Megan Meier and Geodon
January 16, 2008 by ElfNinosMom
The New Yorker has published an excellent article on the death of Megan Meier, written by Lauren Collins. Megan Meier is, of course, the so-called “MySpace Suicide”, a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide after an online encounter with someone she thought was a 16-year-old boy, Josh Evans. Josh Evans was in reality was Lori Drew, a 47-year-old female neighbor and the mother of a former friend.
According to that article, young Megan Meier was on a cocktail of drugs to treat her depression and ADD. She was taking Celexa for depression, Concerta for ADD, and Geodon, which was described in the article as a mood stabilizer.
Geodon, however, is not a mood stabilizer. It is an atypical antipsychotic. It has very specific approved uses, and those uses are bipolar mania (to treat the psychotic symptoms of that illness) and schizophrenia. It also has potentially deadly side effects, like all antipsychotics. Geodon in particular, a fairly new drug, is widely reported to cause bizarre thoughts and behavior in some who take it.
Geodon is not approved for use in children at all, and for very good reason. However, in a previous blog entry (click here) I discussed that the practice of prescribing antipsychotics for children - even very young children - is becoming increasingly common despite the fact that the prescribing information for those drugs, including Geodon, clearly state that efficacy and safety in children has not been established.
That being the case, someone prescribed a dangerous psychotropic drug completely off label for young Megan. That is always cause for concern, but even more so when the child unexpectedly takes their own life.
Anyone suffering from clinical depression has a risk of suicide, it goes without saying. My question is, if Megan only had depression as has been widely reported even by her own parents, why was she prescribed Geodon at all? Geodon will not help depression. In fact, it is approved for use in treating the exact opposite of depression.
Was Megan bipolar? Based upon those medications, it would certainly seem so. Her behavior that day, as described by her mother, also suggests bipolar disorder. Patients with bipolar disorder are always at high risk for suicide.
Could Geodon have made Megan more likely to commit suicide? It is impossible to say with the knowledge we have, but it also cannot be discounted given that it was being prescribed off-label.
The prescribing of a drug such as Geodon to a 13-year-old is is something which needs to be investigated by the state health board and the FDA and DEA, in my opinion. If a doctor prescribes a medication which is not approved for use in children, and that child commits suicide over something which normally would not incite suicide, someone needs to figure out whether the treatment she received somehow contributed to her death. It won’t bring Megan back, but it may help explain her behavior as well as serve as a warning about using that drug in children.
Sources:
The New Yorker, “Friend Game” by Lauren Collins
[...] unknownReally interesting read I found today:According to that article, young Megan Meier was on a cocktail of drugs to treat her depression and ADD. She was taking Celexa for depression, Concerta for ADD, and Geodon, which was described in the article as a mood stabilizer. … [...]
Eric
If you truly want to learn more see this article
Effects Of Glyconutritional Supplements In Children With Bipolar Disorder
The following is a synopsis of a research study completed with 20 children diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, examining the benefits of glyconutritional supplements:
being a mom of 3 children who are learning disabled - which 2 also have bipolar - ADD/ADHD medications such as concerta/adderal/strattera/ritalin should never be prescribed to a person who has bipolar as add/adhd meds cause bipolar symptoms to explode out of control!
I’ ve just purchased the newly revised edition of Breggins book“ Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why You Should Stop Your Psychiatric Medications.” It’ s coming in the mail as soon as it’ s released. You can pre- order it here. I hope that this revised edition may include information of withdrawing from mood stabilizers. I’ m hoping it will be greatly enlightening about all withdrawal as it’ s been many years since he wrote the first edition and I would assume he has a lot more information. I’ ll let…
Doesn’t matter!!!!!!!! There is a lesson that the DREW family is supposed to learn here.
Hi, Kori.
Sure it matters. I’ve taken the Drews to task multiple times on this blog. If they read the blogs, they know exactly what I think of them, and in a nutshell I think Lori Drew is canine feces. The truth is, she’s lucky she didn’t do that to my child, because I wouldn’t have taken my rage out on a foosball table. I’d have taken it out on her.
But, this isn’t about me, and it isn’t about you, and it isn’t about what we think of Lori Drew. This is about learning lessons from this tragedy, so what happened to Megan will never happen to another child. That requires considering all of the circumstances which may have contributed to Megan’s suicide.
The fact of the matter is that doctors are increasingly giving children dangerous psychotropic medications which are not approved for use in children, and which may have fatal consequences. Doctors are using our children as guinea pigs, and this must stop.
I don’t live to torture Lori Drew, though I admittedly enjoyed it for a while since she did have it coming. Eventually, however, it was time to come back to the grownup world, and look at the lessons to be learned from this tragedy. Megan’s parents didn’t realize that the doctors had put her on an antipsychotic drug which might actually make her more inclined to commit suicide; they thought it was a “mood stabilizer”, which of course would suggest she would be less inclined to self-harm.
I’m pretty sure that, if the doctor had used the word “antipsychotic”, they’d have either refused to give it to her, or been far more suspicious and checked into it further. That’s what any responsible parent would do, if their child was not obviously psychotic. They’d ask questions, and they would demand answers. In the end they may decide to follow the doctor’s recommendation, but they’d at least know what the risks were, and they’d look for those risks. The Meiers didn’t know what they had every right to know, what they indeed needed to know in order to protect their child, and now their daughter is dead by her own hand.
I find that extremely disturbing, and I think other parents need to know that doctors are prescribing antipsychotics for unapproved usages in children, when it is not approved for children. Based upon their own situation they may decide it is worth the risk, but either way the parents must be given all the information so they can make an informed decision about their child’s medical care. The Meiers were not given that information; they were even misled about the nature of the drug.
As responsible adults, we need to spread the word, to try to keep a sudden child suicide from happening again. Since it’s possible Megan would still be alive if not for the increased potential to suicide while on that drug, a responsible adult isn’t going to say “doesn’t matter”, and return to deviling Lori Drew. Of course it matters, because there are other depressed young teens on this drug, who will get upset as teens are wont to do, and may suddenly decide to commit suicide. This drug is dangerous to children, and parents cannot protect their children if they are not armed with information.
I am not minimizing the horror the Meiers went through; far from it, in fact, since I shed many a tear over both young Megan, and what her family experienced. I am also not minimizing what Lori Drew did; far from it, in fact, because I think she should be sitting in prison for it.
However, if awareness can help even one parent with a mentally ill child to ask the right questions, and/or be aware of the very real dangers of these drugs, it’s well worth spreading the word. So yes, Kori, it does indeed matter. It matters because a lot of children are on these drugs, and it’s impossible to say how many child suicides have occurred or will occur as a result of them. For parents, information, education, and awareness are our only defenses when dealing with unscrupulous doctors who prescribe drugs which are not even approved for use in children.
Im SO SORRY PARENTS OF THAT POOR 13 year old
Ill pray for you all
GOD BLESS THIS FAMILY AS THEY HAVE GONE THROUGH MAJOR PAINE
GOD PUT MAGIC OVER THESE PEOPLE
LUCY LU