RELIEF FOR FIBROMYALGIA
Fibromyalgia is a painful, chronic disease affecting up to six million Americans. There is no cure or fda approved treatment for it. But, researchers have found an old drug that seems to relieve the pain.
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Karen Smaby loves cooking for her family. But, she didn't always have the energy to pull a meal together.
Karen Smaby
"There were some days I literally couldn't get out of bed."
Karen is among the three to six million Americans coping with fibromyalgia -- a disease that causes chronic pain in many parts of the body.
Karen Smaby
Has fibromyalgia
"It's like having the flu and having been in an auto accident where you had like tensed up really bad and all your muscles ached."
University of Cincinnati doctor Lesley Arnold is studying the use of the anti-depressant cymbalta, also called duloxetine.
Lesley Arnold, M.D.
Psychiatrist
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Cincinnati, OH
"The most important thing is they reported a reduction in pain."
Patients like Karen also said they had more energy and could function better.
Karen Smaby
"There's like this low level of depression that goes along with it. I think partially because you do feel so miserable all the time, and that's completely gone."
Although 90 percent of fibromyalgia sufferers are women, the men in the study did not see a major change. But researchers aren't sure exactly why.
Lesley Arnold, M.D.
"Women in general in normal situations synthesize serotonin at a lesser rate than men, so women may be more susceptible because of that."
Meanwhile, Karen's finally happy to have the energy to do simple tasks, like cook a meal.
Doctor Arnold says cymbalta does have some mild side effects like nausea, constipation and drowsiness. Suicidal thoughts can also be a side effect of anti-depressants for children and adolescents. But, Doctor Arnold says no one in the study reported that.
BACKGROUND: According to Lesley Arnold, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati, fibromyalgia is a disorder that is characterized by chronic, widespread pain, musculoskeletal pain, and tenderness under applied pressure. She says in 1990, The American College of Rheumatology established criteria for fibromyalgia that includes chronic widespread pain lasting three months or longer and tenderness upon palpation. Diagnosing fibromyalgia sometimes results from patients reporting pain. It also can be diagnosed based on an exam, where doctors palpate certain areas of the body and patients report having any discomfort, pain or tenderness. Dr. Arnold says fibromyalgia interferes tremendously with a patient's functioning. Many patients report difficulty sleeping. They then have fatigue during the day, which makes it hard to do their daily activities.
CURRENT TREATMENTS: There is currently no FDA-approved treatment for fibromyalgia. Dr. Arnold says most patients try a number of different medications or other non-drug treatments. She says the most common treatment is antidepressants, which have a moderate effect in fibromyalgia. Depression is common in patients with fibromyalgia but is not something every patient suffers from. Antidepressants are used because they work on chemicals believed thought to be involved in pain modulation. Dr. Arnold says, "Even in patients who do not have depression, the antidepressants can help relieve pain."
CYMBALTA: One of the largest studies conducted in the United States for fibromyalgia involves using Cymbalta, a drug indicated by the FDA for the treatment of major depressive disorders and also indicated for the treatment of diabetic neuropathic pain. As fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition, Cincinnati researchers thought Cymbalta might work.
RESULTS: Dr. Arnold says patients most importantly reported a reduction in pain. This was mainly found to be true in the female patients studied. Only a few men were in the study, so more of them will have to be studied before researchers can conclude whether or not Cymbalta will work in men.
There were more women than men studied because fibromyalgia much more commonly afflicts women. Dr. Arnold says the reason for this is unknown, but there are some possibilities. She says one is that abnormalities in serotonin could be an important cause of fibromyalgia. Because women generally synthesize serotonin at a lesser rate than men, women may be more susceptible. Also, women typically have lower pain thresholds than men, so women may be more susceptible to developing pain than men.
FUTURE: Dr. Arnold says: "I think it has a lot of potential. We have to do some more studies to confirm this first study, but I think there's a lot of hope in the results. In addition to reduction in pain, patients also reported feeling better able to function, more vital, more energy, and I think that's a very important part of the results as well."
The Women's Health Research Program
Medical Arts Building, Suite 8200
222 Piedmont Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45219
(513) 558-9477
Copyright © 2005 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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