The discovery that women with PMS have low serotonin levels in the brain has led doctors to try drugs which raise serotonin. These drugs are known collectively as antidepressants. The best known is Prozac (chemical name fluoxetine).
One of the first studies of Prozac in PMS looked at 21 women with premenstrual depression. They took Prozac or a dummy pill for three months. After that they swapped treatments. None of the women, or the doctors treating them, knew which drugs each woman was taking until after the study had finished.
There was a striking reduction in symptoms in the women taking Prozac compared with those on placebo. Symptoms quickly returned in the majority of women once the Prozac therapy had ended.
The New Zealand researchers who conducted the study said that the work had supported the theory that PMS was in part caused by low serotonin in the brain as well as showing that this drug could be effective in treating severe PMS.
The current recommended dose of Prozac is 20mg a day by mouth and most doctors would restrict it to women who had severe psychological symptoms, such as depression/ as part of their PMS.
Tranquillizers – drugs that treat anxiety – are rarely used for PMS nowadays as it is recognized that they can be addictive. One of the best known examples is Valium. They often cause more problems than they solve and would only be prescribed for a very short time – days rather than weeks.
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