about ruied my life. I would like to make sure this does not happen to anyone else. I don't know if I have a case or not.

 

[pamela vandi]

links

www.drugawareness.org

also see www.mindfreedom.org

 

[rmet4nzkx]

What is the name of your state? California
Wife was 38 year old white female with history of child abuse and suffering depression as a result. Incident happened in late 2000.
Wife was taking Prozac for several years. Doctor switched her to Welbutrin approx. Sep/Oct 2000 after wife complained of decrease in sex drive. For unknown reson wife was switched to Zoloft in Nov/Dec 2000.
Dec. 24, 2000, wife suffers multiple Gran Mal seizures and is admitted to hospital for approx. 2 weeks. Wife has no history, family or otherwise of epilepsy. Wife lost memory of nearly all events of three previous years. Wife has extremely poor short term memory. Doctors unable to determine cause of seizures. Wife continues to take anti-seizure medications to date and lacks short term memory. Could the Psych. Meds. have caused this? Any recomendations on pursuing legal action against HMO or Pharmaceutical companies?

One would need more of a medical history to link Wellbutrin directly to the seizures. Your wife's reaction to Prozac is a known long term effect of that class of medication and Wellbutrin has been known to restore libido. Apparently, for some reason it didn't work for your wife so it was changed again. Usually the dose is less than what is known to trigger seizures and more likely to exhibit other symptoms before triggering seizures and Wellbutrin was DC prior to Seizures, and only taken for a short time.

There are several causes of sudden onset seizures, a history of head injuries increase the likelyhood of seizures and may occur as long as 40 years or more following the event or accumulative TBI's. Wellbutrin and Zyban (anti smoking version of Wellbutrin) taken together increase the risk for seizures and are contraindicated concamanately, Wellbutrin in persons with history of eating disorders also increases risks of seizures, sometimes the risk factors are not known or reported by the patient.

I personally know a person who had a head injury at age 5, accidently dropped on his head during play and had his 1st seizure while driving, causing an accident at about the same age as your wife, so it does happen. Your wife's history of child abuse may have included head injury with or without her knowledge.

While you can consult a med/mal attorney for a consultation, I think the chances of a successful suit or even linking the medications to the seizures is slim and the statutes allowing you to sue a HMO in California changed again this year, so your options are different. Because of these things, please consult a med/mal attorney familar with California law and Statute of limitations, rather than following links to anti medication sites because they don't address your specific issues.