The FDA carries a Black Box warning on all SSRIs stating these drugs can cause suicidal thoughts and actions. The warning is for consumers age 25 and under. But akathisia doesn’t discriminate based on age–and many sufferers are well over age 25.

“It wasn’t the Joe I knew,” says Janet Schiel, whose husband, Joe, died an akathisia-induced death. “Just all of a sudden, he was a different person.” Almost immediately after Joe began taking the medication, Janet noticed that her husband became paranoid and restless.

Wendy Dolin recalls her husband, Stewart’s, odd behavior that began after he took Paxil. “He was pacing, teary-eyed, always tapping his leg,” she says. “He said, ‘I don’t get it. I feel so anxious.’”

Dolin’s lawsuit against GSK, makers of Paxil, revealed that GSK’s clinical trials showed those who took Paxil  were 6.7 times more likely to attempt suicide than those who took a placebo.

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