On today's episode of real-life pharmacology, I'm going to cover the SNRIs.

So these are the serotonin and norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors.

Now the common examples that I see in clinical practice are deloxetine,

which brand name is Symbalta, and Venlifaxine,

which is brand name, Efector.

There are a couple of others out there that are classified as SNRIs.

Des Venlofaxine is another one, which is Prisique, and also one or two others.

Very seldom do I see them used simply from a cost-effective

standpoint, the deloxetine and venlofaxine are generally much, much cheaper, but you may see those

other ones on a rare occasion. So these drugs, what are they used for? Serotoninophenopate inhibitors or SNRIs are

typically used for depression and or various pain syndromes. Classic examples being neuropathy.

You may see fibromyalgia, these drugs being used for that.

Migraines, on a rare occasion, you might see that. Anxiety is another psych condition that you may see

these medications used for as well. One other unique use that I've definitely seen

Venlo-Faxine used for is menopausal symptoms.

So patients who have hot flashes and things of that nature, night sweats, associated with menopause,

it may be a non-hormonal type medication that may help with some of those symptoms.

So the mechanism, the way these drugs work is they increase serotonin and noraphyne in the brain,

and they do that by inhibiting the reuptake within the synapse.

So again, increases serotonin, increases noraphenephrine.

The pain component is always taught and associated with that norepinephrine effect compared to SSRIs,

which generally only target the serotonin re-uptake inhibitor.

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