BNC Text HV1

Central Weekend Live - part 1: television broadcast. Sample containing about 5476 words speech recorded in leisure context


11 speakers recorded by respondent number C424

PS3E3 Ag2 m (nicky campbell, age 30+, tv presenter) unspecified
PS3E4 Ag3 f (sue jay, age 40+, tv presenter) unspecified
PS3E5 Ag2 m (oliver james, age 30+, consultant psychologist, Slight lisp on R) unspecified
PS3E6 Ag3 m (dr vernon coleman, age 40+, medical consultant) unspecified
PS3E7 Ag3 m (dr cosmo hallstrom, age 40+, medical consultant) unspecified
PS3E8 Ag3 f (Donna, age 40+, journalist) unspecified
PS3E9 Ag3 m (dr simon fradd, age 40+, general practitioner) unspecified
PS3EA Ag2 m (graeme wilson, age 30+, representative of citizens' commission on human rights) unspecified
PS3EB Ag3 m (Peter, age 40+) unspecified
HV1PSUNK (respondent W0000) X u (Unknown speaker, age unknown) other
HV1PSUGP (respondent W000M) X u (Group of unknown speakers, age unknown) other

1 recordings

  1. Tape 107701 recorded on 1993-10-29. LocationNottinghamshire: Central Television ( Television broadcasting studio ) Activity: Television broadcast Interview, multi-party discussion, heated argument

Undivided text

nicky campbell (PS3E3) [1] [music] Tonight live, the happiness pill, the terrorist godfathers and circuses.
[2] Are they right to use domestic cats?
[3] Roll up, roll up, it's Central Weekend.
[4] [music] [clapping] [...] Good evening, welcome to Central Weekend and to our audience, they come from Ludlow.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [clapping]
sue jay (PS3E4) [5] [...] welcome.
[6] We start tonight with a big row that's brewing over this little pill.
[7] It's new and it's given to people who feel depressed.
[8] Your doctor prescribes it as Prozac but it's already earned the nickname the happiness pill, but is it safe?
[9] Oliver what's so wonderful about Prozac as an antidepressant?
oliver james (PS3E5) [10] Well it doesn't actually make less people depressed that its predecessors, the great thing about it is is that it only only one quarter of the people who take it get side effects.
[11] So the old tricyclic antidepressants make you know most people get a lot of side effects.
[12] The second this about it, it's certainly not addictive in any way, it's not like the barbiturates Valium and so on.
[13] It's er you know it's completely okay to take and stop taking it, and you won't want to have to go on.
[14] And the third thing is that about twenty to thirty per cent of people who take it undergo a dramatic transformation in their personality, it seems, so it's claimed in America and there's a lot of evidence that might be true, erm and that is you know a huge difference from er just an ordinary antidepressant.
sue jay (PS3E4) [15] So who's it really for, who's gonna m get the most benefit out of it?
oliver james (PS3E5) [16] Well it's it works best with people who =r mildly depressed in fact,l less so with very severely depressed people, but that is the great majority of people, one in three women with children under the age of five are depressed, for example, so it's a huge advantage for them to be able to take it and not have side effects.
sue jay (PS3E4) [17] Dr Vernon , is this the way to make depressed people happy?
[18] Have the drug companies at last come up with something approaching a m little miracle?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [19] It's a load o crap.
[20] The
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [laugh]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [21] I feel as if I'm in a time war, I really do.
[22] Twenty years ago I was on programmes li , was Central Weekend on twenty years ago, I don't [...] , twenty years ago
sue jay (PS3E4) [23] Feels like it [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [24] I was on, sorry?
sue jay (PS3E4) [25] [laughing] feels like it []
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [26] Well twenty years ago I was on programmes like this, saying that doctors who said that Valium and the other tranquillizers were perfectly safe were talking rubbish and that there was every possibility that there would be problems found in the future, if we kept prescribing these drugs for vast numbers of people.
[27] And now here we are again with yet another wonder miracle drug, which they say has got no side effects and which is wonderful and is gonna make all these people really happy
oliver james (PS3E5) [28] No we said a quarter of people who take it get side effects.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [29] Let me tell y er have you seen
oliver james (PS3E5) [30] What's it got to do with Valium.
