Prozac for Hypoperfusion?

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ThisIsMA
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Prozac for Hypoperfusion?

Post by ThisIsMA »

I was watching the first part of Dr. Hubbard's video on his theory about what causes MS. I'm only part way through it, but I had to push the stop button when he started talking about how ogliodendricytes apparently die first, then the white blood cells come in to clean up the mess. If I understand him correctly he seems to be saying that hypoperfusion (which I think means not enough oxygenated blood to the brain) is what may be causing the oglyodendricytes to die.

This reminded me of a small study that showed that a small group of MS patients who were given Prozac had a a lower relapse rate and fewer new lesions than a similar small group of MS patients who were not given Prozac. If I remember correctly, the Prozac seemed to make quite a difference.

That made me wonder today after listening to the first part of Dr. Hubbard's speach, whether Prozac might increase brain perfusion, because if Dr. Hubbard's theory is correct, it seems like a substance that would increase brain perfusion would be really helpful to MS.

So I Googled "Prozac +hypoperfusion" and found a small rat study that found that Prozac dilates small arteries in the brain. The study says they think this could be a part of why Prozac helps depression, because hypoperfusion causes depression and dilating the small arteries in the brain should increase perfusion. I remember reading that people with MS also have depression at a much higher rate than people who have other similarly incurable degenerative diseases, so they think there may be a structural reason for it. Hypoperfusion could be the reason.

The Prozac dilation study includes a lot of medical jargon that I don't know if I'm interpreting correctly. Maybe someone without my cog fog issues can look at the study and see if it says what I think it says!

Here's the link:

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/30/9/1949.full

And here's the link to the study that found that a small group of people with MS did better on Prozac. The study authors seem to have a different theory for why Prozac might be effective for MS, but it seems like their study only showed that it was effective, not why it was effective. Here's the link:

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/79/9/1027.short

Mary Ann

p.s. I'm not a health care professional and I'm not advising anyone on whether or not to take Prozac. Consult with the health care professional of your choice on your own health care decisions.
DX 6-09 RRMS, now SPMS
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