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Antidepressants shown to help breast cancer patients with hot flashes

Those who are undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer may be experiencing several side effects. However, women going through menopause during their cancer treatment may be especially uncomfortable.

Now, a new study has shown that there may be an easy relief for hot flashes experienced during treatment - antidepressants. Medical professionals are now treating this problem with mood-enhancing drugs, as well as other prescriptions, MSNBC.com reports.

The news source points to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that showed that the antidepressant venlafaxine, as well as the epilepsy drug gabapentin, helped alleviate uncomfortable ailments.

"For some people, venlafaxine works better than gabapentin and for others, gabapentin works better," Dr. Charles Loprinzi, a breast cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told the news outlet. "The patients in the end preferred venlafaxine by two-thirds to one-third."

According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point during their lives.
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