[31] What's it got to do with Valium at all?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [32] It's got a lot to do with Valium because it's being
oliver james (PS3E5) [33] What?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [34] given to very similar people for a start, it's being prescribed in huge quantities no let me finish
oliver james (PS3E5) [35] Valium's given for anxiety and neurosis.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [36] you asked me a question.
[37] It's being it is being prescribed t for huge numbers of people, it's being promoted as a very safe drug, it's a very profitable drug, and we already know that it causes a very large number of quite serious side effects.
[38] I have in front of me a copy of the data sheet produced by the company which makes it, which was incidentally the same company which made Opran, do you remember Opran which was withdrawn from the market, it's just
oliver james (PS3E5) [39] What's this got to do wi it's got nothing to do with Opran.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [40] got an enormous amount to do with Opran because you don't seem to understand the way the drug companies work.
[41] They put a drug on the market and they say that it's wonderful and that the side effects are irrelevant and very slight and that everybody's gonna be very happy and it's a new wonder drug and it'll change the world and [breath] isn't that marvellous.
[42] Then a few years later when the problems develop they say, oh god we're terribly sorry, we'll take the drug off the market.
[43] Let me
oliver james (PS3E5) [44] [...] be six million people in the world are taking this drug saying it's really really helping them and you're telling them it's crap.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [45] I'm d let me just tell you some of the side effects which the company making it admit to .
oliver james (PS3E5) [46] Now what do you say to those six million people ?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [47] Look no let me just tell you what the
oliver james (PS3E5) [48] Mm.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [49] side effects are.
[50] What I would tell them was, these are the side effects, they should be aware of this.
oliver james (PS3E5) [51] No there are the side effects are only a quarter of people have those
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [52] The company's, you don't want me to say the side effects do you?
oliver james (PS3E5) [53] side effects.
[54] Only a
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
oliver james (PS3E5) [55] quarter of people.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
oliver james (PS3E5) [56] Do you accept that fact that it's only a quarter of people ?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [57] I no no I don't for a start accept it.
oliver james (PS3E5) [58] So you deny all the studies that prove that
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [59] No.
oliver james (PS3E5) [60] conclusively?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [61] And what I'm saying is that
oliver james (PS3E5) [62] Do you deny those studies?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [63] What I'm saying is that y I probably do
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [64] deny those studies.
[65] But what I am saying is that the that the side
oliver james (PS3E5) [66] Yeah, yes, no, very, look hold on
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [67] effects would not be known, would not be known for a considerable period of time.
sue jay (PS3E4) [68] Le let me bring in Dr C er Vernon let me bring in Dr Cosmo here, Vernon.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [69] No l hang on a minute let me [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [70] No I I I just want to move it around a bit Vernon .
oliver james (PS3E5) [71] Nobody's denying
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [72] These are im these are important and we should talk about the side effects that are associated .
sue jay (PS3E4) [73] We will we will we will I have we will.
[74] Dr Cosmo .
dr cosmo hallstrom (PS3E7) [75] Nobody [...] nobody denies that Prozac has side effects.
[76] What the it has less side effects than other treatments.
[77] What i emerges is depression is a common condition which is under-diagnosed and under-treated.
[78] One in eight people who are seriously depressed er end up killing themselves by suicide.
[79] About ten people a day kill themselves by suicide, maybe maybe one in a thousand people who take Prozac get bad reactions to it, but that has to be seen in balance, in the balance of a large number of people deriving a lot of benefit and maybe a few people having some bad reactions.
sue jay (PS3E4) [80] Donna , you took it, what happened?
Donna (PS3E8) [81] Yeah, well let me just say first, I'm an agony aunt, a medical journalist, I've got a psychology degree, I've written health books, and as a punter I took Prozac by accident.
[82] I suffered what erm is known from [...] as postnatal depression after I had my second baby.
[83] And I fought it for a long time and I wanted to get kick-started back to where I was before, because I felt under a cloud.
[84] Well I went and I had a different drug from Prozac, I had something which is actually newer and er
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [85] Which one?
