…by John Schieszer…
Antidepressant May Help Combat Hot Flashes
A new study has found that Lexapro (escitalopram) can help combat hot flashes in post-menopausal women and in women who are transitioning to menopause. The new findings are very important because hormonal agents had been the predominant therapy for menopausal hot flashes but they were found to cause more health risks than benefits.
Hormonal therapy fell out of favor after shifts in the risk-benefit ratios were identified in the Women’s Health Initiative Estrogen plus Progestin randomized controlled trial several years ago. However, no other treatments have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for menopausal hot flashes. The efficacy of alternative pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic agents is far from certain. Many women have turned to herbal approaches but few have showed any significant benefits in controlled clinical trials.
Antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs and SNRIs) have been tested for hot flash treatment, but the results have been mixed. Lexapro, which is an SSRI, was found to reduce hot flashes with minimal toxicities in two pilot studies.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania evaluated Lexapro (10 to 20 mg a day dose) and found that it could cut the number of hot flashes by 47 percent. The average frequency of hot flashes at the beginning of the study was 9.8 per day. Within eight weeks of treatment, the researchers found the number of hot flashes experienced by women receiving Lexapro decreased to an average of 5.2 hot flashes per day.
A Surgical Approach to Tinnitus
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) has been notoriously difficult to treat. Now, researchers in Texas think a new surgical approach may help patients who have not been helped in the past. They are trying vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), a treatment currently used for epilepsy and depression. With this approach, electrodes are attached to the left vagus nerve in the neck during a short outpatient procedure.
The researchers are now planning to test VNS coupled with sounds to eliminate tinnitus. With this approach, the brain is being retrained to ignore the nerve signals that stimulate ringing. “Brain changes in response to nerve damage or cochlear trauma cause irregular neural activity believed to be responsible for many types of chronic pain and tinnitus,” said Dr. Michael Kilgard of The University of Texas at Dallas, who is pioneering this approach. “But when we paired tones with brief pulses of vagus nerve stimulation, we eliminated the physiological and behavioral symptoms of tinnitus.”
Tinnitus is a debilitating hearing impairment that can be mild or extremely disabling and painful. It affects at least 10 percent of older adults and up to 40 percent of military veterans.
Preserving Memory through Exercise
If you are worried about your memory deteriorating, then start walking, jogging or biking. A new study is showing that one-year of moderate physical exercise can increase the size of the brain’s hippocampus in older adults, leading to an improvement in spatial memory. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh collaborated with other investigators and found that older adults who were having memory problems could see an improvement through exercise.
This is actually the first study of its kind focusing on older adults who are already experiencing atrophy of the hippocampus, the brain structure involved in all forms of memory formation. The study included 120 sedentary men and women without dementia. Those in the exercise group walked around a track for 40 minutes a day, three days a week. The non-exercise group just did stretching and toning exercises.
“We think of the atrophy of the hippocampus in later life as almost inevitable,” said study investigator Kirk Erickson, who is with the University of Pittsburgh. “But we’ve shown that even moderate exercise for one year can increase the size of that structure. The brain at that stage remains modifiable.”
John Schieszer is an award-winning national journalist and radio broadcaster of The Medical Minute He can be reached at medicalminutes@gmail.com.
Photo Caption: John Schieszer
This article recently appeared in the April 2011 issue of Northwest Prime Time, the Puget Sound region’s monthly publication celebrating life after 50. For more information, visit www.NorthwestPrimeTime.com
