America’s Food and Drug Administration has approved three drugs for fibromyalgia – Lyrica, Cymbalta and Savella. These medicines have been shown to reduce pain for about half of patients.
Doctor Russell Rothenberg is a leading expert on fibromyalgia. For many patients, he says, a thirty percent reduction in pain is enough so they can work and take care of their family. Once fibromyalgia is treated, patients can be stable for many years -- not getting better, but not getting worse, either.
Some patients have described fibromyalgia as taking control of their lives and making them a prisoner of their own body. Plenty of physical activity in one day can make muscles sore for days afterwards. Foot pain can be so intense that wearing shoes is impossible. Even after getting eight hours of sleep, some sufferers wake up feeling tired. Normal activities like socializing with friends can be impossible.
The drug manufacturer Pfizer makes the drug Lyrica, which has been advertised as a treatment for fibromyalgia. In two thousand seven, the Food and Drug Administration approved Lyrica as the first drug specifically for the disease. Studies involving one thousand eight hundred patients showed that some patients have less pain after taking the drug.
The FDA called Lyrica an important development in the fight against the disease and a reason for hope in patients. At the same time, the agency said it is not known why Lyrica works. It also said that not everyone who took the drug was helped. Lyrica causes side-effects in some patients, including problems with mental concentration and attention.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25