PMS vs PMDD ??????????????

[FutureMD]

Just saw an advertiseement for PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder). Is this a new name for PMS??? Sounds like two very similar problems?

Possibly, a new illness for new drugs?

Thanks

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[Djanaba]

I doubt you saw an ad for PMDD -- companies aren't much into marketing *diseases*.

You likely saw an ad for Sarafem, an FDA-approved SSRI for the treatment of PMDD. Most folks will say it's a new fancy term for PMS, though its definition is a bit more strict and based on recurrent depressive symptoms (dysphoria) as well as physical ones. If your PMS is bad enough to warrant you taking a drug every day for months, and it works, I'm all for it. If it doesn't work, we'll see it disappear in the next few years.

(This makes me laugh: it's the wellbutrin/zyban approach all over again! Sarafem is fluoxetine, otherwise known in the real world as Prozac. See http://www.sarafem.com )

[This message has been edited by Djanaba (edited 11-05-2000).]