PMDD

[Kasha]

I am listening to Bill Maher and his topic this evening is about Pre Menstral Dyshporic Disorder. It is apparently a new "disorder" that the docs and pharmacutical companies seem to be promoting lately. They want to classify this as a mental disorder... It is apparently treatable with prozac, zoloft, paxil. This is apparently harsher than run of the mill PMS. What do ya'll think of this... Do you think that this a real thing... or do you think this is something that the docs and pharmacutical companies made up together...Well, whatever your opinion I would like to know.

 

[SweetCherry]

Trust me, Kasha. This is real. A friend of mine suffers from it and she tries to kill herself about once a month because of it. She can't deal with anyone or anything for about 4 days out of the month, but she can't be left alone either. It's very stressful for her family and friends.

 

[Kasha]

I know it too well

Believe me I know Cherry. I have always had bad periods and I just thought that wss to be expected. This has gone on all of my life. Finally at 20 I was diagnosed with Endometriosis and the doctors said tht should explain my crazy hormones and unbearable pain. I haven't been really bad in a while.. About 7 months ago I just couldn't take the way m;y hormones were making me feel, I too wanted to either kill myself or someone else. It was a real challenge for my husband and I. I am now taking Zoloft and it seems to keep me on a better keel, but I think I am just a "high-strung" type of person. The reason I posted this thread was to get feed back from other women and also men that might know about this or who don't know about it, ya know. I am just curious if there are people who think it's a crock of shit too... It was being hotly discussed on Politically Incorrect, so I thought everyone might have an opinion. I hope your friend finds treatment to help her.

 

[Cheyenne]

I saw an article that said the new miracle drug Sarafem is just Prozac repackaged.

I'm lucky and have never had too many PMS problems myself, so I can't judge. I'd say just based on the fact that so many women have the same problems, there must be something to it.

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

Exactly, Cheyenne. Sarafem is fluoxetine, the same generic drug marketed as prozac. They're marketed under different names simply because of the stigma associated with mental illness. The drug companies figure that they'll sell more fluoxetine for non-depression indications than if they try to convince the public to take "prozac" for their PMDD.

There's nothing new in this technique. Any of you who have used "Zyban" to help stop smoking have used the same drug found in the anti-depressant "Wellbutrin". Again, it's marketed as a different product in order to sell the drug to those who wouldn't want to take an antidepressant, because they believe antidepressants are "only for crazy people."

This phenomenon is really all rooted in the sad stigma of mental illness that persists in our country. Mental illnesses are as biologically real and as based in pathophysiology as diseases like diabetes, cancer, or heart disease, yet only with mental illness is the patient made to feel responsible for his illness. Mental illness not as an illness at all, but a defect in one's character. We don't think any less of a person with cancer, but can we say the same for someone with schizophrenia?

As for the question of PMDD being a legitimate disorder or not, I think there's always room for healthy skepticism. The pharmaceutical industry is truly an industry (i.e. a collection of businesses producing a similar good or service competing with each other for the purpose of making money).

My answer to this question is the same it is to the question of the efficacy of any drug. Let the data speak for itself. If fluoxetine relieves these symptoms better than a placebo, don't we have our answer?