Positive Spin On Antidepressants To Treat Hot Flashes And Night Sweats
The latest medical ammunition to help postmenopausal women cool their hot flashes and quell their night sweats aims right at the head. Some studies suggest that antidepressants may soon be the next trend in the treatment of women’s menopausal symptoms.
Research shows that certain antidepressants have the remarkable side benefit of reducing the annoying and sometimes debilitating heat surges associated with menopause. The trouble is, the antidepressants’ own side effects might be as bad, or worse, than the hot flashes and night sweats women are trying to avoid. And the price for the medications is not trivial either.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has a new antidepressant, Pristiq, currently under review by the FDA for treatment of menopause-related hot flashes and night sweats. “Pristig is going to fill a needed void,” claims researcher David Archer, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Eastern Virgina Medical School in Norfolk.
Studies on using antidepressant treatments to treat hot flashes or night sweats have been heating up for several years.
