According to The National Association for Premenstrual Syndrome (NAPS), the UK charity for people with PMT, there’s been a rise in the number of young women being told they’ve got depression when their symptoms are actually linked to their periods and don’t last all month. Those being misdiagnosed as clinically depressed may be prescribed anti-depressants by their GP, which can be strong and addictive.

Jackie Howe, who runs the charity, admitted that it can be hard for women to recognise that their symptoms are linked to their menstrual cycle, and women’s health spokesperson Sarah Jarvis agreed that a diagnosis can be difficult, saying: “The psychological symptoms of PMT and depression are very similar and so yes there can be a temptation to offer them anti-depressant drugs, because they can work for both”.

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According to a recent article in the Guardian, there’s proof that GlaxoSmithKline’s bestselling antidepressant (Seroxat) could make depressed children feel suicidal. Apparently documents recorded that not only did Seroxat make some children feel suicidal, but it worked no better than a placebo.

The documents detailing this research were actually handed over to officials of the drug regulatory body in 2003, and there has been a four year criminal investigation into the findings. By 2003, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority estimates that between 7,000 and 8,000 children were taking the drug.

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According to an article in the Guardian, the Government has released details of its £170m plan to train 3,600 more psychological therapists in response to the study questioning the use of anti-depressants. According to the Department of Health, about 900,000 more people will be treated for depression and anxiety under the plan, and an estimated 450,000 of these will be cured.

Mental Health Groups accept that doctors have had little choice other than to prescribe anti-depressants due to the shortage of therapists. Alison Cobb, from Mind, said “Nine out of 10 GPs say they’ve been forced to dish out drugs because they don’t have proper access to ‘talking treatments’ such as cognitive behavioural therapy”. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) recommends that talking therapies should be tried before drugs are prescribed, but with the shortage of therapists, this is difficult.

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According to findings from a review of clinical trials, anti-depressants “worked no better than a dummy pill for mildly depressed patients and for most people suffering severe depression”. Researchers looked at four commonly-prescribed anti-depressants in the UK including fluoxetine (Prozac), venlafaxine (Efexor) and paroxetine (Seroxat). Professor Kirsch (from the Department of Psychology at the University of Hull) said: “The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking antidepressants is not very great”.

Researchers reported little evidence of benefit when analysing both unpublished and published data from the drug companies. They concluded: “We find that the overall effect of new generation antidepressant medications is below recommended criteria for clinical significance.”

A spokesman for GlaxoSmith Kline (which makes Seroxat said): “The authors have failed to acknowledge the very positive benefits these treatments have provided to patients and their families dealing with depression and their conclusions are at odds with what has been seen in actual clinical practice.”

Dr Hilary Jones (from popular TV programme GMTV) said “The best treatment for depression is always likely to be a combination of drugs and talking therapies.”

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According to recent news a commons committee has expressed that GPs have been over prescribing and not following up the length of time people should be on certain drugs such as tranquilizers. More and more of the British public are taking drugs and turning into a ‘pill-popping nation’ with a tablet for every problem. In actual fact, one reason people are taking tablets is because of the general increase in depression.

Only 42% of people visiting their doctor for depression were offered counselling according to the Mental Health Foundation. If more people were given this option and made more aware of this sort of help, perhaps less people would be prescribed drugs and may not be on anti depressants for a long period of time.

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There is new hope for Alzheimer sufferers today – an article on the BBC has revealed that trials are being carried out in mid Wales to find out if daffodils can be farmed there. What has this got to do with Alzheimer’s? The trials should conclude whether or not the daffodils farmed there produce a compound used to fight Alzheimer’s disease.

The compound is called galantamine and has previously been collected from plants and “has been found to slow down the progress of the disease”. A sixth month trial is currently under way and Professor Trevor Walker, who is heading the research said “The compound that we’re getting from the daffodils will help, if its supplied properly and monitored properly, slow down the development of the disease.”

The recent court case involving Danielle Wails denying the murder of her baby son, but pleading guilty to infanticide, has once again put postnatal depression and other mental health illnesses into the spot light. According to an article on the BBC there are a number of ways women’s mental health can be affected by childbirth.

A lot of new mums suffer the “baby blues”, but this usually passes after a few days. One in ten women will suffer from postnatal depression and one in every 1000 new mothers will suffer from the rare mental health illness puerperal psychosis (also known as postpartum psychosis).

Antipsychotic drugs or antidepressants are used to help the conditions – some women recover within a few weeks, but it can take a long time for others to recover completely.