Donna (PS3E8) [86] Zeroxac.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [87] Right.
Donna (PS3E8) [88] Okay which was fine.
[89] But let's let's not kid ourselves audience.
[90] These are drugs, these are mind-altering drugs, every drug is a poison and every drug is a poison and every drug is a trade-off.
[91] You do not get something for nothing in this world and they know this.
[92] And people who have
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Donna (PS3E8) [93] vested interests in drug companies are gonna tell you different.
[94] Let me tell you what happened to me.
[95] I went on Zeroxac, and there are side effects when you start, while you get used to the dosage okay.
[96] In my case I was very drowsy, I got constipated, they don't tell you very much about this, they play it down.
[97] Once I took
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Donna (PS3E8) [98] the drug I was okay to a certain extent.
[99] Okay now this Prozac's in the same group of substances as the one I took and I was willing to do a slight trade-off here.
[100] Okay what happened was, I had no emotional reactions to anything, I wanted to cry at something on T V, I couldn't any more, I couldn't cry.
[101] I g well I'll tell you later about what else happened to me [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [102] [...] isn't aren't those symptoms of depression rather than actually the drug?
Donna (PS3E8) [103] Listen let me finish.
[104] I went back to my doctor after two months and said well I feel a bit better, can I [...] a few more months.
[105] Okay fine, he then gave me, I didn't know, I was on Prozac for a month.
[106] Now he s he thought he was giving me the same stuff, I didn't know what I was on, all I knew was I felt twice as bad.
[107] I went home and I st I got very very anxious, I started feeling suicidal, I was blubbering at everything on the television, now I could cry but I was crying too much.
[108] I went back to my doctor and said, what have you given me?
[109] This is not the same drug.
[110] Oh yes it is they're medically quite similar.
[111] What is it?
[112] It was Prozac.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [113] Well y you know,th the evidence is overwhelming that these drugs are actually good for depression, that they lift the symptoms, that they reduce suicidal [...]
Donna (PS3E8) [114] Fifteen per cent have got suicidal on it, that's too high
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [115] I'm sorry [...] fifteen per cent of of depressed people commit suicide, not fifteen per cent of people who take Prozac get suicidal.
[116] The evidence is
Donna (PS3E8) [117] Fifteen per cent, the latest research says
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [118] the evidence is just against that you know the evidence is totally contrary to that .
Donna (PS3E8) [119] No this is not true.
sue jay (PS3E4) [120] Let me ask you Donna why why you carried on taking it?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Donna (PS3E8) [121] [...] Oh no I came off of it.
[122] I I had a month's prescription, I came off of it.
[123] I went back on the c
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [124] [...] on it.
Donna (PS3E8) [125] I went off of it, and th and then I was okay after that.
sue jay (PS3E4) [126] How did it make you feel?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [127] I was suicidal, one day I'd been on top of the world
Donna (PS3E8) [128] Yeah
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [129] and I could take on anything then the next day I'd be trying to kill myself .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [130] Then why did you take the drug then?
sue jay (PS3E4) [131] Why did you why didn't you stop taking it?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [132] Because you trust your doctor .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [133] Because it was making me so bad.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [134] [...] doctor prescribed it and we trust the G Ps for [...] .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [135] Then why do you go to your G P ?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [136] I've heard all this tripe about [...] and there were tested on prisoners.
[137] In the U S and she can verify that .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [138] This was this was exactly what we were saying
sue jay (PS3E4) [139] Why do you go to your G Ps?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [140] Okay okay let's let's
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [141] What's the matter with you people, don't you listen to the patients any more?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [142] Let me talk to a G P down here , Dr Stephen .
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [143] I'm concerned because there have been accusations by Mix M Mr , he's actually erased from the register.
[144] He's not a prac
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [145] No I'm not erased from the register at all, that's a lie.
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [146] He's not a practising er physician
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [147] That is a lie actually I think we ought to get this straight [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [148] Okay listen before we go on
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [149] medical register therefore you can't call yourself Doctor.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [150] Now listen we've got two conversations going at once here, why are you called Doctor, Vernon?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [151] I've got a doctorate of science and I've got a medical degree from Birmingham University.
