October 15, 2010
Trazodone, Blood Thinners and Penile Amputation: What You Need To Know
While pharmaceutical companies vigorously promote the upside of their drugs there are serious downsides that you won’t hear a pitchman speed read at the end of their commercials. One of which noted recently being a drug interaction that can lead to penile amputation. Rare as it may be I think most men would agree one man having to have his penis amputated is one too many. Especially if you are that man. As I am sure the 35-year-old man who was forced to undergo a penile amputation procedure, whose case was documented in the Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry this year, would agree.
It was reported that the young man was taking 150 milligrams of the antidepressant Trazodone at night for a sleep disorder, which occasionally he would double. Trazodone is the twelfth most prescribed psychiatric drug used by psychiatrists to aid patients with sleep disorders. The young man was also on a blood thinner due to a previous history of blood clots. After four hours of priapism the man sought help at a local hospital. Doctors there tried to alleviate his condition by attempting to drain the excess blood from the spongy tissues of the penis, using what is known as a Winter shunt. Unfortunately the procedure was not effective, and blot clots were formed.Two days later necrosis, the death of healthy tissue, appeared in the mans penis. After nearly a month of treatment, all attempts to save his penis had failed. The doctors had no choice but to perform a penile amputation on the young man.
Doctors at hospitals in Belgium and Germany who contributed to this entry in The Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry warn doctors to closely monitor patients taking antidepressants such as Trazodone, who have a history of blood clots.
A tragic case like this serves as a sobering reminder that we as patients must proactively arm ourselves with knowledge. We cannot afford to blindly trust that doctors will without fail fully provide us with all of the relative information we need to know about the medications we put in our bodies. Nor can we blindly trust that the pharmaceutical companies, who give doctors financial incentives to prescribe their drugs, will provide full disclosure of all the potential risks involved with taking their medications. After all they are companies, and as recall rates suggest all too often it seems they have their bottom line, not your best interest in mind.
Darlene Turner
Relationship & Communication Expert
(c) 2010
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