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We are all encouraged, by medical experts and charities, to be more aware of cancer – there are now even celebrity-backed advertising campaigns and clothes in high street stores such as Topman to encourage us all to regularly “check ourselves”. The more we know about the warning signs the better right? It makes sense that the answer to that question would be yes, however some medical researchers and cancer experts are now questioning the benefits of tests and self-examinations.

Although it is evident that some will have their life prolonged, studies over the past few years have concluded that “both self-examination and mass screening for signs of cancer can sometimes cause a good deal of harm - as well as good - generating widespread anxiety, giving rise to misdiagnosis and even leading to unnecessary and invasive surgical procedures.”

According to an article on the BBC, “10 in 2,000 women were having invasive and sometimes sickness-inducing procedures - including chemotherapy, radiotherapy or mastectomies - for cancers that may never have developed.”

The article received a large number of comments … the general feeling being that people would rather be safe than sorry.

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Patients given the drug AS1404 as well as standard chemotherapy lived an average of 14 months compared with 8.8 months if given chemotherapy alone according to an article on BBC News. In preliminary trials, this experimental lung cancer drug has extended patients’ life expectancy by approximately 50%.

The new drug works by cutting off blood supply to tumours; it is able to distinguish between blood vessels feeding the tumour and those serving healthy organs. Dr Mark McKeage, who co-led the trial, said “It is great to see this large survival benefit with AS1404 in lung cancer patients”.

The charity Cancer Research UK has now stepped in to take the drug into early stage clinical trials.

Roaccutane, a popular treatment for severe acne, has been tested by University of Bath scientists after claims it has caused depression and suicide since 1982 when it was first introduced. The findings suggest the treatment produced depressive behaviour in mice, however, researcher Dr Sarah Bailey said, “Without more research it is difficult to say for sure whether the same link applies to people taking the drug”.

Roaccutane has been used by approximately 13 million patients world-wide, and is usually prescribed to teenagers with severe acne. There is a warning about depression in packets and drug maker, Roche, have apparently issued a statement welcoming the research.

There is some confusion as to the cause of depression felt among users; “severe acne can cause some sufferers to become depressed and can also affect their mood and self esteem”. Teenagers have been advised to not stop taking the drug, but to seek medical advice if they begin to feel depressed.

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The government have rejected calls for tighter controls on alcohol advertising and sponsorship. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said, “tougher methods to teach children about alcohol and tobacco are needed”. However, Schools Minister Lord Adonis said the government was focusing on existing policies to combat a consumption rise.

Raising duty on alcohol, increasing the legal smoking age from 16 to 17, banning alcohol adverts on TV and prohibiting alcohol firms from sponsoring sports or music events watched by under 18’s were ideas raised by the report, Apparently 15 year olds in Britain are among the heaviest users of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco in Europe:

“Between a fifth and a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, half drink alcohol at least once a week and nearly a quarter have used illegal drugs in the past month”, the panel said.

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An article on the BBC News website explains how drug users in need of care may not receive the treatment they need due to where they live. A report conducted by the Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency showed that only 5% of the 149 Drud Action Teams around the UK were rated as providing an excellent service. Furthermore, only 23% were given a rating of good, 71% were said to be fair and 1% given a rating of weak.

Research conducted in the last few years suggests that sufferers of substance misuse are more likely to recover or improve their condition if treatment continues for three months. It has been noted that services have improved but in many circumstances access to a longer period of care and treatment depends on the availability of the service in your area. For more information about this topic visit the BBC Websites Health section.

An article published in The Guardian reports that the government has missed its target on cutting deaths from drug abuse. The UK apparently has the highest number of drug users of any country in Europe and according to figures published this week, there has been a big surge in the numbers of predominantly young people who have died since 2003 from drug abuse.

In 2002, the government’s aim was to reduce drug-related deaths by 20% between 1999 and 2004. The Office for National Statistics figures show that deaths did come down, but by only 9% overall, following a rise in 2003. The ONS figures also showed that drug misuse was the third most common cause of death among young people after traffic accidents and suicide.

Dr Philip Severn and Dr Scott Fraser, of the Sunderland Eye Infirmary, report in The Lancet that a woman has severely damaged her vision by taking a steroid drug purchased from an online pharmaceutical company in Thailand for four years.

The unnamed woman was found to have glaucoma and cataracts when she went to hospital - it turned out her condition had been caused by the steroid drug.

Dr Severn said, “The expansion of the internet is relentless and, from the perspective of patients seeking information, in the main positive. However, the online availability of controlled and uncontrolled drug therapies needs to be carefully monitored.”

Dr Severn added, “As the internet evolves so should our method of taking a medical history”.

Via Life Style Extra