Topic : 09/28 Overmedicating America: The Cruise Controversy

THis mother is said to have schizophrenia. 

SO ... the question will obvioulsy come up what meds she was on and why she was removed from them. If she is a known schizophrenic and was removed from her meds she should have never been left alone to care for herself or her children. 

I wouldn't just go out and start blaming the meds she was or was not on until we have the full facts at which this time the authorities do not even have all the facts so how can you be so rash in your judgement? 

DO you suffer from schizophrenia or any other mental illness? You have no idea what these people go through if you do not. 

They already said she had been on medication but the doctor had recently stopped the medication.  The question I have is why she was left alone with these kids. 

I do agree with you that SOME people, as with any medication can have adverse reactions BUT not ALL people do things like this just because they are on these meds. 

Lashaun Harris, 23, has been charged with three counts of murder and three counts of assault on a child likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death.

She is accused of stripping the boys naked and tossing them off a San Francisco fishing pier into the bay Wednesday evening.

The boys were identified as Treyshun Harris, 6, Taronta Greely, 2, and Joshoa Greely, 16 months. Only the body of Taronta has been recovered.

Harris, a schizophrenic who had been living in a homeless shelter in recent months, came from a large family, family members said. They said today that she had been ill for a few years and that her condition deteriorated in the last four or five months.

Relatives described her as a good mother who was often overprotective of her children.

One of Harris' sisters, Britney Fitzpatrick, 16, said Harris often did not take her medication. "She doesn't like taking her medication. She told my mommy she'd thrown it away," she said.

Fitzpatrick said Harris would often talk to herself and claimed to hear voices. "What are you laughing about?" family members would often ask her when she began laughing out of context, Fitzpatrick said.

Then on Wednesday morning, she said, Harris made a comment no one believed.

"She told my momma once she was going to feed them to the sharks," Fitzpatrick said.

"No one took her seriously," she said 

I think this is a case of a mentally ill person who would have benefited and been stable if she owuld have continued to take the medications even though she hated it. My daughter hates taking her pills everyday but knows to be able to function she MUST!   

I also think if ONE person in this family took her serious, knowing she was mentally ill these kids woudl still be alive.  When my daughter does anything whether says it, writes it, acts it, etc. I take EVERY precaution to make sure hse doesn't hurt herself. 

This is a case where you cannot say the medications caused this to happen, this was purley UNTREATED illness. 

Lashaun Harris, 23, has been charged with three counts of murder and three counts of assault on a child likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death.

She is accused of stripping the boys naked and tossing them off a San Francisco fishing pier into the bay Wednesday evening.

The boys were identified as Treyshun Harris, 6, Taronta Greely, 2, and Joshoa Greely, 16 months. Only the body of Taronta has been recovered.

Harris, a schizophrenic who had been living in a homeless shelter in recent months, came from a large family, family members said. They said today that she had been ill for a few years and that her condition deteriorated in the last four or five months.

Relatives described her as a good mother who was often overprotective of her children.

One of Harris' sisters, Britney Fitzpatrick, 16, said Harris often did not take her medication. "She doesn't like taking her medication. She told my mommy she'd thrown it away," she said.

Fitzpatrick said Harris would often talk to herself and claimed to hear voices. "What are you laughing about?" family members would often ask her when she began laughing out of context, Fitzpatrick said.

Then on Wednesday morning, she said, Harris made a comment no one believed.

"She told my momma once she was going to feed them to the sharks," Fitzpatrick said.

"No one took her seriously," she said 

I think this is a case of a mentally ill person who would have benefited and been stable if she owuld have continued to take the medications even though she hated it. My daughter hates taking her pills everyday but knows to be able to function she MUST!   

I also think if ONE person in this family took her serious, knowing she was mentally ill these kids woudl still be alive.  When my daughter does anything whether says it, writes it, acts it, etc. I take EVERY precaution to make sure hse doesn't hurt herself. 

This is a case where you cannot say the medications caused this to happen, this was purley UNTREATED illness. 

Thanks for the article, Tammy. So far I had not read that she was taking medication or what her illness is. It seems we have very little information to go on. 

Right now we don't know the situation so it is not a good idea to jump to any conclusions. 

That being said, here is my take on this situation. 

Julie is right, that withdrawal can be just as bad if not worse than both the initial symptoms that led to the prescription and the adverse reactions while on the drug continuously.  

