How Celexa Can Treat Prostate Cancer

02 Sep

I read an article on the effectiveness of Celexa in treating prostate cancer. I would like to correct the writer’s view.

Let us understand what Celexa is. The generic name for Celexa is Citalopram. It belongs to a class of antidepressant known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI). It helps to enhance your mood when you are depressed. Obviously, doctors use it to treat patients with mental depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder. So, how can antidepressant drugs such as Celexa treat prostate cancer?

The writer quoted a research from Mayo Clinic.

According to the Mayo Clinic Proceedings in October 2004, it stated that Celexa could reduce the hot flashes in men who completed hormonal deprivation therapies or hormonal blockades for prostate cancer. The researchers believed that Celexa contains Paxil, or Paroxetine, which may be responsible in reducing these hot flushes.

A 5-week study, which involved 18 men who completed the hormonal therapy, showed that the hot flashes drop to 2.5 a day from 6.2 a day after being treated with Celexa.

What Are Hot Flashes?

When your body fails to regulate the sudden rising temperature due to the hormonal imbalance, you will experience hot flashes. Usually they are the side effect from the hormonal therapies for breast and prostate cancer. About 60 to 80 percent of men who are undergoing this therapy experience hot flashes, which may last up to eight years. Men usually encounter irritability, fatigue, discomfort, insomnia, and flushing skin when they have hot flashes.

The writer may have misinterpreted the purpose of Celexa. The report from Mayo Clinic didn’t indicate that it could treat prostate cancer. In fact, it doesn’t treat prostate cancer at all. It helps to minimize hot flashes, which is a common side effect from the hormonal therapy such as androgen deprivation therapy.