EiR Blog

 Fibromyalgia is a condition that can literally leave sufferers disabled by intesnse pain, both generalised and at  specific "tender points" around the body. Traditional medicines used for pain relief often have little or no effect or become less and less effective over time so the patient is often left in agony as their doctor exhausts their armoury of painkilling drugs. Even powerful "last resort" opioid drugs including morphine, Codeine, Vicodin, and Oxycontin often have little effect on fibromyalgia pain. Research suggests this could be because in fibromyalgia patients these drugs fail to bind effectively to pain receptors in the brain (read more). The US Food and Drug Administration has recently approved the first three drugs specifcally for the treatment of fibromyalgia - Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Milnacipran. Lyrica is designed to treat pain by working on "sodium channels", which are involved with the transmission of nerve impulses, and reduce the central...