Study: Medication For Fibromyalgia Management Falls Short

As with most chronic conditions, fibromyalgia is notoriously difficult to treat. Though theories exist, researchers and medical professionals aren’t sure what causes it. This mystery complicates fibromyalgia treatment.

Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic pain both above and below the waist. Other symptoms include sleep disturbance, digestive issues, anxiety, depression and fatigue. It’s diagnosed by testing for tender points; there are 18 designated tender points on the body that tend to cause pain when pressure is placed on them if you have fibromyalgia. Diagnosis is confirmed if at least 11 of the 18 points incite pain, and if they’re located both above and below the waist.

When a definite cause is unknown, it’s customary to treat symptoms in order to help patients live as normally as possible. Western medicine tends to emphasize drug treatments for fibromyalgia and other conditions. Antidepressants are often prescribed to chronic pain patients; they’re thought to be effective at reducing physical pain because they modulate neurotransmitters that affect how we experience both physical and emotional stimuli.

Is drug therapy an effective treatment for fibromyalgia? One review of 10 studies on the matter may provide some insight into the answer to this question. Overall, the studies included 6,038 fibromyalgia patients. 3,611 patients were prescribed either duloxetine (Cymbalta) or milnacipran (Savella),  two of the most popular antidepressants, and 2,427 were given a placebo.

The review aimed to assess a number of measures; sleep disturbance improvement, pain improvement, side effects and quality of life scores were among the measures considered. The drug treatment group did exhibit a small benefit over placebo in pain improvement; 29% had 50% reduced pain as opposed to 19% in the placebo group.  Quality of life scores were barely higher in the medication group, with an average of 14 out of 100 as opposed to 10 out of 100 in the placebo group. There was no difference in either group between sleep disturbance and fatigue scores.

This study answers another question besides the effectiveness of fibromyalgia medication: What is the cost-benefit ratio?  Of participants in the drug treatment group, 20% ceased treatment due to side effects. Only 11% ceased treatment in the placebo group. The review shows that, concerning the 10 studies analyzed, 29% of those receiving antidepressant medication for fibromyalgia experienced significant pain improvement while 20% had adverse reaction that led to stopping treatment. Common side effects of the medications used include nausea, headache, dry mouth and constipation. Rare but serious events such as suicidality, bleeding and liver damage are possible.

See more on the review at onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

Fibromyalgia treatment with medication may offer as many disadvantages as advantages. Consider natural fibromyalgia treatment options, like those discussed at Natural Treatment Methods For Fibromyalgia, before taking medication.