Early in 2003 Tim ‘Woody’ Witezak got some good news: a new
job as Vice President of sales with a start up energy-efficient
lightning company in Heart Land U.S. City Minneapolis, in
Minnesota. But with the position came stress and difficulty in
sleeping. Jane Woody, 37 was seen by his family doctor, a
general practitioner who gave him samples of Zoloft an anti-
depressant that also treated anxiety [The drug’s generic name
is Sertra Line HCL, and is sold in India under other brand name
like Serta and Sedep]. ‘‘This was the first time he’d ever been to
a doctor about an issue like this,’’ says his wife Kim. He was a
happy person and had no history of mental illness or
depression.
Within a few days, though, Woody experienced several side
effects of the drug such as night sweats, diarrhoea, weight loss
and trembling hands. His anxiety worsened, he became
uncharacteristically irritable and restless. One evening he camehome crying after driving around all day when the samples ran
out after three weeks, Woody’s doctor doubled his dose to 50
mg and urged him to give the drug time. The instructions from
Pfizer Inc., the U.S. Manufacturer of Zoloft, said it could take
four to six weeks to be effective. But two weeks later, Kim
recalls Woody walked in the back door in his blue business shirt
drenched in sweat. He curled into a foetal position on the
kitchen floor, his hands pressing around his head like a vice,
and begged, ‘‘Help me. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I
think I am losing my mind. I feel my head is outside my body
looking in.’’
Less than a week later Woody seemed to be springing back. He
ran almost 5 kms, bought flight tickets for a bachelor party in
Las Vegas and when he spoke on phone one morning to Kim,
how can Kim be wife and account executive, he suggested, they
should celebrate their tenth Wedding Anniversary in Thailand.
That evening, though, things had changed, ‘‘His voice sounded
hollow.’’ She remembers I just assumed he was busy and
distracted. The last thing he said was, ‘‘I love you Kim.’’ Woody
was dead. He had hung himself from the rafters. By cruel
coincidence the Minneapolis star Tribuneran had a front page
story that day: ‘‘UK Finds Link Between Anti-depressant And
Suicide.’’Write a short summary on this passage in less than 50
words .
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Tim ‘Woody’ Witezak got some good news in 2003. He got a job as Vice President of sales with a company in Heart Land U.S. City Minneapolis. After getting the position, he faced difficulty in sleeping. He was seen by his family doctor who prescribed him antidepressant pills.
- According to his wife, Tim Witezak went to the doctor for the first time. He was a cheerful man with no history of mental illness or depression.
- Within a few days, Woody experienced several side effects from the drug prescribed by his family doctor, including diarrhoea, weight loss, and night sweats.
- His anxiety worsened as the days passed. He became irritable and restless, which was unusual for him. Woody dangled from the rafters and died.
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