Drug Firms Treat PMS As a Mental Disorder

IS SEVERE PMS, or premenstrual syndrome, a mental illness? Some pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists are treating it as one. In new television ads, drug maker Eli Lilly is promoting the drug Sarafem to treat the problem, now dubbed Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). But the pink and purple pills aren't a new drug -- they are simply repackaged Prozac, the popular antidepressant.

Makers of similar antidepressants, known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, also may follow suit. In January, Pfizer asked the FDA to approve Zoloft to treat PMDD. Forest Laboratories' Celexa and GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil also have been studied.

The medical community, however, remains divided about whether PMDD is a real disorder or simply a way for drug companies to cast a wider net in search of new customers. Critics are particularly concerned about labeling women as mentally ill because of problems associated with menstrual cycles.

"When you start calling what PMS is a psychiatric disorder, what are you saying about the women of this world?" says Nada Stotland, director of psychiatric education at the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. "This lends itself to prejudices people already have about women being moody and unreliable."

ALTHOUGH THE FDA has approved Sarafem to treat PMDD, the psychiatric community is still debating the legitimacy of the disorder. The American Psychiatric Association includes PMDD in the appendix of its current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the part of the manual reserved for issues needing further research before being officially accepted as a mental illness.

Fueling skepticism about PMDD and Sarafem is the fact that in August, Lilly, based in Indianapolis, loses patent protection on Prozac, a drug with $2.6 billion in sales last year, according to IMS Health. With Sarafem, the firm now has a separate patent to use the drug for PMDD through 2007, allowing it to partially offset losses in sales as rivals produce generic Prozac.

Repacking prescription drugs for other uses is becoming more common. Glaxo, for example, has repackaged its antidepressant Wellbutrin as the stop-smoking aid Zyban.

Many physicians argue that PMDD is a legitimate mental illness triggered by normal hormonal fluctuations in a woman's menstrual cycle. About 3% to 5% of menstruating women are affected. "This is a subset of women who have really, really severe mood changes and changes in their behavior," says Jean Endicott, professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. "It can be very debilitating."

Unlike other mental illnesses that affect a patient on a daily basis, PMDD is said to affect women during the week to two weeks before their period. The symptoms include depression, anxiety, tension, anger, irritability and the feeling of being overwhelmed or out of control. Other symptoms also are typical of traditional PMS, such as breast tenderness, headache, bloating and weight gain.

In order to be diagnosed with PMDD, a patient must have at least five symptoms, including one involving mood change, and be markedly impaired as a result. Patients should track symptoms for two months before a diagnosis is made.

About 60% of women who take Sarafem for PMDD will be helped, according to Dr. Endicott. Currently, the drug is taken every day, but researchers are studying dosing that would reduce the pills to several days a month, limiting side effects, which can include tiredness, upset stomach, nervousness, dizziness and difficulty concentrating.

A 38-YEAR-OLD Chicago flight attendant named Betsy, who didn't want her full name used, says the week before her period she felt like an "over-wound spring, getting wound tighter and tighter," and would often scream and lose control. "That's not my normal disposition," she says. "I knew something wasn't right."

She noticed the correlation with her menstrual cycle and discussed her problems with her gynecologist, who prescribed Sarafem. "It has completely taken away the symptoms," she says.

Dr. Stotland and other critics, however, worry that eager patients may push to be prescribed Sarafem as a quick fix, preventing doctors from diagnosing other serious health problems. Dr. Stotland says research has shown that more than half of the women who believe they have severe PMS actually suffer from other problems, such as depression, panic disorder or even domestic violence.

Lilly's marketing of Sarafem also has sparked controversy. The first ads showed a frustrated woman wrestling with a shopping cart. "Think it's PMS? It could be PMDD," the ads said. But the FDA said the ads trivialized the seriousness of PMDD, and the campaign was pulled. New ads show one woman arguing with her husband and another frustrated because she can't button her pants.

Lilly spokeswoman Laura Miller says the ads attempt to show the full gamut of PMDD symptoms. "It's up to the doctor and the woman to determine whether she has PMDD and whether treatment is appropriate," she says.

But Paula Caplan, a psychologist and affiliated scholar at Brown University's Pembroke Center for Research and Teaching on Women, says instead of labeling women as mentally ill, physicians should urge diet changes, exercise, less caffeine and even calcium supplements. "But nobody makes much money off calcium tablets," she adds.

The Links Below Jump To Pages On Whatever Web You Are In
Table Of Contents	Search This Web		Navigation Help Page
Write To Karl Loren -- He Pledges To Answer EVERY Personal Message, Personally. Click here or on his name in the box below.
The Links Below Are To Various Web Sites Published By Karl Loren
Karl Loren Web	Vibrant Life Web		Karl Loren's Book
Super Colostrum	Bulk MSM		Heart Disease
Emmessar	Happiness		Arthritis
Instead Of	Chelation Therapy		Super Colostrum (2)
Karl Loren's Catalog Store		Central Page For All 12 Webs!

SUBSCRIBE: The Wednesday Letter is a free electronic monthly newsletter written and published by Karl Loren. You can view more than 50 back issues of this publication by clicking here. The Wednesday Letter subscription list is maintained on a secure server, no name is ever given or sold to anyone, and it is never used except for this Newsletter. It is automatically published on the Tuesday night just before the first Wednesday of every month. You can subscribe to this free monthly electronic letter by entering your eMail address and name below. You will then automatically receive a request for confirmation, sent to whatever address you have entered. If you do NOT receive this confirmation request, then you will not be subscribed. There may have been an error with your address and you should resubmit. The letter is never sent twice to the same address -- so you do not have to worry about a duplicate subscription. When you receive this confirmation request you must reply to it, or your subscription will not become active. No one can subscribe your name, and address, without you being notified, and if you get an unwanted notice of subscription you only need to DO NOTHING and the subscription will NOT be active.

