Of course, no one is suggesting that people should stop taking their medications, which may be lifesaving – if you have any concerns, the best course of action is to speak to a doctor. How are all these drugs affecting our brains? And should there be warnings on packets? And as the global population ages, our drug-lust is set to spiral even further out of control in the UK, one in 10 people over the age of 65 already takes eight medications every week. The world is in the midst of a crisis of over-medication, with the US alone buying up 49,000 tonnes of paracetamol every year – equivalent to about 298 paracetamol tablets per person – and the average American consuming $1,200 worth of prescription medications over the same period. Research into these effects couldn’t come at a better time. The list of potential culprits includes some of the most widely consumed drugs on the planet, meaning that even if the effects are small at an individual level, they could be shaping the personalities of millions of people. If these claims are true, the implications are profound. Every now and again, murderers try to blame sedatives or antidepressants for their offences. Then in 2015, a man who targeted young girls on the internet used the argument that the anti-obesity drug Duromine made him do it – he said that it reduced his ability to control his impulses. In almost every case, the symptoms began when they started taking statins, then promptly returned to normal when they stopped one man repeated this cycle five times before he realised what was going on.īack in 2011, a French father-of-two sued the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, claiming that the drug he was taking for Parkinson’s disease had turned him into a gambler and gay sex addict, and was responsible for risky behaviours that had led to him being raped. Over the years, Golomb has collected reports from patients across the United States – tales of broken marriages, destroyed careers, and a surprising number of men who have come unnervingly close to murdering their wives. Two weeks later, he had his personality back. “He swore roundly, stormed out of the office and stopped taking the drug immediately,” she says. Ironically, by this point the patient was so cantankerous that he flatly ignored the doctors’ advice. They said that the two couldn’t possibly be related, that he needed to keep taking the medication, and that he should stay in the study,” says Golomb. Are digital drugs the future of medication?Īlarmed, the couple turned to the study’s organisers.“He was like, ‘Wow, it really seems that these problems started when I enrolled in this study’,” says Beatrice Golomb, who leads a research group at the University of California, San Diego. Then one day, Patient Five had an epiphany. She became increasingly fearful for her own safety. Afterwards, she’d leave him alone to watch TV and calm down. Even as a passenger, his outbursts often forced his wife to abandon their journeys and turn back. Out of fear of what might happen, Patient Five stopped driving. During one memorable episode, he warned his family to keep away, lest he put them in hospital. A previously reasonable man, he became explosively angry and – out of nowhere – developed a tendency for road rage. So far, so normal.īut soon after he began the treatment, his wife began to notice a sinister transformation. He had diabetes, and he had signed up for a study to see if taking a “statin” – a kind of cholesterol-lowering drug – might help. “Patient Five” was in his late 50s when a trip to the doctors changed his life. To mark the end of a turbulent year, we are bringing back some of our favourite stories for BBC Future’s “Best of 2020” collection.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |