Selenium Supplements and Diabetes
I found this article summary of a study that found that people who took selenium supplementation increased their diabetes risk compared with people who took placebos. In case you’re wondering why you’re reading about selenium supplements and a link to diabetes on a mental health website:
1) There are patient anecdotes on taking selenium to protect against hair loss when taking certain bipolar disorder medications (I was personally given this advice by a patient via discussion group 10 years ago when I was misdiagnosed with BP and taking a BP drug that caused my hair to fall out)
2) There are studies suggesting that certain atypical psychotropic drugs used to treat bipolar disorder are linked with onset of diabetes
For those patients who “self medicate” with supplements including selenium and are taking drugs that may further increase their risk of developing diabetes, you may want to talk with your psychiatrist and make sure you let him or her know all the supplements you are taking.
VA Study Suggests Antidepressants Have Protective Effect on Suicide
The link between suicide and antidepressant (especially SSRI) use has been debated for the past few years, particularly on the potential causative link that antidepressant use may cause suicidal risks in certain patients (pediatric and teens). In the July issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, a paper titled, “Relationship Between Antidepressants and Suicide Attempts: An Analysis of the Veterans Health Administration Data Sets” was published to look at the relationship of antidepressant use to suicide attempts in adults treated in the veterans administration (VA) system. The abstract follows with link to an online full text editorial. Read more
FDA Proposes Suicide Ideation Warnings for Antidepressant Use in Young Adults
According to the FDA, it is proposing drug companies to update their antidepressant product labeling to include warnings of increased suicidality, defined as “increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior” in adults ages 18 to 24 during the first two months of treatment. On the other hand, data suggests that adults ages 65 and older have reduced suicidality with antidepressants. This proposal will affect the entire category of antidepressants, and that available information could not exclude a single medication from this increased suicidality risk.
Here’s what one of my (pharma industry) colleagues Steve thinks about the black box warning.