Doctors Exploring How Some Medications Can Treat Seemingly Unrelated Ailments
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - While people usually reach for a medication meant to treat one specific ailment, many medications can do double duty and treat symptoms that initially seem unrelated.
Dr. Andrea Synowiec, of Allegheny General Hospital's neurology unit, uses the common ailment of a migraine as an example.
"There are so many people who suffer from migraines, and the medicines that treat the headaches when they come on can only be used so frequently," Synowiec said.
Blood pressure medicines, antidepressants and seizure medicines can help prevent migraines.
The way they work is not entirely clear, but doctors believe it is related to the effect the drugs have on the chemical signals brain cells use to communicate.
"In the mysterious environment of the brain, where we don't always know why things work, sometimes it's just the serendipitous discovery that they do, that helps us down a treatment path, and hopefully later on we'll figure out why these medicines work,"
In another surprising discovery, raloxifene, a drug made for osteoporosis was found to be useful in preventing breast cancer.
The drug works at estrogen receptors and acts like estrogen in some cases, but blocks it in others.
Tamoxifen, a breast cancer drug, is being studied for its ability to potentially help with symptoms of depression and abnormally heightened mood associated with bipolar disorder.
The medication has a master enzyme in cells, called protein kinase C, in common with more well-known treatments such as lithium and valproic acid.
"Tamoxifen targets protein kinase C directly. Lithium and valproate get at it sort of indirectly," Dr. Gary Swanson, of Allegheny General Hospital Psychiatry, said.
A popular drug for erectile dysfunction, Cialis, can even be covered by insurance because if taken in smaller doses, it can alleviate symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH).
"As men age, the prostate enlarges, and it basically squeezes on the urethra, which is the pee tube, that people urinate through from the bladder to the outside world," Dr. Kevin Bordeau, of St. Clair Hospital's urology unit, said. "Have a harder time urinating, having to push and strain, they start to urinate more often."
Dr. Kevin Bordeau, of St. Clair Hospital's urology unit, called the drug a "win-win" for men experiencing both symptoms.
These types of drugs were first used to treat pulmonary hypertension, a lung complication, before they were prescribed to millions for treatment of erectile dysfunction.
Much like the other drugs that serve more than one purpose, the exact reason why it works to treat both symptoms is still under investigation.
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