Older antidepressants work for Parkinson patients

piggy submitted, created time 2 weeks 5 days (www.reuters.com)

People with Parkinson's disease who also suffer from depression may find they're helped more by an older class of antidepressants than newer types of medication, a small clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health suggests.

The study found that paroxetine (brand name, Paxil), a so-called SSRI antidepressant, appears to be less effective than the "tricyclic" antidepressant nortriptyline for treating depression in patients with Parkinson's disease.

"Depression in Parkinson's disease is underrecognized, underappreciated and undertreated," lead investigator Dr

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: SSRIs Paxil Parkinson's antidepressants depression Parkinsons disease

Antidepressant treatment may reduce male fertility

piggy submitted, created time 1 month 3 weeks (www.reuters.com)

Treatment with paroxetine (Paxil), which belongs to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of antidepressant drugs, increases DNA fragmentation in sperm, according to research presented today at the sixty-fourth annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in San Francisco.

Although the study did not directly evaluate male fertility, the fivefold increase in the number of men who developed abnormal sperm DNA while being treated with paroxetine is "troubling" and "suggests an adverse effect on fertility," co-investigator Dr

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: seratonin depression antidepressants paroxetine SSRI Paxil selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor men's health human reproduction fertility infertility sperm count