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [152] But you're not on the medical register.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [153] No I'm not on the medical register
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [154] for a very simple reason which I'm happy to explain to
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [155] I'm very concerned that he made the accusation that the drug companies simply put these drugs on the market.
[156] Now Prozac is one of the highest used drugs in the States.
[157] And the States are second to none in drug testing.
[158] The Food and Drugs Administration really are absolutely
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [159] [...] .
[160] Now you're always making a balance in developing drugs and I have nothing to do with the drug industry, I'm a G P, you have a balance between trying to move things forward to get people better and on the other hand making sure that you're not going to do them any great harm.
[161] Any new drug in Britain is, every year the G P who's prescribing that for you gets a letter from a centre down in Southampton to ask if there've been any adverse reactions.
[162] So we monitor as carefully as we can.
[163] Yes there are [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [164] The Food and Drug Administration the Food and Drug Administration condones tampering of scientific data in the pre-release trials by [...] , we have the documentation on that, which has been a obtained under the Freedom o of Information Act.
sue jay (PS3E4) [165] Yes.
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [166] It condones it.
[167] They they w s they withheld and suppressed evidence of suicides occurring during the pre-release trials.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [168] Yes Gr this is Gr just let me introduce you to Graeme .
[169] You are with the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights.
[170] Now what
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [171] That's right.
sue jay (PS3E4) [172] is it that you have got so strongly against this drug?
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [173] What we have so strongly on this is that there are now over twenty eight thousand
sue jay (PS3E4) [174] Mm.
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [175] adverse reaction reports on the drug.
sue jay (PS3E4) [176] Mm.
[177] Yeah
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [178] and that's that's ten times higher th that's higher
sue jay (PS3E4) [179] Yeah
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [180] than any other drug in history.
[181] It's ten times higher than
sue jay (PS3E4) [...]
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [182] the r reactions on Halcyon, of those reactions thirteen hundred, there were thirteen hundred relate to deaths of the users, and that's just too high a price to pay .
sue jay (PS3E4) [183] So
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [184] is it is it too no no we've got to come back here, is this too high a price to pay?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [185] Yeah I feel very sorry for the people who've had bad reactions from Prozac about
graeme wilson (PS3EA) [186] They've died there's thirteen hundred
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [187] hang on a second
sue jay (PS3E4) [188] Let him answer.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [189] [shouting] Let him answer. []
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [190] I feel very sorry for the people living who are here [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [191] Can I just say [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [192] Vernon
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [193] [...] adverse reactions.
[194] Th about a quarter of people do unfortunately and they have to stop taking it.
[195] Er c coming to this point, there is abundant evidence that er say two thousand for example, two thousand Prozac takers were compared with er two thousand takers of the old tricyclics compared with people on a placebo, and I'm sorry there is no increased probability of committing suicide.
[196] People who are depressed generally are prone to committing suicide.
[197] They're also co prone to commit violence.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [198] I wasn't.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [199] No listen listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to someone here who's probably er only here because you're on Prozac, aren't you ?
Peter (PS3EB) [200] That's right yes.
sue jay (PS3E4) [201] Peter, you you take Prozac?
Peter (PS3EB) [202] I take Prozac [...] .
sue jay (PS3E4) [203] Why?
Peter (PS3EB) [204] Erm completely disabling anxiety and depression that is moderate but persistent.
[205] And it needed something to break that cycle.
[206] And Prozac did the trick for me, erm it won't work for everybody, it's not a happiness pill, it just restores you to to some sort of normality.
sue jay (PS3E4) [207] You you've been taking it for how long?
Peter (PS3EB) [208] I've been taking it continuously for two years, and I want to stress that I've been taking eighty milligrams a day,
sue jay (PS3E4) [209] That's a lot .
Peter (PS3EB) [210] That was the dose,a and I want to stress also that I didn't start off at eighty milligrams, I started off at two and half which I think is important and
sue jay (PS3E4) [211] Any side effects?
Peter (PS3EB) [212] There was there was no side effects.
[213] Erm ma
sue jay (PS3E4) [214] What ma what ma what difference has it made to your life Peter?
