One of the most puzzling disorders in all of medicine is fibromyalgia. No one seems to have a clue what causes it or how to best treat it. The internet is inundated with products that can be used to treat fibromyalgia- most of these are fraudulent therapies with little scientific basis.
Over the past few years, a small study revealed that Gabapentin (neurontin) may help certain patients with fibromyalgia. Individuals who took neurontin for about 10-12 weeks reported significantly less pain, improved sleep, and better function in life compared to the control group. Even though Gabapentin is not approved for the treatment of fibromyalgia by the FDA, many physicians do prescribe it. Its major side effects are dizziness and lethargy.
A couple of years ago, another related drug called lyrica (pregabalin) was approved by the FDA to treat fibromyalgia. Like neurontin, one large study did show that individuals who took lyrica had better sleep and less pain compared to the control group who took nothing.
Lyrica is actually an anti seizure drug which is widely used to treat a number of pain disorders. Besides fibromyalgia, it is also used to treat diabetic neuropathies, herpes zoster, and generalized anxiety. The most common side effects of the drug include dizziness and lethargy. It does have a few other minor side effects (blurry vision, tremor, etc) but these are quite rare. As far as fibromyalgia is concerned, all the reports about its efficacy reveal that it does work in about 30-50 percent of patent. Why it does not work in all patients is unknown but perphaps this is related to the diverse causes of fibromyalgia.
For those individuals who have tried everything underneath the sun for their fibromyalgia and have not found the magic pill, lyrica may be worth a try.
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