Fibromyalgia is a mysterious syndrome that affects millions of Americans. It is a syndrome that causes widespread pain in the body of the fibromyalgia sufferer. It also can cause irritated bowels, sleeping disorders, nausea and fatigue. Since there are so many symptoms, there is a great need for multiple medications to help treat the syndrome.
In the past, the syndrome was thought to only afflict women, and was commonly dismissed as ‘hysteria’ and treated as a psychological disorder. Today, the syndrome is found in both males and females, young and old, so there is not one particular type of person that is more likely to contract fibromyalgia. These findings have prompted researchers to search for new medication for fibromyalgia.
New Medications for Pain
One set of new medication for fibromyalgia is fibromyalgia pain medication. New sets of analgesics have been found to help manage pain in fibromyalgia sufferers. In order for the patient to get this type of medication, her doctor must prescribe it. Although the analgesics are very effective in managing the pain, they are also mostly narcotic, which tends to lead to addiction in users. Analgesics tend to be prescribed only for moderate to severe pain sufferers.
There are certain anti-inflammatory medications that have been tried, but these have not been as effective since there is not inflammation involved in fibromyalgia. There is also some new medication for fibromyalgia that is normally used for Parkinson’s treatment. It has been found to be somewhat effective for fibromyalgia sufferers.
The most commonly used medications for fibromyalgia are over the counter pain medications as well as anesthetic injections into the muscles affected by the worst pain. Both of these types of medication are effective treatment for fibromyalgia sufferers, but they do not provide a long-term solution to the syndrome.
New Ideas
There are some other new medications for fibromyalgia that do not have a consensus on whether they are totally effective for managing pain. Growth hormones therapy has been found to help certain fibromyalgia sufferers. The problem with this treatment is two-fold: there is high cost involved with the treatment that a lot of patients are not able to afford, and it has not been shown to be one hundred percent effective. Another treatment is non-steroid anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDS) but these also have not been found to be totally effective do to the nature of the syndrome and the overall lack of inflammation. Doctors and researchers are still working on finding the underlying causes of fibromyalgia so that they can find more effective treatments for the syndrome.