If you're a PMS sufferer and someone offered you a pill that would ease your symptoms - or even make them disappear altogether - would you take it? Of course you would. But what if that pill was Prozac?
Flickr, antigone78
Scientists claim the antidepressant could be just what the millions of women who get ratty (to say the least) during the week before their period have been waiting for. That's because Prozac - which is the brand name for the drug fluoxetine - may be able to stop or reduce the fall in hormone levels that's responsible for PMS symptoms.
In animal tests, low doses of fluoxetine given the day before the premenstrual part of the cycle stopped all signs of PMS. And the scientists think it could work in women too.
You wouldn't even have to take the same dose as that prescribed for depression, the University of Birmingham researchers explain. Instead of the usual 20 or 30 milligrams, PMS sufferers could take just two milligrams of fluoxetine a day and it would be enough to put a stop to their symptoms.
The beauty of using Prozac for PMS is that it has already gone through rigorous safety tests, so theoretically it could be prescribed to women who suffer monthly symptoms immediately. However, it could be a few years before it's available as an official treatment for PMS.
Many doctors have been criticised for allegedly being a little too eager to prescribe Prozac. So aren't there already enough people taking it? Would you take it for PMS?
What's your opinion?