Things you should know: Medicinal side effects

Seeking out medical attention is often a last resort for the person struggling with suicide. It is important that when doing so, one informs themselves as much as they can about the side effects of any medicines prescribed to them.

Medicines should be used with caution. It is important to enter into any doctor appointment with knowledge to make an informed decision about how to aid in your health and see to it that your needs are being met properly.

It is always assumed that the doctor knows best, but the truth of the matter is, they don't always know and they can't know if one doesn't speak up and out towards one's own healing. Taking responsibility plays a key role and one of the ways to find success in combating suicide is knowing what questions to ask.

Here is a list of medications that are usually prescribed for suicide/depression along with their adverse effects.

* This in not intended to disuade anyone from taking medicines that could prove to be beneficial. This is provided as a guideline to help one be aware of changes that can hinder one's healing. If symptoms appear, or persist after a period of time, the doctor should be consulted.

Tricyclic antidepressants: An antidepressant drug that acts by blocking the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin and thus making more of those substances available to act on receptors in the brain.

Generic Name /Trade Name:

Amitriptyline ------Elavil
Amoxepine ------Asendin
Clomipramine ------Anafranil
Desipramine ------Norpramin
Dioxepin ------Sinequan
Imipramine -----Tofranil
Maprotiline ------Ludiomil
Nortripyline ------Aventyl
Trimipramine ------Surmontil

More about Tricyclic's:
http://www.holisticonline.com/Remedies/Depression/dep_antidepressants-tricyclic.htm

*Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRI's)

Fluexetine --------Prozac

Fluvoxamine -----Luvox
Paroxetine --------Paxil
Sertraline ---------Zoloft
Vanlafaxine -------Effexor
Nefazodene --------Serzone

More about SSRI's:
http://www.healthyplace.com/depression/antidepressants/selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors-ssris/menu-id-68/

*Brand name: ZOLOFT *

Zoloft effects chemicals in the brain that become imbalanced and can cause many syptoms including obsessive-compulsive symptoms- which it is sometimes used to treat.

Studies strongly support that this drug potentially increases suicidal tendencies in children and adults when prescribed to treat depression.

An FDA facts sheet should be issued to all patients who have been prescribed this drug.

Side effects:

Suicidal thoughts/attempts
mania/hypomania
panic attacks/severe restlessness
agitation/hostility/irritability
impulsive behaviour

IMPORTANT NOTE: This drug has been reported to have painful withdrawl symptoms which include:

Jolting "zaps"
Dizziness
motor instability
extreme nausea
high fever
abdominal discomfort
flu like symptoms
anxiety
aggression
insomnia
nightmares
aggression
tremors
siezures
confusion

*This medication should not be taken during pregnancy. Birth defects and serious side effects have occured.

For more information please see the following link:

http://injury-law.freeadvice.com/drug-toxic_chemicals/zoloft-side-effects.htm

Strict rules for taking Zoloft: http://www.drugs.com/zoloft.html

*Brand name: Prozac *

Side effects:

nausea
digestive problems
fatique
sexual side effects/loss of libido
mania
insomnia

Withdrawl symptoms include headaches

*Brand name: Oxycotin*

Side effects:

Constipation
dizzyness
drowsiness
sleeplessness
nausea
weakness
headache

Highly addictive For further reading on side effects:

http://www.oxycodone-addiction.com/oxycodonesideeffects.html

FURTHER READING ON MEDICATION ASSOCIATED WITH SUICIDES:

http://www.naturalnews.com/024289_drugs_medication_suicide.html

ANTIDEPRESSANTS AND SIDE EFFECTS:

http://depression.about.com/cs/sertraline/l/blsidefxsertral.htm

www.depression-guide.com/tricyclic-antidepressant.htm

http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/.../some-possible-side-effects-antidepressants-122784.html

http://web4health.info/gr/bipolar-depr-med-tcas-side.htm

* If you decide that medication use is right for you, please inform a loved one, and provide them with a list of side effects so that they can be watchful of any changes in your emotional and mental health.

If you are able, have someone keep your medicines in a safe place, and perhaps take them with a witness, this is for your safety especially if you have attempted suicide before.

Is Suicide Painless?

The above question may seem to have an obvious answer, but in all reality, and honesty, contrary to what one may want to believe, suicide is definietly not painless.

It perhaps is one of the most painful things one may have to endure in their lifetime. From its inception to final breath, there is nothing dignified, comforting, peaceful or serene about suicide for the individual or those who are left behind to endure the aftermath.

Those who are contemplating suicide, or who are knee deep in the very act itself, will understand that there is suffering and excruciating pain that can be likened to the most inhumane of poisonings and tortures. It is not something that is looked forward to, and most would tell you that they wish they could have stopped before they started. The physical pain is more unforgiving than any emotional tear upon the human heart.

The ones left behind have not just mere struggles, but a life time of unyielding patterns of guilt, fear, doubt, anger, torment and anxiety that seem to worm their way into the physical body that not only tears, but penetrates deep within that asks the question if they should be better off suiciding as well.


Anyone that tells you that the suicide ended peacefully is only stating the obvious; peace is achieved at death, not before.

Overdose is often a mislabeled term in the case of suicide. By definition it simply means to take an excess amout of drugs without intention. Poisoning however, is the intent to take drugs, poison in excess or any dose that is lethal for the sole purpose of killing.

Ask any doctor about ingesting poison and they will be the first to tell you that it is excruciatingly painful and does harm to most vital organs. And where death is the only and final outcome, it is never painless, one dies a slow, horrible, undignified death.

ABOUT THIS SITE:

"Suicide is Painless" are words that I will never accept, nor grow to like. I prefer to hear the theme song to M*A*S*H without the lyrics, and if at all possible, forgo the entry music altogether.

Watching this tv show with my cousin, Kevin is one of the last memories I have of him, and what makes it all the more defining, is the way he happily sung the lyrics as if they were stuck in his head in replay.

I do not remember much of the day except that upon learning of his death, the song immediately came to mind, as his suicide did not come long after. At the tender age of 13, with niavity wrapped around my waist as a belt, I searched for something or someone to blame.

For me, at that age, I hardly knew what suicide was, and hearing the lyrics to this song convinced me that perhaps it had convinced him, or at least made a better argument for death than life had tried so hard to prove against it.

It has been over 20 years and still this song effects me. I have not boycotted the show, as I can honestly say I am a fan. I will give credit where credit is due, but couldn't they have chosen a different song?

I get it. I do. The song is fitting to the tragedy this show represents, and it is ironic for me on so many levels. The medical team of the 4077th were doctors and every day people with every day problems, who saw tragedy in thier "lives" and yet found the strength to continue to help and find hope and life in tragedy and war around them. They provided care and attention to those in physical and mental pain, and yet the theme song could not provide that for my cousin... or did it? It's a question I no longer can dwell on.

I have dedicated the better portion of my life now to suicide outreach. It is because of that song that caused me to search out the meaning of the words. I suppose it means different things to different people, but somewhere it provided comfort if only to some.

To my cousin Kevin, this site is dedicated to help give back his voice and the many voices that suicide has claimed and continues to claim.

Suicide is not painless, and although it takes on many changes... one cannot take or leave it ( if one pleases). One is either -or ;not in between. The decision to live is possibly more difficult than the one made to suicide.

Suicide isolates and seperates, and in this world, that is not considered living. It is easy to be alone, but it is harder to be lonely among a body of one's peers. It is easy to be driven into seclusion, but it is a most difficult challenge to find solitude in a dance hall and be at peace when the world wants to go to war. For some the battle hits home, and instead of hanging out in the back yard... the war knocks at your door step... this site is for you.