Antihistamines and SSRI
Antidepressants in Panic Disorder

This page discusses the possibility to treat panic disorder with antihistamines.

The discovery of the selective serotonin re-uptake blockers - SSRI:s is to a large extent based on research by Nobel Prize winner Arvid Carlsson. For the first publication, see J. Pharm. Pharmac. 1969, 21, 460-464.

SSRI:s are useful in depression, panic disorder, OCD, and many other conditions with disturbed serotonin functions.

The antihistamine chlorpheniramine tested by Carlsson, 1969, has the properties of SSRI:s and could be tested in SSRI indications. The chemical structure and Carlsson's work point in that direction.

Only one pilot study has so far been performed and published as a Letter to the Editor of Nord. J. Psychiatry, 1998, 52/5, 440-441 and presented at Scandinavian Society for Psychopharmacology - abstract in Nord. J. Psychiatry, 1999, 53-2, 100. 

The low cost chlorpheniramine available in most countries deserves to be tested as an SSRI clinically.

A letter describing treatment of panic disorder with chlorpheniramine was published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, volume 90, March, 2003.

Case reports or unpublished clinical studies will be received with great interest. Please send email about related subjects to Einar Hellbom, B.A. at the address EinarHellbom@yahoo.com