This woman sounds like a tragic story of someone who has been mentally ill for a long time and is one of those people that the government and medical community ignore. I would also like to know why she had to live in a homeless shelter, where she was supposed to get the money to pay for psychiatric treatment, etc. 

In college I learned in some of my psychology classes that most of the homeless are mentally ill. This is a much bigger issue than just meds for depression. It took 3 murders of her own children for people to take notice of her. If we cared more for the poor and homeless instead of shoving them to the streets and abandoning them, ignoring them, not caring, blaming them for their problems (sounds like the same attitude that some people have towards me when I talk about my reaction to drugs), maybe people would not have to resort to medication to help their problems in the first place. Societal support and family support is so crucial for overall health. I want to say, where was her family? Why was she living in shelters with 3 kids? Why didn't the government of CA do something more to help her? I have heard they are the most liberal and provide more benefits than most states for poor people. 

I would not be surprised in either case, if she was always schizophrenic and was suffering withdrawal from meds that were "helping her" 

OR 

if she initially started taking drugs for depression or some other minor illness and then took more drugs to counteract the side effects and that drove her nuts. 

But whatever the case, it seems like from the story as far as we can tell, she was in the beginning of withdrawal and was one of those people who took her meds sporadically, which is not a good thing. It puts you through too many ups and downs.  

It's not like she had not been treated, it's more like no one was able to convince her she needed to keep taking meds every day, and she didn't like the drugs to begin with and that is why she was stopping. It could be that the drugs are to blame for making her feel so awful she wanted to quit, and she was not surrounded by support that is necessary during withdrawal. 

I thank God I had my mom with me 24/7 during my ordeal. There were many times when I thought if I had been alone, I would have done something horrible. It could have been me and not her. 

God knows even minor anxiety treated with depression causes thoughts like, what if I threw my baby off this bridge or jumped myself. 

It is not in any way far fetched to blame drugs in this case. 

Maybe our new CHAADA group should issue a statement of support and offer our knowledge and resources to this woman and her attorney. 

Amy 

Have you asked Emily why she hates taking her meds? I have heard this before from parents, it seems that their kids don't like the way the drugs make them feel. I too was told that if I didn't take my meds I couldn't be even close to sane, and that I needed them to protect myself and my son. I was duped. People see those patients that stop taking meds as noncompliant and difficult, has anyone considered that maybe the patient is trying to recover in the only way their brains will tell them they can? For some people being on these drugs feels like being posessed by the devil, so I can see why people wouldn't like taking them. 

Psychiatrists give people meds that turn them into suggestible, controllable patients who will listen and believe whatever they are told. I believed I was psychotic and homicidal and that I should not have more kids, but that was all just from drugs. Doctors attribute problems to patients and not treatments, even when patients were never this way before treatment. 

It's the strong people who suspect a problem with their treatment plans who are willing to go against the grain and discover what is truly the problem.  

I feel so sad for cases like this woman, who has just comitted the ultimate wrong under the influence of meds, has lost her 3 kids, who it sounds like were her whole world and all she had left. 

If drug companies and doctors were honest with us we might not be in this predicament with new cases of innocent children dying every day. So even if we don't care about the patient, we have to care about her innocent children. 

People who don't support welfare and who don't listen to patients' own accounts of their personal tragedies, are neglecting to consider that children are innocent and need to be protected. These kids did not ask for their mommy to get sick, but society has failed her and them. Hopefully this will all serve some sort of purpose, and that purpose will not be to continue to line the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry.  

I bet you anything this is going to turn out like Andrea Yates, a case of PPD that went "treated" for too long and there may be no return to sanity in her future. If it were me I would want to die, I already know that because I felt it just from having the thoughts. I don't want to even consider what would have happened to me if I acted on my thoughts that Zoloft caused. 

THis is her words not mine... 

QUOTE.." I have to take them at a certain time every day and none of my friends have to take medicine like I do." 

It has nothing to do with the feeling. She feels better when they are taken at the right times. 

The ONLY medication I heard her complain about the way they made her feel was her anti-depressant.  She said when she stopped taking it she started FEELING again.. While she was on it made her feel "flat"   

She doesn't take an anti-depressant anymore and I would NEVER allow her to be put back on one even though I take one. 

I do not agree with your statement about "Psychiatrists give people meds that turn them into suggestible, controllable patients who will listen and believe whatever they are told. I believed I was psychotic and homicidal and that I should not have more kids, but that was all just from drugs. Doctors attribute problems to patients and not treatments, even when patients were never this way before treatment" 

I am not controlled by the medication I take and I was feeling a lot worse before I started my medication. For me it controls my anxiety.  Again I think with any medication some people can have adverse reactions but not ALL people do.  FOr instance my brother lost all his hair when he had chemo for cancer. My friend did not lose one strand of hair. Medications work differently in all people.   

Anyhow this is not about you or I today this is about a mother, who for whatever reason, mental or medication related killed her 3 children. It  is sad and very powerful and should be a wake up call for a lot of issues. One being meds, one being mental illness awareness, and alstly federal funding for the mental health community to be able to help these people instead of turn their backs on them. 

Tammy 

Thanks Tammy, you are always very diplomatic. You are right that some people do not feel controlled by the meds. However with the history of LSD being invented as a mind control drug, the similarity between LSD and SSRIs (According to Breggin and Ann Blake Tracy) in acting on the brain's systems by raising serotonin, that explains to me the mind blunting effects of SSRIs and how they can make patients suggestible to going along with diagnoses that merely explain the adverse effects and not the underlying personality. It explains why I continued taking meds for almost 4 months. It explains how someone could be open to not making the connection between the drugs and the side effects if doctors out there are telling them it is their problem, not a problem with the medication. 

I am very happy that you are not allowing your daughter to take SSRIs, and again I reiterate that I don't know much about the other meds at this point. Out of curiosity, what other medications is Emily on? 

I absolutely agree with  you that it is too early to judge in this case what may be the root of the problem, though we already know we can blame the uncaring sturcture of the government, cuts to mental health care, etc. 

I am sorry to hear that your daughter's former hospital is closing. Sounds like people don't think it's necessary to be able to monitor people who are suicidal or otherwise unstable. That is a tragedy. We should write a letter to our Congresspeople about this. If you want I can help you write it and we could collaborate on a statement. 

The CHAADA organization, if we are ever successful, will eventually provide resources and donate money to charities to help people who need it. 

We really need national health care access. It is so wrong not to provide that, we are the only industrialized nation that doesn't provide national health care. 

This woman's case just reminds me so much of Andrea Yates. We really have turned our backs on patients when we have no system to provide counseling and no hospitals and the only intervention  we do have or promote comes in a bottle, with no follow-up support or monitoring that is so desperately needed. 

Does the government think if they neglect us we will all just die or go away? It's time to do something about this. The mentally ill or emotionally sturggling need access to health care and counseling, no matter how non-rich we are. Maybe the Dr. Phil foundation will do something to help the homeless and metally ill. 

It is already way too late! 

When Emily started experiencing the sever swings in mood the doctors put her on Depakote which is a mood stablizer. She is not taking this anymore and has been switched to Lamictal, which is also a mood stablizer but does not have the same risks with theliver as depakote.  

She is also on a small dose of Risperdal, which is an antipsychotic. The risperdal was added when she got very agressive and was hallucinating.  

She also takes 60 mg of Allegra for allergies and 300mg day of zantac for over production of acid which is caused by stress. The doctor is using this medication to prevent her from forming an ulcer.  

The risperdal was double what she is taking now (she is currently taking 0.5 mg). once her symptoms subsided and she stablized I aksed that this medication be reduced. It was my intention of stopping this altogether but the aggression is still out of control with myself and my 3 year old (choking and hitting her when she gets frustrated) so at this time the doctor does not feel comfortable letting this medication go completely. She is doing better and the agression is not as prominate as it once was. She also needs to work on her coping skills for her frustration and outbursts and i am confdent once she starts applying those to daily life and using them accordingly she will not need the risperdal. 

She is on a low dose of the lamictal only 50mg a day and my hoep is to keep her at as low a dose as she can survive on. She wa snot stable on the depakote until she reached 1000mg a day and I am glad they switched it, at my request and are trying this med.  

Time will tell. 

I hope one day she will be able to function without these meds but a lot of functionign has to do with being able to control oneself and use the tools provided (therapy teaching coping skills) She is only 14 and still doesn't understand how to use or them or when so as we work towards them the use of meds may become less and less. (thats my hoep anyways) 

I have written crongressmen and others about the mental health and ask you do te same for those that need help but cannot afford it. 

Thank you for understanding me :) 

tammy