By Mary Elizabeth Dallas
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Aug. 5, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The pain of fibromyalgia might be eased with injections of the painkiller lidocaine, a new study suggests.
People with fibromyalgia complain of chronic pain
throughout their body as well as an increased sensitivity to pain.
Doctors often have trouble treating this pain because it's unclear what
causes it, the study authors noted.
In the new study, injecting lidocaine into
peripheral tissues -- such as the muscles in the shoulders or buttocks
-- effectively reduced pain sensitivity, the researchers found.
"We hypothesized that if pain comes from the
peripheral tissues, and we can take this pain away by injecting local
anesthetics, then this would be indirect proof of the importance of
peripheral tissues for the clinical pain of these individuals," study
lead author Dr. Roland Staud, a professor of medicine at the University
of Florida College of Medicine, said in a university news release.
"Over-the-counter medications and [narcotic]
prescriptions such as opiates aren't really effective for controlling
chronic pain conditions," he added. But with the new therapy, "we are
able to explain the pain of chronic patients better and manage it
better," Staud said. "We are making progress but it will take time."
The study involved 62 women with fibromyalgia. Each
woman received four injections: two in certain muscles in their
shoulders and two more in their buttocks. Some of the women received
lidocaine injections, while a "control group" received saline
injections.
Right before the injections were given and 30
minutes afterwards, the women received mild pain stimulations delivered
through mechanical means or through heat.
Compared to "dummy" saline injections, the lidocaine
significantly eased the women's sensitivity to pain, according to the
study published recently in the European Journal of Pain.
The researchers noted, however, that both lidocaine and the placebo resulted in a 38 percent reduction in pain at or near the point of injury.
But chronic pain affects the body differently than a
specific injury, like a broken leg, the study authors pointed out.
Chronic pain, they explained, actually alters nerve function along the
spinal cord.
"The best way to treat chronic pain conditions is . .
. [by] looking at emotional, sensory and tissue damage,"
Michael
Robinson, director of the University of Florida Center for Pain Research
and Behavioral Health, said in a university news release. "We know
there are central and peripheral and social and behavioral components to
someone saying, 'Ow, it hurts.'"
Cancer
survivors who experience pain, for example, may associate it with their
disease and fears about their prognosis -- even if it's been treated
and in remission.
"That sensation may well feel more painful than if they just thought it was a tweaked muscle," Robinson explained.
Two experts in fibromyalgia were unsure about the significance of the findings, however.
"There was no significant difference between the pain
reduction in the placebo versus the treatment group -- this signifies
that it does not matter what the injection product is, but the act of
injection itself might be the cause of pain reduction," said Dr. Waseem
Mir, a rheumatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
"One
can then argue that the pain reduction was placebo," he said. "To
examine the placebo point, another arm in the experiment might need to
be introduced where patients are not getting injected but taking a
placebo pill."
Dr. Houman Danesh is director of
integrative pain management at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He
said that "fibromyalgia is a complex disorder where patients are more
sensitive to pain.
It is mainly diagnosed by a rheumatologist by
touching 18 diagnostic pressure points, and if 11 of them are sensitive,
then the diagnosis is made," he explained.
"This
study offers insight as to a potential contributor to fibromyalgia and a
possible treatment," Danesh said.
"It is interesting to note that the
points which were used were acupuncture points, therefore suggesting acupuncture as a possible treatment to help patients with fibromyalgia."
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