I read in the paper yesterday that a study has shown Prozac and certain other anti-depressents may cause cancer. I used to take Prozac and now take Paroxetine. Anyone know if Paroxetine is a dodgy one too? What does everyone think of this research - will you still be taking your medication?
“Providing the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) two weeks before beginning cancer treatment significantly reduced the development of clinical depression.”
Well according to this doctors write up he’s giving paroxetine to his patients whom already have cancer, you’d think if there were any concerns of it causing cancer it wouldn’t be given to the patients. I’ve also done a brief search on the internet and haven’t found anything.
But if it supposedly does cause cancer I wouldn’t fret too much, it seems like everything causes cancer nowadays. :rolleyes: See my signature 
Are you saying you believe that doctors would never prescribe a medication that would harm you? Your blind trust in the medical profession is vastly undeserved. Doctors have no clue about negative side effects beyond what the pharmaceutical companies tell them. For example, Serzone, another popular anti-depressant, is now linked with liver failure, yet, until very recently, it was widely prescribed by doctors.
NK:
Rest easy, it’s just another cancer scare, according to the Beeb.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1894000/1894325.stm
Here’s a version of the original press release. Note the heavy use of qualifying terms such as “may” and “can”.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992090
You know how this kind of thing works–they rush into a press conference with all sorts of preliminary findings, and then later on, there’s a much, much lower-key “Never mind”, that the media hardly pays any attention to.
Also, note that whether Prozac “causes” cancer or not is directly correlated with the news outlet. According to the New Scientist, “Prozac [is] linked to increased cancer growth”. But in this one, it’s “Researcher Sees Possible Prozac Cancer Link”, and it additionally notes:
So it all depends on who you listen to.
Keep taking your meds, NK. 