PARKINSON'S: WHAT'S OLD IS NEWS
Old-Formula Antidepressant Works Better
Clinical depression affects as many as half of all Parkinson's patients. But it appears that a particular antidepressant medication works better than others.
Researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey report that Parkinson's patients who treated their depression with the tricyclic antidepressant nortriptyline (Pamelor) were nearly five times more likely to get relief within eight weeks than those who took paroxetine CR (Paxil). That may be because tricyclics affect two areas of the brain-the norepinephrine and serotonin receptors-while paroxetine CR blocks the serotonin receptor alone, the study explains. But tricyclics, which were developed in the 1950s, can have more serious side effects than newer types of antidepressants. The study was published in the December 17, 2008 edition of the journal Neurology.