Latest Fluoxetine Stories

Scientists reported Friday that a drug widely known as "Special K", a horse tranquilizer and hallucinogenic night club drug that can cause feelings of detachment, could help ease depression.  The researchers said the drug, called Ketamine, could pave the way for new treatments for those suffering from the condition.   According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression affects about 121 million people around the world and is a leading cause of suicide.The study found that...

A new Dutch study has found that people who took the popular antidepressant Prozac had fewer brain lesions characteristic of multiple sclerosis (MS), suggesting that the drug may slow the incurable disease. Although the study was small, scientists said the results justify further research in those suffering with MS."This proof-of-concept study shows that (the drug) tends to reduce the formation of new enhancing lesions in patients with MS," Jop Mostert, a neurologist at the...

It may be possible to reverse the effects of a "lazy eye" by taking the popular antidepressant Prozac, researchers said.Researchers from Italy and Finland reported the results of their study, which involved laboratory rats with impaired vision similar to the type found in humans. Amblyopia is the most frequent cause of visual impairment in childhood and affects 2 to 3 percent of children, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute. Prozac, the popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor...

A new study by scientists in the U.S., Canada and Britain has called into question the effectiveness of anti-depressant medications, including the popular Prozac and Paxil.According to the study, which included a comprehensive review of data from trials conducted before the drugs were approved in the U.S., the antidepressants work no better than placebos in many patients, and appear to help only those who are severely depressed.The researchers obtained the data from all the clinical trials,...

CHICAGO -- Authors of a new comprehensive analysis of antidepressants for children and teenagers say the benefits of treatment trump the small risk of increasing some patients' chances of having suicidal thoughts and behaviors.The risk they found is lower than the one the Food and Drug Administration identified in 2004, the year the agency warned the public about the drugs' risks in children. After the warning, U.S. youth suicides increased and some mental health experts said reluctance to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Information about risks to newborns and migraine sufferers linked to some of the world's most widely used antidepressants should be added to the drug labels, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.The FDA warned that taking antidepressants known as SSRIs -- including Prozac and Zoloft -- or certain SNRIs in combination with migraine drugs known as triptans could result in a life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome.It also warned consumers...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of suicide among older patients appears to be increased during the first month of therapy with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, but this increased risk is fairly low, researchers in Canada report. Dr. David N. Juurlink, of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, and colleagues examined coroner's data, along with data on prescriptions, physician billing claims and hospitalization, for more than 1.2...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The anti-depressant Prozac and its generic equivalents, often prescribed for patients struggling with anorexia, do not help prevent relapses of the life-threatening eating disorder, a study said on Tuesday. The finding came from a test involving 93 women with anorexia nervosa who were discharged after regaining a healthy weight. Some were then given fluoxetine -- the anti-depressant originally sold as Prozac -- and others an inert placebo. After a year there was...

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science CorrespondentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study raises questions about whether newer antidepressant drugs raise the risk of suicide as some studies have suggested by finding that suicide rates have dropped in the United States since the drugs were introduced, researchers said on Monday.In fact, the use of the new SSRI antidepressants to treat depression has saved more than 30,000 lives, according to the study published in the journal Public Library of Science...

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's medicine watchdog said on Tuesday that Prozac could be used to treat children aged eight years and over. Despite controversy over giving antidepressants to adolescents, the European Medicines Agency said the benefits outweighed the risks in children with moderate to severe depression who failed to respond to psychological therapy. Prozac, or fluoxetine, was originally developed by Eli Lilly and Co but is now widely available in generic versions since...