 |
|
|
|
|
Jaw-Clenching Linked to Anti-Depressants
Anti-anxiety drug can help, says psychiatrist
By Nancy A. Melville
HealthScout Reporter
|
| | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
SUNDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthScout) -- While anti-depressants have helped millions overcome mood and anxiety disorders, a psychiatrist says some patients' smiles may be covering up jaws clenched tight enough to cause broken teeth and serious headaches.
The combination of the jaw clenching, called bruxism, and headaches may be a significant side-effect of some popular anti-depressants, such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and other drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Text Continues Below
The good news, however, is that Buspar, another drug primarily used for anxiety, can relieve those side effects.
The findings are reported in the December 1999 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
The report was prompted by Dr. John Michael Bostwick, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist, who noticed that some of his patients using the anti-depressant Zoloft complained of jaw clenching and headaches, almost as an afterthought.
Bostwick says, "They would say, for instance, 'I feel so much better, I just wish my teeth weren't breaking,' or 'my obsessive-compulsive disorder is much improved, now I just wish I didn't have these headaches'."
Noting other documented cases of bruxism resulting from SSRIs and the use of Buspar to relieve the symptoms, Bostwick prescribed the drug and saw results.
Bostwick says Buspar appears to target a specific area of the brain that might be influenced by SSRIs to cause the jaw clenching. "The theory is that Buspar may act like a little bit of dopamine, meaning it may cause the jaw muscles to (become less) tense."
"But we're also interested in how Buspar works in the mid-brain to regulate serotonin. Essentially, serotonin increases with the SSRIs, and then Buspar brings the serotonin levels back down, but apparently only in certain critical areas of the brain, allowing those tracks to function normally," he says.
Page: 1 | 2 | Next >>
|
Copyright © 1999 Rx Remedy, Inc.
Last updated 1/23/2000 11:00:00 AM
|
|
"There are some doctors who will put their patients on a combination of an anti-depressant, such as Zoloft, and Buspar to have a total effect on depression and anxiety."
-- Dr. John Michael Bostwick, psychiatrist at Mayo Clinic
SOURCES: Interviews with John Michael Bostwick, M.D., psychiatrist, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and Travis Thompson, Ph.D., director, John F. Kennedy Center on Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Mayo Clinic press release; December 1999 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
|
.gif)
