Hey all, welcome back to the real-life pharmacology podcast. I'm your host, pharmacist Eric Christensen,

and I thank you so much for listening to this episode today. The drug I'm going to cover today is

peroxitine. Brand name of this medication is Paxil, and this is probably a known agent to you in some capacity.

It is an SSRI, so similar class to Certraline, satalopram, and all the other SSRIs.

So ultimately, it's going to block that re-uptake of serotonin in the neuronal synapse in the brain,

which in the end will increase serotonin activity and help manage conditions such as depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and rarely, one other kind of unique

indication for peroxatine or that I've seen it used in clinical practice is hot flashes as well.

So that's kind of a unique one there.

Adverse effects, definitely with SSRIs, there are some generalized class effects.

Sexual dysfunction, of course, can be problematic. Any type of CNS changes can happen, confusion, sedation, dizziness, for example.

With peroxatine, it's a little bit special as far as adverse effect profile goes.

And because of that, it's actually on the Beers List, which is a list of medications inappropriate

or potentially inappropriate in our geriatric patient population.

So it is on the Beers list due to its risk for some mild to moderate antich

activity as well as sedation and low blood pressure,

which could obviously increase the risk for falls.

So that is definitely one thing to remember, and that's one of the,

a couple of different reasons why you really don't see peroxatine used as much in clinical

practice compared to ocertroline or potentially acetalopram.

So definitely one important reason is to remember that beers list criteria.

Another one to remember with paroxetine that might limit the use a little bit.

His peroxatine should be avoided in pregnancy because there is some risk to the baby.

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