Using Duloxetine for Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes muscle pain and fatigue (feeling tired). People with fibromyalgia have "tender points" on the body. Tender points are specific places on the neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms, and legs. These points hurt when pressure is put on them. Other
fibromyalgia symptoms may include:
- Trouble sleeping
- Morning stiffness
- Headaches
- Painful menstrual periods
- Tingling or numbness in the hands and feet
- Problems with thinking and memory (sometimes called "fibro fog").
Duloxetine Use for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain
Although duloxetine was initially used just for treating nerve pain, it has since been discovered that it can be useful for treating chronic musculoskeletal pain as well. Specifically, studies have shown the drug to be beneficial for chronic pain due to
osteoarthritis and chronic
back pain.
Duloxetine can be a particularly useful option (or addition) for people who cannot take other types of pain medications or for whom other types of pain medications have not adequately relieved pain.
Duloxetine is part of a class of drugs called
serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, or
SNRIs for short. SNRIs, such as duloxetine, affect two specific chemicals within the brain, known as serotonin and norepinephrine. Serotonin and norepinephrine are two of several chemicals used to send messages in between nerves. However, if serotonin and norepinephrine levels become unbalanced, it can cause a variety of conditions, such as
depression and
anxiety. Duloxetine helps to block the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, so that higher levels of these chemicals are available for the nerves in the brain, returning the serotonin and norepinephrine back to their "normal" levels.
Although it is not entirely clear how duloxetine works for pain, it appears that duloxetine helps to help block the nerve pain signals in the spinal cord or brain. This helps to relieve the pain of peripheral
diabetic neuropathy. It is not clear how duloxetine works for fibromyalgia.
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