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American Morning

House Call: Antidepressants Helpful in Treating Other Disorders

Aired June 05, 2003 - 07:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to medical news. Two antidepressants in the news today, the drugs have been found helpful in treating other disorders.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has been looking into it. He's live here in D.C. as well.

Good to see you, doctor.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Bill.

This is very interesting stuff actually. I should just point out right at the top, both of the studies I'm about to tell you about were actually funded by the drug companies that make these particular drugs. Important to know.

But here it goes. Paxil, one of the common antidepressants out there, they've been studying this and found out that in addition to possibly being an antidepressant, it also seems to relieve the symptoms of hot flashes. About 40 percent of women who take hormone replacement therapy, which we've been hearing so much about, take it simply for hot flashes. And now Paxil may be an alternative for that.

Also another antidepressant known as Remeron. This is a medication that may possibly treat sleep apnea. This is one of the most disturbing sleep disorders, people often starting and stopping their sleep many times throughout the night, oftentimes requiring machines to help their ventilation. This medication seemed to reduce those episodes by half.

Both of these, again, Bill, small studies, both of them funded by the drug companies, but interesting nevertheless.

HEMMER: Yes, how is it did they go about finding this stuff works for sleep apnea? I have sleep apnea, but I'm taking antidepressants. About two months ago, I figured my sleep apnea went away.

GUPTA: That's a fair question. When you have so many people taking these medications -- in this case, about 18 million people take these antidepressants -- they start to see evolving patterns emerge. A bunch of patients are coming in and saying, you know, in addition to my depression being better, I'm not having as many hot flashes, I'm not having as many episodes of sleep apnea. And then they go back and study it, as was the case here. HEMMER: Interesting stuff. Thank you, doctor. Good to see you. We'll see you next hour, all right?

GUPTA: Yes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.




Disorders>


Aired June 5, 2003 - 07:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to medical news. Two antidepressants in the news today, the drugs have been found helpful in treating other disorders.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has been looking into it. He's live here in D.C. as well.

Good to see you, doctor.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Bill.

This is very interesting stuff actually. I should just point out right at the top, both of the studies I'm about to tell you about were actually funded by the drug companies that make these particular drugs. Important to know.

But here it goes. Paxil, one of the common antidepressants out there, they've been studying this and found out that in addition to possibly being an antidepressant, it also seems to relieve the symptoms of hot flashes. About 40 percent of women who take hormone replacement therapy, which we've been hearing so much about, take it simply for hot flashes. And now Paxil may be an alternative for that.

Also another antidepressant known as Remeron. This is a medication that may possibly treat sleep apnea. This is one of the most disturbing sleep disorders, people often starting and stopping their sleep many times throughout the night, oftentimes requiring machines to help their ventilation. This medication seemed to reduce those episodes by half.

Both of these, again, Bill, small studies, both of them funded by the drug companies, but interesting nevertheless.

HEMMER: Yes, how is it did they go about finding this stuff works for sleep apnea? I have sleep apnea, but I'm taking antidepressants. About two months ago, I figured my sleep apnea went away.

GUPTA: That's a fair question. When you have so many people taking these medications -- in this case, about 18 million people take these antidepressants -- they start to see evolving patterns emerge. A bunch of patients are coming in and saying, you know, in addition to my depression being better, I'm not having as many hot flashes, I'm not having as many episodes of sleep apnea. And then they go back and study it, as was the case here. HEMMER: Interesting stuff. Thank you, doctor. Good to see you. We'll see you next hour, all right?

GUPTA: Yes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.




Disorders>