In case you hadn’t noticed, we live in a consumer run culture. We go to great lengths to find the latest and greatest products and services that will make our lives better, more interesting, and full of beauty. When’s the last time you went to buy a car, a large appliance, or big screen television? The amount of time spent researching the product, test driving the car, getting the information from consumer reports and standing in stores watching screens, listening to speakers, and laying on mattresses in front of the world. We ask questions as if we were going to marry the sales person, make a lifelong commitment to the product, or use the process as a measure of our self-worth.

So I have question for you? Why aren’t you asking your medical team the same number of questions? How is it possible that the moment you walk in the exam room you begin suffering from amnesia? Things that were crucially important become an afterthought, and discomfort and symptoms are not so bad or at most tolerable. What if you asked your medical team that includes pharmacists, the same number of questions you ask the car salesman?

Isn’t your health worth the scrutiny of your medical team? Are you less intimidated asking about mpgs’ than you are about nausea? I could suggest that you begin thinking about your health challenge the way you think about a car, but that would probably be insulting. To prevent me from doing this I hope you’ll begin giving your health and the journey to wellness the same energy you do to buying a large ticket purchase. Can you think of anything more precious than your own life? What lengths will you go to making your health a priority and making everyone aware of your priorities?

Are you ready to play twenty questions with your providers? If not, then refrain from buying a car, big screen tv, or kitchen appliance until you’re able to take the tenacity you have in buying these products and apply them to your health.

Following the incessant health troubles evoked by pharmaceutical drugs, a major emphasis has been placed on ensuring drug safety. Pharmacovigilance has a major role to play in doing so. It helps in detection, assessment, research and prevention of adverse side effects by drugs. Since it has such an important function in ensuring drug safety, an effective methodology that optimally recognizes the damage causing factor in a particular drug and helps eliminate that factor should be designed. Different pharmaceutical firms use different Pharmacovigilance methods. The comprehensiveness of the system is very important in detecting the problem causing element in the drug quickly and most precisely.

Over the past decade there has been a shift in the drug safety standards, driven by the regulatory authorities. The policies on risk management and the standards of pre marketing and post marketing techniques have been made stringent. This has created a need to constantly document every detail of manufacture, pre marketing and post marketing aspects of each drug. It has become important for drug manufacturers to increase the transparency of their activities and maintain intra industry, inter industry and consumer communication about various aspects about the drug. While choosing a pharmacovigilance system, the following aspects should be borne in mind:

• Techno savvy: the system should use advanced software capabilities that is easy to use and elaborate enough to manage adverse drug event reaction reporting effectively.
• Global reporting compliance: since drugs are generally marketed globally, the system should adhere to international adverse drug event reporting obligations.
• Streamlined case processing: Since adverse event management involves a lot of data, an advanced workflow that is in sync with differing case processing and one that is complaint with the reporting of all major regulatory agencies is important.

Optimal risk management: Risk management should be at the core of the system. It should allow the companies to monitor their products regularly and provide early identification of product risks.

Generally, an antidepressant is used as a psychiatric medication and is prescribed to patients to decrease clinical depression, which is also known as Dysthymia. Some of the anti-depressants that are commonly used are MAOIs, tricycles and SSRIs.

Medications to treat depression are considered as stimulants and not pharmacology. These are also used in case anxiety disorders, eating disorders, bipolar disorder and chronic pain as well. That is the reason why some of them call these medications as lifestyle drugs and/or mood enhancers. That is one of the reasons for various examinations and claims about the disadvantages and benefits of antidepressants.

When a person discontinues an anti-depressant, he suffers from sleeping disorder, dizziness, stomach upsets, and also nervousness. This is what is known as antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. Apart from these symptoms, various other symptoms are also observed. This syndrome is not very harmful. It disappears if cured properly within a week.

Suppose a person has stopped taking anti-depressants without consulting his doctor, he has to follow regular schedule and start taking the drugs again. But in case he has stopped taking medication for any specific purpose, then he first needs to consult his doctor before stopping the medication. Accordingly, the doctor will increase or decrease the dosage of the medication.

In order to prevent antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, doctors usually taper the medication gradually. This ensures that the patient does not suffer from any withdrawal symptoms. In addition, the patient should follow the guidelines set by the doctor. In case the patient wants to discontinue the medication, he must consult the doctor first. This way the patient and the doctor can be certain that there is no problem of addiction whatsoever.