SSRIs may cause bone loss

When I was at an artists' colony (not the one I was just at) I was having a conversation with about 15 people and it turned out I was the ONLY writer/artist not on SSRIs--prozac, paxil, zoloft, etc. Believe me, I'm as depressive as you can get (stereotypical writer, etc.) but fooling with my brain scares me.

Here's another blip I got from Newswise, a journalists' only site (funny, how all this breaking news never seems to make it to the main stream):

The class of antidepressant medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women, according to two articles in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) treat depression by inhibiting the protein that transports serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in sleep and depression, according to background information in the articles. This protein has recently been discovered in bone as well, raising the possibility that SSRIs may affect bone density and the risk of fracture. SSRIs account for about 62 percent of antidepressant prescriptions in the United States, and are often prescribed to the elderly...

And, here's an essay in Slate Magazine of one writer's misadventures with paxil--sounds really scary, esp. the part about the "sparks." Luckily, he stopped it before he lost his mind and/or broke his hip. Read it here.