Finding the best fibromyalgia medication

To date, there is no identified cause or cure for fibromyalgia. This syndrome consists of a cluster of symptoms including moderate to intense pain in trigger points on the body, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, depression,lowered immune system, inability to concentrate, anxiety, and peripheral neuropathy – a condition that causes burning ,aching and twitches in the hands and feet. For most patients,medications for fibromyalgia do bring about symptom relief . A few times the only way to determine if a medication will help relieve fibromyalgia symptoms is by trial and error by the treating physician. If it works, then use it! but if it does not, try something else until symptom relief is obtained.

Through years of experimentation, fibromyalgia medication has been fairly standardized. A few medicines are considered as mainstream treatments, and some are still very hotly debated. Normally,the last word rests with the patient unless a certain medication is contraindicated due to drug interactions and drugs that may provide temporary relief but actually harm the patient in the long run.

Fibromyalgia Medication That Works

Finding the right fibromyalgia pain medication for the right patient is difficult, but there are some medications that have shown proven effectiveness in preventing and even relieving fibromyalgia flare-ups. Gabapentin (Neurontin) is a fibromyalgia medication that interrupts pain signals to the brain. It is not a painkiller; rather, it is pain response preventative. On the other hand,Amitriptyline (Elavil) which is an old-style tricyclic antidepressant that, in doses of 50-100 milligrams at night helps to restore deep REM sleep as well as interrupting the signals of chronic pain to the brain.

The antidepressant class of SSRI drugs (Serotonin Selective Re-uptake Inhibitors) like Prozac, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Zoloft, Cymbalta and others are very effective medications for fibromyalgia as they help relieve the depression that almost always accompanies this syndrome. In conjunction with clonazepam (Klonopin), a mild anti-anxiety drug, the debilitating emotional s fibromyalgia symptoms are relieved by these medications.

In the case of acute flare-ups of intense trigger point pain, a physician may prescribe a short-term course of narcotic painkillers to completely interrupt the "pain panic" that most of the times accompanies this symptom. But the use of long-term narcotics is not an effective medication regimen for fibromyalgia. These drugs being highly addictive and in the long run they can create more problems than they solve. As a result, tramadol (Ultram) has,therefore, become a specific fibromyalgia medication . In its painkilling properties,this drug works like a narcotic . However, It is not of the narcotic class. It works on the brain to provide pain relief from trigger point flare-ups, but with none of the addiction problems of the opiate narcotics. Tramadol, combined with klonopin,gabapentin, amitriptyline, and a sleep medication like Lunesta or Ambien CR , work together as very effective medications for the treatment of fibromyalgia.

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