Peter (PS3EB) [215] Comp completely, I mean I'm sat here in a live television studio with a girlfriend on my hand, I was housebound, erm just no interest in my hobbies, no energy, erm
Donna (PS3E8) [216] Peter
sue jay (PS3E4) [217] Well I'm glad you're here.
[218] Now listen, listen Donna, Donna, Donna wait a minute,
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [219] Donna listen.
[220] This is obviously of real help to a lot of people even if it doesn't help everybody.
[221] You can't throw the baby out with the bath water,
Donna (PS3E8) [222] No.
sue jay (PS3E4) [223] you can't frighten people off it, when
Donna (PS3E8) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [224] it is being of real help to people like Peter .
Donna (PS3E8) [225] No it's now he was severely depressed.
[226] It's interesting cos you said it helps people with mild depression .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [227] No, no.
sue jay (PS3E4) [228] No he didn't actually [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
oliver james (PS3E5) [229] and persistent [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [230] Right persistent and moderate depression.
[231] Okay bu yes now I'm not arguing that for some depressed people it's there's always side effects of some kind, okay, Peter, I wanted to ask you a very personal question.
oliver james (PS3E5) [232] Well he just told you he didn't have any side effects [...] .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
oliver james (PS3E5) [233] Are you denying this man's right to tell you what he believes is true ?
Donna (PS3E8) [234] Now wait a minute.
[235] Have you ever been on Proz have you ever been on Prozac Oliver?
oliver james (PS3E5) [236] No.
Donna (PS3E8) [237] Alright.
[238] Well you won't be able to orgasm on it, okay? [...] sexuality [...]
oliver james (PS3E5) [239] But I'm asking you to address his point.
[240] You've just told this man [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...] [clapping]
oliver james (PS3E5) [241] You've just told this man that he his experience is invalid.
[242] [...] you said to him that there's no
Donna (PS3E8) [243] No I didn't.
[244] I [...]
oliver james (PS3E5) [245] such thing as a pill without side effects, he just said he had no side effects.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [246] To to introduce to introduce one or two patients who ar who are happy with the drug is is irrelevant as you should know
Donna (PS3E8) [247] Exactly.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [248] because people took thalidomide and were very happy with it, people took Opran and were very happy with it, people took Valium and were very happy with it .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [249] [...] take penicillin and die of it because they have an allergic reaction.
[250] Even more people have died of overdoses of aspirin than any other drug in the world.
[251] We didn't ban those .
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [252] Let let me tell you about the damned side effects of this drug, because people are entitled to know what they [...] .
sue jay (PS3E4) [253] [...] Listen I've got, Vernon I I've got some people who have had the side effects.
[254] Let me interview them because there's nothing like a human story
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [255] Okay, bye, okay, I'll go home
sue jay (PS3E4) [256] a personal face of this whole thing, I I ought to say that we did ask the drug company to send some along or er and they said no er but
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [257] Strange [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [258] but they but they we have got a man here who is the first in this country, Mr to sue them.
[259] Erm you took Prozac
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [260] That's correct.
sue jay (PS3E4) [261] erm, what kind of person were you before, apart from a bit depressed?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [262] [...] person I wouldn't bother anybody, and it changed my entire personality.
sue jay (PS3E4) [263] It changed it so much that you co committed an offence that ended you up in
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [264] in prison.
sue jay (PS3E4) [265] in prison for, well you got a three year sentence
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [266] prison sentence
sue jay (PS3E4) [267] but you didn't serve it all.
[268] Erm you took a gun to your girlfriend's house,
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [269] Yes.
sue jay (PS3E4) [270] you handcuffed her son to his bed
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [271] bed
sue jay (PS3E4) [272] you were very violent in your behaviour ?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [273] Where did you get the gun from?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [274] Say again.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [275] Where did you get the gun from?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [276] I collect weapons.
sue jay (PS3E4) [277] Why, why do you put that down to Prozac?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [278] Because it was something that was totally out of character.
[279] My general behaviour changed completely after I was given Prozac.
