Tomorrow marks the death anniversary of 19-year-old Natalie Gehrki who, on February 6, 2013, was compelled to end her young life.
In 2003, Natalie became somewhat anxious and shy and after a visit to see a psychiatrist she started on her spiral of decline. Prozac, an SSRI, was recommended. Neither Natalie or her mother, Kristina, were provided with informed consent. In fact, Kristina, in an article she wrote some years later, said, "The doctor skipped over risks vs. benefits."
In 2003 there were no black box warnings on SSRIs so neither Natalie or her parents knew anything much about it. Shortly after taking Prozac Natalie became increasingly anxious and agitated, withdrawn and apathetic, she also developed new fears and obsessions. By the middle of 2004, she had started to self-harm, light cuts to her arm were evidence of this. Her prescriber, instead of withdrawing the drug, increased the Prozac dosage.
Earlier that year (March 2004) the FDA had advised all doctors that SSRIs pose life-threatening risks to children. Neither Natalie or her parents were given this information from Natalie's prescriber.
This from her mother:
"Natalie also lost her ability to participate in physical activities. Her fifth-grade diary reflects she felt uncoordinated, “couldn’t catch a ball,” and was often “the last person picked” for sports teams. This was significant given that Natalie previously showed excellent fine motor skills and happily out-climbed friends at the rock climbing wall.
"Natalie’s doctor started offering new diagnostic guesses. They included borderline personality disorder, emotional lability, OCD and manic depression. She diligently updated her charts, but didn’t update us with new Prozac information. Natalie’s symptoms were far more serious than her original presenting symptom of anxiety."
In the summer of 2005, Natalie was instructed by her prescriber to take a "medication holiday”. The prescriber wanted to see how Natalie would fair when not taking Prozac. There was no tapering regime offered, just an abrupt stop.
Days after stopping Prozac Natalie told her mom that she wanted to kill herself. One has to bear in mind that at this point Natalie was just an 11-year-old girl. Terrified, her mother took her to hospital. After a brief consultation with the hospital psychiatrist, it was recommended that Natalie needed to restart her Prozac, in addition, she needed more drugs. Risperdal, an antipsychotic was thrown into the mix. Once again, no informed consent was given to either Natalie or her parents.
The horror-train ride wasn't over for Natalie - some years down the line Zoloft, an SSRI, came into play. Natalie's behaviour changed, she became unusually problematic in her behaviour. Her mother informed the prescriber of the change in Natalie. Despite this, Natalie remained on Zoloft.
More agitation and anxiety ensued and Natalie's self-harming was getting worse. On hearing this her prescriber added Valium, an anxiolytic and sedative, to Natalie's regime.
Good grades at school turned into bad grades and Natalie, not being able to sit in her chair at school, opted instead to wander around the classroom.
Between 2010-2013 her mother believed the Zoloft was causing the problems. She writes:
"I believed the 100 mg of Zoloft should be stopped and that perhaps it was prescribed at too high a dose. I asked about metabolism and noted Natalie’s petite size (under 5 feet tall and 110 pounds). The psychiatrist retorted dosage has “nothing to do with metabolism.”
"We explained Natalie’s adverse reaction to Prozac and offered to provide all medical records. The doctor didn’t want the records, declaring, “I make my own diagnosis.”
The prescriber reassured Natalie and her mother that Zoloft was okay. During this period Natalie continued to take Zoloft and her mother recalls that Natalie's faulty cognitive reasoning, memory loss, and destructive, risky behaviour all became worse.
In November of 2012, Natalie's Zoloft dosage was increased from 100mg to 150mg, shortly after this increase Natalie's gait changed and she started shuffling her feet as she moved. She also started skin-picking, something her prescriber put down to possible 'Obsessive-compulsive disorder' (OCD)
I'll leave the last words to her mom:
"One week later, Natalie had a scheduled therapy appointment. She was feeling ill, complained of “swollen throat glands” had a fever and headache. She thought she had the flu. Natalie tried to sleep but had terrible insomnia. She called the doctor to cancel her appointment. The doctor suggested they have telephone therapy instead. During their phone call, Natalie said she had been vomiting, discussed her “increasing OCD symptoms,” and Natalie cried. I later learned the psychiatrist instructed Natalie—without ever seeing her—to start taking 200 mg of Zoloft. Again, no informed consent, no risks vs. benefits, and caregivers left in the dark. Abductor Number Four doubled Zoloft the last 12 weeks of Natalie’s life. The doctor scheduled a follow-up appointment in two weeks. This is not close monitoring.
"Two days after taking the maximum Zoloft dose as prescribed, Natalie was dead. She had valiantly raged against the dying light for nearly half her life but was no match for 200 mg of Zoloft. She died of a violent self-sustained injury, but did not die by her own hand: She was chemically tortured, suffered and died at the hands of her doctors. Their negligence was medical violence. As is typical of akathisia-induced death, Natalie, who was born a gentle soul, did not go gently into that good night."
Kidnapped: Natalie’s Story is in two parts. You can read them here and here.
Kristina can be reached via Twitter here.
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Blog Commentary
Two years ago, Kristina and I spent time together at the Hard Rock Cafe in Panama City, Panama. On the eve of Natalie's death anniversary, we wandered around the hotel in search of any AC/DC memorabilia. As our search was coming to an end, I noticed a T-Shirt in a glass cage. The shirt once belonged to Dixie Chicks singer/songwriter, Natalie Maines.
I find this comforting as it was the Dixie Chicks that helped me through my severe Seroxat withdrawal. I mention this in my book, 'The Evidence, However, is Clear: The Seroxat Scandal.'
I believe that Kristina's daughter somehow guided Kristina to this, just to let her know that she was now free from suffering.
The message on the front of the T-Shirt reads: "Free Natalie."
Bob Fiddaman
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