Two drugs that are commonly used to treat depression and generalized anxiety, venlafaxine HCl (Tablet Effexor® XR, Wyeth) and sertraline HCl (Drug Zoloft®, Pfizer), have now been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder, sometimes called “social phobia.” Social Anxiety Disorder affects 13% of Americans and is [...]
Thioridazine, an antipsychotic agent, sometimes prolongs the QT interval, but does it pose any more of a cardiac risk than haloperidol does? Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say probably not, unless the dose is high. The QT interval, a measurement of the time it takes for the heart muscle to contract [...]
Many patients whose burns have healed find that they must still contend with sometimes disabling itching, which can last for months. Because the main mechanism is thought to include increased histamine release from the wound, leading to chronic inflammation, current treatment focuses on oral antihistamines, moisturizers, and sedatives. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in [...]
Prescribing extended-release venlafax-ine rather than generic fluoxetine for depression might be more beneficial to patients in the long term. Researchers from Prescriptions Solutions in Costa Mesa, California, and Wyeth Research in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, found that patients taking ven-lafaxine XR were at least three times more likely to be treated adequately through the crucial first [...]
Patients who take serotonergic anti-depressants might be at higher risk for bleeding during orthopedic surgery, say researchers at St. Elisabeth Hospital in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The number of blood transfusions almost quadrupled for those patients, compared with patients who were not taking antidepressants. Of 520 patients, 26 (5%) used seroto-nergic antidepressants before surgery. Of those, [...]
A study at 17 Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals comparing an older, pennies-a-day schizophrenia drug with a newer, far more expensive one found little advantage to the high-ticket drug. The researchers say that this is the first longterm, rigorously designed experimental study of the newer drug, which boasts U.S. sales of $2 billion annually. The researchers [...]
An estimated five million American working women suffer from depression, and 83% of them perceive it as the number one barrier to success in the workplace, according to a survey sponsored by the American Medical Women’s Association and the National Mental Health Association. The women reported behaviors such as leaving work early or not returning [...]
