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When the Antidepressants Run Out, by Dr. S.V.
Worldwide, Prozac is the most prescribed antidepressant. It is also prescribed for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and co-morbid anxiety. By inhibiting serotonin re-uptake, more serotonin is available at the synapse, which is anti-depressant. There are many SSRIs prescribed for depression: Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro, etc. There are antidepressant medications which target serotonin and other neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine (Effexor), but they lie outside the scope of this article.
When raw ingredient availability is interrupted these medications will become abruptly unavailable. There are recent examples of this phenomenon in the United States: in 2003 tetanus toxoid became very scarce for some months due to a “pharmaco-political” issue, private clinics and urgent care centers ran out of tetanus toxoid for a period of some months, and it was available only in hospital emergency rooms. In 2004 Ciprofloxacin became temporarily unavailable from any source for largely unknown reasons. It is used for many common infections and it was nowhere to be found.
Current conditions will evolve to produce critical shortages in vital medications as is happening now in Greece: “Pharmaceutical companies are no longer interested in selling to Greece where hospitals and pharmacies are in debt,” said Kostas Lourantos, head of the pharmacies’ association in the Attica region that includes the capital Athens. Rampant inflation is making lifesaving drugs unaffordable even if available. This is especially true for cancer drugs, antibiotics, antidepressants, and insulin (emphasis mine).
Abrupt cessation of SSRI’s creates both prompt and delayed withdrawal symptoms. This is well recognized and variously called “SSRI withdrawal syndrome,” “SSRI cessation syndrome,” “Discontinuation syndrome,” etc. Neurologically, phenomena called “paraesthesias” occur, feeling like “electric shocks” in the head. Other symptoms include: sweating, nausea, insomnia, tremor, confusion, nightmares, and vertigo agitation, anxiety, akathesia, panic attacks, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, worsening of mood, dysphoria (unhappiness), crying spells, mood instability, hyperactivity, depersonalization, decreased concentration, slowed thinking, confusion, and memory/concentration difficulties.
The current standards of medical practice advise a slow, gradual, well controlled withdrawal of SSRI’s in cases where discontinuation is advisable. In the event of drug shortages and hyperinflation, discontinuations will be abrupt, and acute withdrawal syndromes will be frequent.
As with other TEOTWAWKI survival strategies, those who take SSRI anti-depressants must plan for their unavailability. In general, naturally occurring substances and adjunct therapies are not enough by themselves to treat depression completely, although there is much disagreement on this issue. Naturally occurring substances often do not produce the pronounced pharmacological effects like manufactured medications do. For this reason, when SSRI’s are available, one must not discontinue the SSRI’s in favor of taking “natural” substances whose anti-depressant effects may not be as pronounced. One could endanger one’s health, have recurrent depression which resists treatment, become suicidal, etc. (“Available” is a relative term: congress just passed a bill to prohibit and destroy any medications bought online from foreign pharmacies, thereby eliminating access to affordable pharmaceuticals for those on a budget).
However, in this informational article, we discuss the situation where the American economy, society and infrastructure are collapsing and SSRI’s are no longer available.
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