Going to Court?
 

So, I should probably explain the background to this a bit, just so we all know why I may be going to court.

Two years ago I had horrid headaches everyday. And so, I went to a neurologist, and he was all "They're menstrual headaches, take these pills" and so, I did, and that was that. Lucky me, I got just about every bad side effect of these pills, and went through the worst year of my life, suffering from depression, and suicidal thoughts, pill popping, alcoholism(in my opinion, I'd say I was definitely an alcoholic, but others might not agree...'cause they don't really know), cutting, and whatnot. And it took me a few doctors visits, some mental hospital visits and therapy for them to tell me nothing. Because not one doctor sat there and went "Hey, maybe this whole drug she's on messed her up." It took my stepmother driving home from work to realize that, maybe this pill was messing with my head. Nobody bothered to look up the side effects of the pill given to me for headaches, which, y'know, are normally given to people with heavy, uncontrollable seizures. And the doc who gave them to me thought "Hey, maybe giving a pill that highly affects the brain to a 16 year old kid isn't a big deal. And I'm sure she'll be fine, so lets not check up on her every once in a while to see how she's doing."

My daddy wants to go to court for this reason. I mean, I was waaaay opposed to it at first, because I do not wanna hafta stand in front of strangers telling them how I'm messed up and decided to tear myself apart, let myself bleed freely everyday, and try to take my own life.

But. When I found out that these pills were for heavy seizure victims, and highly effected my brain, I was shocked. I was in horror. Because nobody told me this... And I didn't find out 'till about 5 hours ago.

And, not to mention, the pill I was on was in a lawsuit with the FDA to put a black label on it. Which is the highest warning a pill could have, saying "Yohey, this stuff can mess with you pretty badly." But the pill company won, and didn't have to put the warning on. And. Well. It'd be good if I went to court for it, right? Because then they'd get the label, and I could be protecting another kid like me form going through hell. I guess.

I'm just way stressed. Any thoughts? Because this all sucks.

i think that going to court would be a very brave thing to do, and could make a difference. however, i would try to learn more about what would happen and all that, because ultimately you've got to make the decision that is best for yourself...

A boy I went to school with was given a medication for acne that caused really awful mental health symptoms (like you) and ended up in hospital for a while because of it. It was only when there was a big scandal (and the drug was taken off the market) that him and his family found out about it and he is fine now.

I don't know how it works in the USA, so I can't give you advice there, but your doctor might know the best thing to do.