How a tiny dose of Prozac may help relieve the misery of PMS
By
Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 1:46 AM on 18th September 2010
As many as 90% of all women will have to deal with the aches, pains and emotional stress of PMS at some time. New evidence suggest that Prozac may be a remedy - at least for some
Tiny amounts of Prozac could end the monthly misery of PMT for millions of women – and their partners, scientists believe.
In studies, the ‘happy pills’ banished the mood swings, bloating, lethargy and pain that blights the lives of up to three-quarters of women in the run-up to their period.
The doses given were around a tenth of that used to treat depression and so should be free of the side-effects that have dogged the drug’s use in psychiatry.
Preliminary experiments have had ‘dramatic’ results and researchers
at Birmingham University believe low-dose Prozac could be routinely
used to prevent PMT –or what scientists call pre-menstrual syndrome –
within two years.
Neuroscientist Thelma Lovick said: ‘A lot of women experience PMS and a lot of men are on the receiving end. I can’t say we are going to cure everyone but taken in conjunction with sensible lifestyle changes we are in with a chance.’
Dr Lovick pinned the symptoms on the sharp fall in levels of the sex hormone progesterone that occur during the week before a women menstruates.
Normally, a waste product of progesterone called allopregnanolone, or allo, helps keep a lid on brain circuits involved in controlling emotions.
When progesterone levels fall, amounts of allo also fall, and emotions run riot. With Prozac known to raise levels of allo, Dr Lovick decided to see if it would ease the condition in rats.
Very small doses completely prevented the anxiety and increased sensitivity to pain the creatures normally experience.
Dr Lovick told the British Science Festival: ‘It completely blocked the symptoms – we are amazed.
Prozac has been hailed as a 'wonder drug' - but some users have reported side effects including insomnia, weakness, and loss of appetite
‘The time is right for a controlled clinical trial in women. The solution for PMS could be as simple as taking a pill for a few days towards the end of your menstrual cycle.’
It is likely women would take a pill at the first signs of PMT and take one each day for the following week.
Used alongside lifestyle changes such as controlling stress and cutting out sugary foods, it could have a major impact on millions.
PROZAC - MIRACLE CURE?
Once hailed as a miracle cure for depression, Prozac and similar drugs are prescribed to around two million Britons a year.
Known
as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs, the 'happy pills',
which include Seroxat and Efexor, work by keeping mood-boosting
chemical serotonin in the brain for longer.
When they were first
prescribed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were seen as safer
and less easy to overdose on than the existing anti-depressants.
Today,
they are the most popular form of anti-depressant, with more than
16million prescriptions being written out a year in the UK alone, a
cost o the NHS of £120million.
Their use has, however, been
dogged in controversy, with links to suicide, suicidal thoughts and
self-harm leading to advice in 2004 that they should not be routinely
prescribed for mild depression.
Instead, patients with anxiety or mild depression should be offered alternative treatment such as counselling and psychological therapy.
Regular strength Prozac lifts depression by raising levels of ‘feel good’ brain chemical serotonin but can cause problems from loss of libido to suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
Dr Lovick said that using very low doses, around a tenth of those used to treat depression, should not trigger any side-effects.
This is because although very small doses raise levels of allo, they do not have any effect on serotonin.
A daily dose of regular strength Prozac is already sometimes prescribed to ease PMT but Dr Lovick believes the way forward is a very small dose taken for a week a month.
Professor Tim Kendall, of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said that the idea warranted more research. But he warned that self-medicating with Prozac could be ‘disastrous’ due to side-effects
He said: ‘It can stop you sleeping and make you anxious and wound-up and affect appetite. And, particularly in people under the age of 30, it can trigger suicidal thoughts.
‘I don’t know if these side-effects would occur at low doses but it would strike me as unwise to start tipping drugs out of capsules.’
To Dot, Midlands re: Seroxat - I have heard horrific stories about Seroxat. There was a progamme on Panorama about it a few years back - people who go on it cannot come off it - if you try to come off it, it gives you electric shocks and then you think you are going mad.
Maria, London - please can I have your GP?
- Sarah, London, 19/9/2010 18:43
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