TI felt very sad when Thomas Kingston’s tragic death was reported this year. There was a man who seemed to have everything for life: a loving wife, a supportive family, the comfort, security, and immense benefits of an upper-class background. His death seemed to serve as a stark reminder that depression does not discriminate by class, wealth, or circumstance, and that suicide is an act that defies all reason and rationality for a healthy mind.
But the coroner’s inquest into his death and his wife’s heartbreaking testimony paint a very different, and in some ways far more disturbing, picture of his death. The coroner found that Kingston had no “suicidal intent” and instead had an adverse reaction to a very commonly prescribed antidepressant he was taking. A few weeks before his death, under the influence of sertraline and citalopram, he attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the annex of his parents’ home.
The king’s wife and second cousin, Lady Gabriella Kingston, should inform the public about the risks of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are prescribed by GPs across the country to deal with depression and anxiety. issued a statement warning that: “If this can happen to Tom, this can happen to anyone.”
Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston last September
Mike Marsland/Wireimage
I have been taking sertraline, an antidepressant, for over a year and can attest to its effectiveness in relieving symptoms of depression, but Lady Gabriella is right to warn about its dangers. .
I’ve been prone to depression all my life, but it wasn’t until two years ago when I was experiencing particularly bad symptoms (crying every day, having trouble getting out of bed, becoming increasingly isolated from friends and family) that I tried medication. I was convinced that I should see it. Antidepressants. My GP prescribed sertraline and explained that the first few weeks on the pill were likely to be difficult. He was right. The medication gave me headaches and disrupted my sleep. But worse than that, they made me feel doped, slow, and sluggish.
At times, I felt scared of drugs. It can be pretty frightening to feel like you’re taking drugs that affect the way your mind works. Of course, that’s what antidepressants do, and that’s actually what you want them to do.
I was horrified by the side effects and, like Kingston, I stopped taking the medication. But soon the melancholy returned. I started crying in fits, feeling hopeless, and had sudden outbursts of anger. I started taking the pills again and luckily this time there were no side effects. Instead, the drug did its job. It numbed me just a little bit and made life easier. I didn’t cry anymore because I had nothing to cry about. This drug, which was also prescribed to people with OCD, helped me stop overthinking. In short, it helped me function. I was able to attend work, for friends and family, and feel fulfilled again.
For a while, I was happy to take that little white pill every morning. But I had a few episodes where I didn’t take my medication for a few days — which, to be fair, every GP I’ve ever talked to warned me about — and my mind became a scary place. Ta.
• Thomas Kingston inquest: wife’s warning about antidepressants
It’s hard to explain why a rational, sane person would stop taking antidepressants against medical advice. For me, it honestly starts when I forget to take my medicine in the morning for a few days. You’ll feel good. Then, when I realized that I had forgotten two days, I had a small hope that maybe I didn’t need it anymore. (It’s surprisingly common for people on antidepressants to want to get off the drug. In my case, the sertraline wiped out my sex drive, so I didn’t need the antidepressant anymore.) ) Therefore, I will no longer take drugs. And then, around day five, it caught up with me.
After being off sertraline for five days, I remember sitting in my office shivering with tears in my eyes. The best way I can describe it is that there was a blizzard in my mind that completely confused and disoriented me, swinging wildly between sadness, anger, and despair.
Luckily, I had a friend colleague who was also on sertraline for 2 years. I told her how I was feeling and that I hadn’t taken my medication in 5 days. She immediately guessed that this was the real problem. She told me to go home right away and bring it. The effects appeared surprisingly quickly. Within a few hours, my calm was restored. The snowstorm has subsided.
I then told another friend about the experience and he told me that he knew someone who had done something similar, felt the same way, and committed suicide in the throes of those emotions.
This appears to be what happened to Kingston. How shocking that such a trivial and seemingly common sense decision to stop taking a medication that did not suit him could lead to his death and cause such grief to his loved ones. That’s probably true. It appears that he only took two tablets of citalopram and decided not to take any more. It is completely understandable that after such a minimal dose he would think there is no need to cut them off.
Intervening in a discussion about antidepressants is like walking into a minefield. There’s no question that prescription drugs like sertraline and citalopram have saved lives. There is also no doubt that these are complex and mysterious drugs that affect individuals differently, both for the patients who take them and for the GPs who prescribe them. This is one of the main reasons why it is so difficult to prescribe correctly.
