UPDATE: ANTIDEPRESSANT: GA House Speaker Resigns After Suicide Attempt, Affair

ATLANTA — Georgia’s powerful House speaker resigned
Thursday after a suiciide attempt and allegations by his ex-wife of an affair
with a lobbyist.

Glenn Richardson, the state’s first GOP speaker since
Reconstruction, had won sympathy from even his political enemies when he
revealed last month that he attempted suicide by swallowing sleeping pills.
But then his ex-wife went on TV and accused him of having “a full-out affair”
with a lobbyist while they were still married.

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LEXAPRO: The Howard Stern’s Show’s Artie Lange Arrested for DUI: New York

Artie Lange was noticeably quieter than usual on Monday morning’s broadcast, only peppering the on-air conversations with an occasional joke or cutting remark. About two hours into the broadcast, Artie Lange finally broke his silence about Friday’s DUI. After stating that: “for once I’m actually doing something sensible and listening to my lawyer and not talking about it,” Artie Lange went on to tease the audience with a few details of the incident that catapulted him to the top of Google Trends on Friday, despite The Howard Stern Show having been off air for a full two weeks.”

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SSRI: 100-500% Increased Risk of Heart Birth Defects If Taken In Early Pregnancy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study.

However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants – known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – do not have such defects, the researchers are quick to note.

Earlier studies have tied SSRIs during pregnancy to heart defects, but also to even more serious birth defects. According to the new study of nearly half a million children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2003, however, only heart defects are likely to be associated with the antidepressants, note co-author Dr. Lars Henning Pedersen, from Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues.

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ANTIDEPRESSANTS & THEIR CONNECTION TO FALSE MEMORIES OF SEXUAL ABUSE

Oldies radio stations around the country are debating whether to continue playing the music of one of the quintessential ’60s groups, the Mamas and the Papas, in the wake of Mackenzie Phillips’ allegations that she had an incestuous relationship with her father, group founder John Phillips.

“I just had a long discussion with our morning show team,” said Jay Beau Jones, program director of Boston’s WODS, “Oldies 103.3,” a long-running CBS Radio affiliate. On Friday morning, disc jockeys Chris Zito and Karen Blake will invite their audience to call in and talk about Phillips and his musical legacy. “Obviously, this is a horrific, car-crash type of story,” says Jones. “If the station plays ‘California Dreamin” or ‘Monday, Monday,’ my concern is the audience will have a negative reaction and turn off the radio.”

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WELLBUTRIN, Valium & Painkiller: Death: Overdose: New York

The Medical Examiner’s office now says Robert Guskind’s death from an overdose was accidental.

Robert Guskind, the prolific yet troubled force behind the Gowanus Lounge Web site, died of “an accidental overdose” from a combination of prescription medication, the city’s medical examiner said.

Guskind’s March death was caused by “acute intoxication from the combined effects” of a painkiller and two antidepressants. He was 50 years old.

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CYMBALTA & DESIPRAMINE: Death Threats Made Against Judge: GA

The man accused of threatening a judge had a medication interaction, pharmacologist said.

By Carole Hawkins
Story updated at 8:24 AM on Wednesday, Sep. 2, 2009
BRUNSWICK, Ga. A Brunswick man accused of making death threats against a judge was suffering from a toxic prescription drug interaction, a pharmacologist testified Tuesday.

Tallahassee pharmacologist Marland Delaney Jr. said Matthew Koldewey was being treated with a “laundry list” of drugs when he threatened to kill Chief Judge Amanda Williams and halfway house director Chad Waters.

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ANTIDEPRESSANTS: Four Soldiers From the 1451st Transport Co. Kill Themselves

Posted: September 2, 2009Read Comments(6)RecommendE-mail Print ShareA A If there is something that might help returning soldiers better adjust to civilian life — something that might help tame the inner demons of war — it is mandatory, intensive and long-term counseling.

It wasn’t required when Sgt. Jacob Blaylock and three other soldiers in the 1451st Transportation Company returned home nearly 2 1/2 years ago and later ended their own lives. Although some are receiving more counseling now, that follow-up work still is not required and, for various reasons, might never be.

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DEPRESSION MED: Heat Stroke: Death: Arizona

PHOENIX — An autopsy performed on a state prison inmate who died after spending nearly four hours in the Arizona heat said it was heat exposure and dehydration that killed her.

Marcia Powell, 48, died last May, about 10 hours after she collapsed in an outdoor, unshaded holding cell at the Perryville prison in Goodyear.

Her body’s core temperature had risen to 108 degrees, according to the newly-released autopsy report.

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ANTIDEPRESSANTS: Emotional Blunting: British Journal of Psychiatry

Servier, the funders, were able to comment on initial study design, but had no role in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, and no role in the writing of the manuscript. Servier have a research programme for the development of psychotropic compounds, including antidepressants. Although they were able to comment on the final manuscript, no changes were introduced as a result of their comments, and they had no influence on the decision to submit the paper for publication. The researchers were, therefore, independent of the funders.

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