[280] I was taken into the, my wife died in January of nineteen eighty nine, I was taken into the local psychiatric hospital at in the December of nineteen eighty nine and I was told I was gonna be given an experimental drug, I was told nothing about it or any anything to do with any of the side effects, [...] I I was in th I was on Prozac for about four days, I suffered horrendous side effects, shaking and one thing and another.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [281] Why didn't you refuse it?
[282] You didn't have to take it.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [283] Well as far as I was concerned, I was doing what a doctor told me.
[284] These bunch of clowns [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [285] [...] pick your gun up and go and shoot [...] .
sue jay (PS3E4) [286] You're talking from a point of view of where?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [287] Well I work in this field and you can refuse that that medication unless you're under [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [288] You don't expect a doctor to give you drugs that are gonna drive you mad.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [289] If you're an informal patient you can refuse that medication.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [290] [...] psychiatric hospitals, there must have been something wrong with you.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [291] It's hard enough to get into if you're crazy.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [292] [...] Yes, go on.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [293] One of things on this drug is that we have many cases documented on this where people don't realize the incredible grotesque feelings they have of mutilating themselves et cetera are actually connected to the drug.
[294] And it's only when they see publicity of the drug that they actually realize [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [295] I tried to kill myself twice in the space of ten days,
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [296] I suffered horrendous hallucinations
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [297] people do you know.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [298] [...] government initiative to reduce the incidence of suicide by er is it er five per cent over the next [...] years because so many
sue jay (PS3E4) [299] Are you saying there's no connection between the drug
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [300] depressed people do kill themselves. [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [301] That's just [...] rubbish.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [302] It is.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [303] and one of the key ways of stopping people killing themselves would be to change from the old antidepressants onto the more modern safer ones which A are easier to take, less likely to make you kill yourself, and er [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [304] Let let me introduce you to a nurse, a nurse called Nicola.
[305] Nicola Nicola doesn't want to be identified.
[306] Er Nicola had a baby, she suffered from postnatal depression and er can I ask for a bit of hush there please, Nicola suffered from postnatal depression and she took Prozac.
[307] Nicola, you suffered some of the side effects that we've been hearing about tonight, and then things got really bad.
[308] How bad did they get?
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [309] I was only on the drug for seven days and by the seventh day, I'd suddenly turned into some sort of maniac.
[310] I became incredibly vi er I had violent feelings erm, I wanted to go out on the street and rampage.
[311] If I'd had a gun I would have gone out and shoo shot out the whole neighbourhood.
[312] Erm and really the only way I thought that I could prevent myself from doing anything like that was to kill myself in a very violent way because I
sue jay (PS3E4) [313] N
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [314] was so incensed, the way I felt.
sue jay (PS3E4) [315] Nicola I I mean I I totally take your story on board but you are a nurse
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [316] Yeah.
sue jay (PS3E4) [317] and yo yo you understand about refusing medication.
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [318] Yeah.
sue jay (PS3E4) [319] Why did you carry on taking it?
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [320] Erm, I hadn't actually felt that violent, I'd been having extremes of emotion all week erm, very high, very low, very very fearful, panic attacks which I'd never had before in my life.
sue jay (PS3E4) [321] Did you associate with Prozac?
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [322] I did yes.
[323] And I finally went back to my G P on the seventh day which was a Saturday in the morning, and he told me to carry on taking the drug.
[324] And within a few hours of taking it, that's when this happened to me.
[325] When I just felt that I was on the absolute fringe of going berserk.
[326] And I
sue jay (PS3E4) [...]
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [327] could have killed anybody.
[328] It wouldn't have mattered who, it could've been family, friends, neighbourhood, anybody.
[329] If I'd had a gun I would have done it.
sue jay (PS3E4) [330] Listen, I can't go further into your story now, thank goodness it all ended happily and you got some
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [331] Yeah.
sue jay (PS3E4) [332] instant help.
[333] Isn't this is an extraordinary situation,n here is a nurse, a a you know a a kind caring woman, she takes a drug and yet she must be of all people the one person to say, I'm having a side effect.
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [334] Yes that's true.
sue jay (PS3E4) [335] And yet she still believes her doctor.
[336] Just like all of us do, still trusts him,
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [337] Well I
sue jay (PS3E4) [338] still takes it.