It’s no wonder that Mrs. Gabriela wants more information for her patients about the risks of these SSRIs. I had certainly been warned about the risks of trying to come off sertraline without a tapering period, but I also had concerns about how quickly my mental state could deteriorate and how unstable it would make me.
If anything good comes from Kingston’s untimely death, it’s that we learned more about how important it is to see your doctor before you stop taking antidepressants, no matter how short the period of time you take them. It is certain that people will come to know – we hope so – and how dire the consequences could be if they did not.
Hannah Betts: “It can take years to see a doctor for mental illness, but it took me decades.”
Sars Hamilton knows the times
For me, medicine means peace of mind that improves my life.
Hannah Betts
People talk about “heartbreak” with relatives of someone who committed suicide. Personally, I feel like my heart is about to burst. It’s a tight, suffocating feeling with actual physical pain brought on by people close to me who have taken this step, and who I still fear may. is. It’s when you finally convince your loved one to be honest and sit with them, while every part of your being wants to scratch and woo them to you. Don’t even think about it. What should I do? my Will life go on? ”
A sudden phone call from a stranger shocks you beyond comprehension, but not grotesquely. I wonder what their lives will be like a year from now, 10 years from now, 25 years from now.
Nevertheless, my reaction is further complicated by the fact that I know how terrible suicide is. It’s the heady illogical idea that life would be easier and better for everyone involved if only one person wasn’t around. I’ll say right off the bat that I’m lucky that I’ve never actively considered suicide. Still, I’ve become so wrapped up in the weight of my own back that I no longer pay attention to my own safety, for example.
I, in my right mind, know that this will not be peaceful, but a violent and traumatic method that will leave great unhappiness in its wake. Still, I refer to my conflicted feelings about suicide to explain that I have “an element of the game.”
I’m also familiar with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a type of antidepressant used to treat depression and anxiety. Mrs Gabriella Kingston’s husband, Thomas Kingston, committed suicide after taking sertraline for about four days and then two tablets of citalopram.
• I stopped taking antidepressants. Then I couldn’t stand it anymore
I was prescribed Citalopram on July 27, 2010 and have been taking it ever since. I am currently taking 40 mg of escitalopram daily, which is a modified version. I know this is a high dose. I was once judged by a pharmacist at a dog show and was told that the dosage was too high and needed to be reduced. I continued on 40mg and insisted I had no intention of coming off it. I’ve never taken sertraline, but people close to me have, and citalopram is the less tricky of the two, and sertraline has less mood swings on and off. I always felt like it looked big. However, this is anecdotal and experiences vary, as do brains.
I have never experienced any problems with citalopram, only good points, and I feel this should be highlighted. Most people only experience a slight dryness at first, but then the night comes and they feel relief that their lives are getting better. Almost nine million people in the UK take SSRIs, mostly because they are effective, and there is a more immediate risk of suicide if they do not take them.
However, I am aware that the timing of starting and stopping SSRIs can be very dangerous. Your brain chemistry is adapting. And the risk of suicide actually increases, especially because you take steps and expect it to heal and it doesn’t. This proves especially difficult for unstable adolescent brains, but it’s a problem for all of us. I’ve had people close to me become dangerously ill during this process and (literally) stayed close to them to avoid getting hurt.
I am also friends with psychiatrists, their daughters and granddaughters, and have received an award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists reflecting my interest in this field. That’s not what patients hear from their GPs. And it is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently.
There’s definitely an element here of not wanting to discourage people from seeking pharmaceutical help, and I understand that. It takes years to see a doctor for mental illness, but it took me decades. Meanwhile, the more vocal the anti-drug lobby is, the more vicious it becomes. When I go online, I find myself accused of being a stooge of Big Pharma just for writing that SSRIs have allowed me to live a functional life. SSRIs definitely enjoy that. Still, I agree with Mrs. Gabriela that patients and their loved ones need to know what they may be facing in the weeks before they take their first medication.
However, those of us who suffer from depression are at risk for suicide. We are not people who suddenly become suicidal. At the very least, if you have signs of suicidal thoughts, you qualify to seek help. It is unfortunate beyond words that Kingston passed away after taking SSRIs. Nevertheless, I aim to die for them. And we hope that the solutions they can ultimately provide continue to be sought by millions of people for whom not taking them is a riskier option.
