FRIDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) — Low doses of an inexpensive drug called naltrexone — already used for years to treat drug addiction — helped reduce pain and fatigue in women with the painful disorder fibromyalgia, a new study has found.
“Physicians have been using this off-label for a while,” said study co-author Jarred Younger, an instructor in anesthesia and pain medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings were published online April 17 in the journal Pain Medicine.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic ailment, marked by musculoskeletal pain and sensitivity to being touched. Some experts say it may affect up to 4 percent of the population.
Three prescription drugs are also on the market to treat fibromyalgia, Younger said. But, he added, “the three drugs don’t solve the problem for everyone. Some don’t respond to any of these drugs.”
Younger said he got the idea to study naltrexone after hearing that some other doctors had success with it and after hearing from some members of fibromyalgia support groups that it had worked for them.
While the results of the small study look promising, Younger said it’s too early to recommend the drug until more research is in.
In the study, he gave all 10 women a handheld computer and told them to enter daily reports of pain and other symptoms, describing them all on a scale of not bad to worst. The women were taken off their current fibromyalgia medication, then began to take placebo for two weeks (although they did not know it was placebo). Next they took naltrexone for 8 weeks. They then went through a two-week ”washout” period.
The researchers then evaluated their symptoms. “The drug reduced symptoms by 30 percent compared to placebo,” Younger said. It was a statistically significant difference, he said.
That was an overall result, and the drug worked better for some than others. “Six out of the 10 were strong respondents, with at least a 50 percent reduction in symptoms,” Younger said. It didn’t work for all 10 women, he said, and some did not respond at all.
Naltrexone also seemed to ease certain symptoms more than others. “The drug helped daily pain — the higher levels of pain, fatigue and stress,” Younger said.
One symptom that did not typically improve was “fibro fog,” the foggy thinking associated with the disorder, sleep quality, headaches, gastrointestinal problems and sadness.
Exactly how the drug works is not known for sure, Younger said. One possibility is that naltrexone quiets down a hyperactive immune system, he said.
Younger is continuing the research, and if the good results seen here bear out, naltrexone may be a good alternative for some patients. “It’s a small dose, and we saw very few side effects,” he said. The most typical was vivid dreaming.
Naltrexone has another point in its favor: cost. Doses of the drug, which must be gotten from special “compounding” pharmacies, total about $40 a month, Younger said.
Another expert called the study “fascinating.”
“I was pleased to see that they had such a nice response to the therapy,” said Dr. Patrick Wood, a family medicine physician with a specialty practice in fibromyalgia in Renton, Wash. He serves as medical adviser for the National Fibromyalgia Association.
The study was small, he said, but scientifically sound. If more research is promising, naltrexone may eventually be a competitor to higher-priced fibromyalgia drugs now on the market, Wood said.
More information
To learn more about fibromyalgia, visit the National Fibromyalgia Association.
SOURCES: Jarred Younger, Ph.D., instructor, anesthesia and pain medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif; Patrick Wood, M.D., senior medical adviser, National Fibromyalgia Association, and family medicine physician with a specialty practice in fibromyalgia, Renton, Wash.; April 17, 2009, Pain Medicine, online
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
Last Updated: April 17, 2009
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Comments (8)
I personally think the non-drug method is the nicest way to go if people havent tried it…it’s definitely worth a try first.Electro-acupuncture and TENS can stimulate the painful areas and get the body to produce its’ own healing chemicals: endorphins.You can get both these products at http://www.tensunit.com. or http://www.bodyclock.net
I read about the Stanford study and asked my rheumatologist to prescribe off-label. After he reviewed the material, he did, and in less than 48ours, I felt dramatically better and continue to feel better. As for the price, I pay almost $19 @ month far less than what’s quoted in the article above. Naltrexone carries no disclaimers that I have ben able to find, but if you read about Cymbalta, etc., there are two to three pages of very small print. This works for me, I’m at the end of my third month of use, and I’m very, very happy with the results.
I have been on Low Dose Naltrexone (3mg@bedtime)
for over 2 years and I had contacted Jared awhile back re: his study.
I have been in “remission” for some time now, occaisionally I have a flare up but I’ve done better with LDN than any other medication. I am now a full time Nursing student and my brain fog is gone, I just scored 104 on my Microbiology mid-term so I know this drug works! I also take vitamins and minerals and I try to stick to a healthy diet. I never use artificial sweetners (I’m sure this made it worse, since they are toxic!) I drink alot of Green Tea and filtered water. We also bought a whole house water filter so no more Chlorine or flouride to ruin the water! This affected my Hypothyroidism more than the Fibro but it’s a positive in every way.
I pay $48 for #90 pills at Walgreens.
I am always amazed at people who do not have the disease like Fibromyalgia can defend a treatment that is getting better than good results by trying to suggest a Tens unit will solve a 24 hour a day haunting pain like Fibro. If it wasn’t so sad I would think it was funny.
Do you think that anyone with FM hasn’t already purchased one or two.
Give me a break. I have two.
I just was turned down by The UT Med Center Rhumatology To access the Low Dose Naltrexose. I have had 4 specialties turn me down.
Anyone know a Doc in Houston?
One thing I have noticed in all your content and I thought I’d give you a compliment on is how great your writing and spelling are. Where did you learn to write so good? It looks like you have a degree in English from a University.
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I’m quite certain I will learn plenty of new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
cymbalta has helped me for over 2 yrs now
This is good news unless the FDA decides to grant a special temporary patent for Naltrexone to a pharmaceutical company in exchange for an agreement to do research. Think something like that couldn’t possibly happen under existing law? Look up a drug called Colchicine. It was a generic long before the FDA even existed. It’s not a generic now. It’s $4.00 a pill.