Antidepressants as antipruritic agents: A review

Pruritus is a concomitant symptom of various underlying disorders viz. dermatological, systemic and psychiatric disorders that provoke the person to scratch the skin. Many natural as well as, antipruritic therapies are usually practiced in the treatment of pruritus including general preventive measures, topical therapies such as cooling agents, antihistamines, anesthetics, capsaicin, corticosteroids, immunomodulators and; systemic therapies including administration of antihistamines, opioid antagonists/agonists, antiepileptic drugs/neuroleptics (e.g., gabapentin and pregabalin), antidepressants (e.g., doxepin, amitriptyline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, sertraline, escitalopram and mirtazapine) (Patel and Yosipovitch, 2010; Reich et al., 2011; Mart ín and Padilla, 2015; Eskeland et al., 2016).

Source: European Neuropsychopharmacology - February 15, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Randeep Kaur, V.R. Sinha Tags: REVIEW Source Type: research