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Switching From an SSRI to Tiagabine(GABITRIL) in Order to Alleviate SSRI Induced Sexual Dysfunction

NCT00174850 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE4 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2008-09-18

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Anxious patients are now treated with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor medications (common antidepressants) which elevate serotonin and thus alleviate anxiety. These medications have clearly proven efficacy upwards of 70% for many anxiety disorders. In regards to tolerability, they have a major problem in that they often produce sexual dysfunction in men and women (ie. decreased libido, anorgasmia, impotence) upwards of 30% of the time.

Benzodiazepine anxiolytics are also FDA approved to treat anxiety with equal efficacy and greater tolerability (very little, if any sexual dysfunction). They do, however, carry a substantial risk for addiction. Tiagabine is a Selective GABA Reuptake Inhibitor (SGRI) that is FDA approved to treat certain types of epilepsy. Like benzodiazepines, Tiagabine also increases the neurotransmitter, GABA, in the brain and is thought to alleviate anxiety (see references below) this way too, but without any addiction risk common to Valium-type drugs. The safety profile of Tiagabine is thought to be much safer. Two double blind studies are ongoing which are looking at Tiagabine's effectiveness in PTSD and GAD. There are many open label studies showing anxiety reduction and many psychiatrists in clinical practice are utilizing this agent as an anxiety treatment in an off-label manner.

This study is designed to evaluate anxious patients who are taking SSRI medication, have had a reasonable response, but are experiencing significant sexual side effects which are pushing them towards noncompliance and possible relapse into anxiety. 30 subjects (15 men and 15 women) will be asked to join the study and be placed on Tiagabine as well as their current SSRI. Once an acceptable dose of Tiagabine is reached in the first four weeks, the subjects' SSRIs will be slowly stopped. Two weeks after enrollment, all subjects will be called in order to check for any side effects to the study drug and to insure that each subject is titrating to the proper dose of study drug according to the study protocol. An open-label, non-placebo prospective 10 week follow up will occur, where the now Tiagabine monotherapy subjects will be followed to see primarily if their sexual dysfunction improves and if there anxiety remains controlled.

Conditions

Interventions

DRUG

Gaitril

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • State University of New York - Upstate Medical University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Thomas L. Schwartz, MD · SUNY Upstate Medical University, Psychiatry Dept.

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
64 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2004-07-31
Completion
2005-05-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00174850 on ClinicalTrials.gov