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [339] I really do think that one of the things that I'm unhappy about this evening is that people are concerned that our profession isn't caring.
[340] I take on a board all the comments that are made here, I I think they do need investigation.
[341] What one doesn't know is what's due to the disease and what's due to the drug.
[342] What I do know is that there are thousands and thousands of people out there for whom life is intolerable, roughly ten a day actually succeed in killing themselves, how many more have a go we don't know .
Donna (PS3E8) [343] Sue, can I, I need to ask him a question.
[344] A very important question.
[345] Is it that G Ps don't read the literature that comes with the drugs.
[346] I wanna know why G Ps don't inform their patients about what to expect
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [347] Well
Donna (PS3E8) [348] because I'll tell you what, I came off cold turkey, and I had the worst three days of my whole life.
[349] I had all my symptoms condensed into a horrendous anxiety, my head
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [350] mm, mm
Donna (PS3E8) [351] was spinning, I thought I was gonna jump off the roof, I rang my G P and said, you never told me I had to decrease this dose, hang on just get through the weekend,
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [...]
Donna (PS3E8) [352] he never told me what to expect,an I I feel like suing him.
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [353] We, we
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [clapping]
sue jay (PS3E4) [354] I I've just been told I've just been told that [...] our entire switchboard is totally lit up.
[355] One person has had bad side effects, the rest of our callers think it's wonderful. [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [356] But can I just answer that because hopefully we do we do try to listen and we try to give you what information you're capable of taking at the time.
[357] If you're in a very distressed state you can't take [...] .
[358] Fortunately now, the drugs have to be packaged with an information leaflet so that you keep
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [359] looking at it again and again and again .
sue jay (PS3E4) [360] Okay,gentle gentleman at the back there, he's got his hand up .
Donna (PS3E8) [361] [...] to read it.
sue jay (PS3E4) [362] Hang on Donna.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [363] Yeah, this drug could've been developed and refined and er gone into a lot further, but they didn't.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [364] and the reason why they didn't is because the losses at the moment are acceptable.
[365] Profitability, that's what it's all down to.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...] [clapping]
sue jay (PS3E4) [366] Before before I come back to you Cosmo, before I come back to you
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [367] [...] I want to talk to Nicola.
[368] You wanted to say something Nicola.
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [369] Yes I just wanted to say that, can I just say that within about three days of coming off the drug, all my symptoms of feeling violent, murderous, suicidal completely disappeared and they've never come back since, and all I've had since then is a dose of vitamin B six every day.
sue jay (PS3E4) [370] So th you are in no doubt that that's was [...]
nicky campbell (PS3E3) [371] No doubt at all.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [372] Wh w when testing a new drug, you're trading off th th the the level of testing you can do, it takes about a hundred millions pounds to produce a new drug, it takes about ten years from test tube to getting a licence.
[373] So you can test it more thoroughly but in that case, A you put the costs up and B it takes longer before it gets actually, before patients get the benefits of it.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [374] So the big argument at present about th for example in other medications is that people are being [...] treatment .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [375] Okay Vernon.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [376] The the the quality of drug company testing is abysmal.
[377] Much of the e well hang on a moment.
[378] Hang on a [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [379] It fulfils [...] regulations both the F D A [...] you know.
sue jay (PS3E4) [380] Never mind the regulations is it good enough?
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [381] The the quality of testing by drug companies is appalling.
[382] One in six patients in hospital in Britain are there because they've been made ill by doctors.
[383] One in six.
[384] That's that is a frightening
sue jay (PS3E4) [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [385] statistic.
[386] Forty per cent of the people who take drugs suffer serious, sometimes lethal side effects.
[387] There are several quite simple explanations for this
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [388] That's why you need newer and safer drugs.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [389] Would you mind shutting up for a minute,
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [390] No
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [391] I'm fed up of
sue jay (PS3E4) [392] Okay
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [393] these bloody apologies for drug companies, have you ever worked for a drug company?
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [394] I d
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [395] Have you ever received money from a drug company ?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [396] Yes of course I have.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [397] You have?
[398] What do you mean yes of course I have, you have received money from a drug company .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [399] [...] Yes I know about the drug industry.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [400] How much?
sue jay (PS3E4) [401] He knows about [...]
