Health Watch: New treatment available for postpartum depression
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The FDA earlier this month approved what experts describe as a game changer and ray of hope for women’s health -- the first-ever pill for treating postpartum depression, and manufacturers say zuranolone could be commercially available as soon as October.
Dr. Sarah Guth, a perinatal psychiatrist at the UVM Medical Center, says she typically treats postpartum depression with anti-depressants like Zoloft or Prozac, but she says those drugs can take weeks to start working. Zuranolone starts relieving PPD symptoms in as little as three days because it targets the specific hormone linked to the illness.
“Most of the medications we use work on serotonin, and this is a brand new mechanism -- it works with allopregnanolone,” Guth said.
Allopregnanolone is a neuroactive steroid in progesterone. Levels can rise during pregnancy and drop dramatically after delivery, triggering depression. Zuranolone is a version of that substance patients can take in a tablet.