REMOVAL: You can remove yourself from the subscription list in several different ways. Click here to read about this entire newsletter system. Every edition of The Wednesday Letter is delivered to your address with YOUR name and address in view on the letter, with a link that allows you to remove THAT name from the subscription list. If you try to send this removal message from an address different from the one you used to send in your original confirmation, then you will get a warning notice first, sent to the subscription address, asking you to confirm that you want to be removed from the list -- by replying to THAT request for confirmation, you will then be automatically removed. Thus, no one else can unsubscribe you, from some other computer, without your knowledge. But, if you send in the unsubscribe notice from the same machine used to receive the Letter, then the removal from the subscription list is automatic.

Personal Message: When you send a personal message to Karl Loren, you will receive a personal reply as per his instructions. Karl pledges that every personal message will get a personal answer. When you provide your mail address, we will send you free information including our free catalog and a cassette tape lecture by Karl Loren about heart disease, no charge, by mail, even if outside the US. You can select particular information you would like to receive, along with the free cassette tape and catalog.

Click here to add the Wednesday Letter as a Channel on your desktop. If your browser is so-equipped, you will be guided through a series of simple questions (about subscription information). Depending on your choices you can show the Vibrant Life Wednesday Letter as one of your "active channels" which will automatically download the new Wednesday Letter every month. In this way you can have the Wednesday Letter delivered to your desktop during the night (or your schedule) for immediate viewing in your browser. You can turn on or off this channel, at will, and delete the channel from your desktop at any time. With this feature operating you can click on the Wednesday Letter channel at any time to read the most recent copy of this electronic letter.

You can reach Vibrant Life in many ways, including by mail to Vibrant Life, 2808 N. Naomi St., Burbank, CA 91504. Within the US and Canada, use the toll free number: (800) 523-4521, the local number: (818) 558-1799, the FAX: (818) 558-7299, eMail to kimberly@oralchelation.com or any one of the hundreds of message forms throughout the 50 web sites. Vibrant Life normally ships the same day we get an order. There are message forms on each of the 100,000+ pages on this and other sites where you can communicate with Vibrant Life. Check out our companion site, at: http://www.oralchelation.net where Karl's 2000 page book is published. Karl Loren is the author and webmaster for this BOOK, as well as for another web site about ORAL CHELATION. His personal philosophical articles are at PHILOSOPHY.

Copyright © April 25, 2008 2:40 AM by Karl Loren on behalf of Vibrant Life, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Permission is granted for non-commercial downloading, copying, distribution or redistribution on two conditions: One, that some form of copyright notice is included in every copy distributed or copied, showing the copyright belonging to Vibrant Life, Burbank, CA, at www.oralchelation.com . The second condition is that the material is not to be used for any purpose contrary to the purposes and objectives of this site. This permission does not extend to materials on this site which are copyrighted by others.

Navigation Menu For The Book Life Flow One
Home Page Karl Loren's Book	Home Page Of The Data Section -- With Links To Each Separate Article	Shopping Cart To Purchase Oral Chelation Products From Karl Loren
Home Page Of The Karl Loren Writings Section -- With Links To Each Separate Item	Search The Entire Web Site Using The Professional Google Search Engine Especially Indexed For This Web Site	Home Page Of The Oral Chelation Web Site
Section One Who Will Die?	Section Two The Cholesterol Section	Section Three What Causes Heart Disease?
Section Four The Solution To Heart Disease	Section Five The Water Section	Section Six Ending Comments
Toxic Metals And Their Effects In The Body	The Role Of Free Radicals In Causing Disease	New Health Revelation
Ultimate Resource On Chelation Therapy		Technical Data On Heart Disease and Bypass Surgery
Table Of Contents In Each Of Three Different Sections:
TOC for Data References	TOC for The Book Itself	TOC For Karl Loren Articles
Go To The Vibrant Life Home Page Where Oral Chelation Vitamins Are Described And Sold

First name	required
Last name	required
Middle initial
Information Request
Title
Organization
Work Phone
Home Phone
FAX
E-mail	required
URL
Address 1	requested
Address 2
City	requested
State/Province	requested
Zip Code	requested
	Countryrequested How Did You Find This Web Site? Select one

First name	required
Last name	required
Middle initial
Information Request
Title
Organization
Work Phone
Home Phone
FAX
E-mail	required
URL
Address 1	requested
Address 2
City	requested
State/Province	requested
Zip Code	requested
	Countryrequested How Did You Find This Web Site? Select one

First name	required
Last name	required
Middle initial
Information Request
Title
Organization
Work Phone
Home Phone
FAX
E-mail	required
URL
Address 1	requested
Address 2
City	requested
State/Province	requested
Zip Code	requested
	Countryrequested How Did You Find This Web Site? Select one

First name	required
Last name	required
Middle initial
Information Request
Title
Organization
Work Phone
Home Phone
FAX
E-mail	required
URL
Address 1	requested
Address 2
City	requested
State/Province	requested
Zip Code	requested
	Countryrequested How Did You Find This Web Site? Select one

February 23, 2001

Drug Firms Treat PMS As a Mental Disorder

Health Journal

Drug Firms Treat PMS As a Mental Disorder