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [402] I know about the drug industry, I do clinical trials, I do research for them .
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [403] You d so you work for drug companies?
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [404] Yes of course I do.
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [405] So what the fucking hell are you doing here apologizing for apologizing for a drug .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [406] Completely uncalled for Vernon, completely uncalled for.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [407] You take it.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [408] Take it and come back here and let's see what you're like.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [409] And you take it.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [410] As well.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [411] I don't have to.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [412] You take the drug and see how you are .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [413] I have taken eight.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [414] You've taken it?
[415] That's fine.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [416] I've taken eight antidepressants over the last ten years, Prozac hasn't been one of them I must admit .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [417] Now listen, this is an interesting point, you've taken eight, and Cosmo people, people,
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [418] and obviously she's had a lot of bad experiences we can't go into now, but people, people don't trust the drug companies because of all this long history and experiences .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [419] [...] effect.
[420] Here we have someone shouting at us about the bad effects of the Prozac, they then tell us that haven't taken them.
[421] Now I've seen a lot of people who complain about taking drugs and the side effects they get, when you analyze it, you first of all find they haven't taken it, or they've taken five other drugs at the same time
sue jay (PS3E4) [422] Now listen answer the question I asked you, answer the question I asked you, she has taken a lot of drugs in the past, not Prozac.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [423] Yes.
sue jay (PS3E4) [424] But because of the bad experiences, when the drug companies have said for years, trust us, we've researched it, we've developed it, you know it's it passed the F D A rules, and then there's Atavan and Valium and all the things that we had Halcyon and there's a horror story at the end of the day.
[425] And now you have Prozac, why should we believe them this time?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [426] Well I think the drug industry and I don't represent them, but I think the drug industry [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [427] But you got money from them.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [428] Well you know
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [429] Have you have you done any work for this company ?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [430] Vernon, Vernon I want the answer to this one.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [431] No I've never done any work for [...] .
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [432] You've never done any work [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [433] on this particular product?
sue jay (PS3E4) [434] Why should we trust them this time?
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [435] I think thirty years down the line, Valium was developed in nineteen sixty one.
[436] Now we've had all the bad news.
[437] W w we're still having bad news but now we
sue jay (PS3E4) [438] That's right
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [439] learnt, we hope that we learn as we go along and that the same mistakes don't get made again.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [440] But a twenty years ago, twenty years ago [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [441] [...] falsify the testing results, I have that documentation [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [442] This here, this here is thirteen hundred, the list is thirteen hundred deaths, thirteen hundred deaths due to Prozac.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [443] We're sitting in this room and we're hearing a lot of people who've had bad experiences with Prozac and other drugs.
[444] Twenty five per cent of people who take the drug have bad effects.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [445] That's a lot [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [446] The drug companies say that. [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...] [clapping]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [447] I'm terribly sorry madam, I'm terribly sorry madam, you might die if you take this drug [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [448] Nobody's who's died has ever been depressed after they've taken [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [449] Listen Vernon, Vernon
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [450] [...] has ever been killed by Prozac, and you know it Vernon .
dr vernon coleman (PS3E6) [451] The the drug company says [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [452] Okay I'm gonna go back [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [453] [...] relationship between [...]
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [454] Okay Dr , Dr .
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [455] Hush
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [456] I'm very very concerned that we don't [...] the [...] .
[457] The th there may be an argument, and I don't know the details of what's being said here, and I certainly would not defend any sort of [...] the highest level of enquiry.
[458] But if one sixth of patients are in hospital as a result of what we've done wrong, five sixths are there because we haven't managed to stop them being there.
[459] So don't let's forget that.
[460] Don't let's just say drugs are bad, because for every one that has a bad time, and some people have a terrible time, you say some people die, I accept that.
sue jay (PS3E4) [461] Okay.
dr simon fradd (PS3E9) [462] But a lot of people come out feeling a hell of a lot better.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [...]
sue jay (PS3E4) [463] Okay, I would like to thank everybody on this item who has taken part in the responsible bits of the debate.
[464] Thank you all very much.
Unknown speaker (HV1PSUNK) [clapping]