Just why top-selling Prozac and similar antidepressants work for PMS is unclear, says Dr. Meir Steiner of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, who led the study. What doctors do know is that raising levels of the brain chemical serotonin can alleviate tension and irritability. The study, published in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, is the first to establish Prozac dosages for PMS. Nearly haft the women who took a high-end dosage of 60 mg dropped out, mainly because the side effects–insomnia, nausea–were so severe. But women who took 20 mg reduced the symptoms, with few side effects.
Still, Prozac won’t be widely available for PMS any time soon, at least not formally. A spokeswoman for Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co. says it hasn’t decided whether to seek FDA approval for PMS. But a growing number of doctors have already been using Prozac to treat the worst cases of PMS, and the Canadian study should give them new confidence that they’re on the right track.
