Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Tamoxifen treats metastatic breast cancer, but is also being used to treat bipolar disorder.
Thalidomide, used in the fifties to treat morning sickness, caused devastating birth defects, but today is used to treat multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.
Medications used to treat schizophrenia are now curing tuberculosis and treating aspects of Parkinson’s disease.
The trend is for doctors to consider repurposing medications to treat diseases with a common thread.
The same goes for the antidepressant, clozapine, which has been discovered to help new brain cells grow. This is important because stress damages the growth of brain cells.
If clozapine can reduce symptoms of depression and help brain cells grow, perhaps the symptoms won’t return. Also, clozapine is being considered to treat degenerative diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s. I love science!
Claudia
Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch.
At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question.
Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing!
