PMDD and sarafem--anyone familiar?

  • I have been diagnosed with PMDD, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, which is basically MEGA-PMS!!!! I usually have one good week a month and then everything goes to H***, my emotions, my eating and my guilt. I can never get enough food and I always sabatoge myself and gain weight and feel guilty and then it starts over. I am at the end of my cycle so these are my good days right now. My doctor is prescribing me Sarafem for this condition. Does anyone else use it and most importantly, is weight gain a side effect? My dr. she didn't know, but 3 out 4 pharmascists I talked to said it actually decreases your appetite. BTW, sarafem is actually a low dose (10 mg) of Prozac.

    Also, I went back to WW on Monday, that was a hugely positive step for me, especially since it has taken me two years to do it.
  • Go to http://www.webmd.com and click on "Webmd Health Site". Then put sarafem into the search. You'll come up with 7 hits. Look at #5 - Fluoxetine. Basically, serafem is in the same family as prozac. There are side effects and such listed within #5.
  • getfit
    Hi I'm Luckymom1, don't know sarafin but do know Prozac and this can work either way in some people it suppresses appetite and in others it stimulates the appetite. My mother was post liver transplant and not eating well the dr. put her on a low dose of prozac to stim. appetite. So if sarafin is prozac how you respond is merely based on yourself. Sorry I could not be of more help Luckymom1
  • My doctor put me on Prozac for my PMS. He told me that it was the same as Serafem. He said they were marketing Serafem as Prozac for woman! Anyway, I hated it -- gained 10 lbs. I stayed on it for a year and then stopped. Good luck.
  • Sarafem
    My neice was put on sarafem for PMD and lost 35 lbs. My doctor took me off of Effexor because of weight gain (and other symptoms) ,and has me on Prozac now. It's only been 3 weeks and I haven't seen any change, but everyone i talk to says that you either stay the same or lose weight on Prozac or Serafem.

    Once again, who knows, the literature is vague and all i have been able to gather is anecdotal....