Your Pain in Lower Back May Be Relieved With Depression Drug Cymbalta
|Cymbalta, a well known depression drug may help relieve chronic back pain. Two studies were funded by the Eli Lily, the company that makes the drug. 1/3 of the participants reported their pain in lower back was cut in half after 13 weeks compared to the placebo. Dizziness and vomiting were some side effects that were reported.
Medical Updates
Depression Drug May Help Reduce Back Pain
Published: Tuesday, 2 September 2008
If you haven’t already, the odds are you will at some point experience back pain. It is no fun. Now, there is evidence that the well-known drug approved to treat depression, Cymbalta, may help ease chronic back pain. Almost everyone will experience back pain for some reason and it may interfere with work, common daily activities, exercise, or extra curricular activities. It seems the more options to prevent back pain the better, especially since some treatments deliver different results for each patient. What works for one may not work for the other.
Cymbalta is currently approved by the FDA to treat major depression disorder (MDD), but recently Eli Lily and Company, the company that makes Cymbalta, filed an application with the FDA, to allow the drug to be prescribed for the management of chronic back pain. The drug maximizes serotonin and norepinephrine, which are two messenger chemicals in the brain.
Eli Lily recently funded a couple of studies testing the use of Cymbalta as a treatment for chronic back pain. One of the studies proved effective on relieving chronic back pain in patients who were prescribed 60-120 milligrams of Cymbalta. There were 236 adults suffering with chronic back pain who participated in the study. They did not suffer from depression. Some of the participants were prescribed Cymbalta and others were given a placebo once daily for 13 weeks. Almost a third of the group who took Cymbalta reported their lower back pain was cut in half after the trial. Some side effects did occur during the study, but they were all compatible with side effects from Cymbalta.
Back pain affects both men and women alike usually between 30 and 50, most often because of aging, but also because of too little or too much exercise.
Below Are Tips To Help Avoid Back Pain:
- Always stretch before strenuous activities, including exercise.
- After prolonged inactivity, try to add exercise into your daily routine gradually.
- Try Yoga as a way to strengthen and stretch muscles.
- Use good posture when sitting or standing.
- Work surfaces should be at a comfortable height.
- Use a chair with good lumbar support and don’t sit for real long periods of time without occasional walks to loosen muscles and relieve tension.
- No High Heels! Wear comfortable shoes.
- Sleep on a firm surface and on your side if possible.
- Try to avoid lifting heavy objects, including family members from a reclining or sitting position. If you can’t avoid lifting heavy objects, lift with your knees keeping the object close to your body and avoid twisting while lifting.
- Try to maintain a healthy weight, especially avoiding weight gain around your waist.
- To promote new bone growth, eat as much Calcium, Phosphorus, and vitamin D as possible.
- No smoking, It reduces the blood flow to the lower spine and can cause discs in the spine to degenerate.
Though Cymbalta may cause some side effects, such as dizziness and vomiting, those side effects may seem minimal to chronic back pain sufferers, with pain that prevents them from enjoying everyday life. The study that showed some promising results of Cymbalta relieving back pain was presented recently at the 12th Congress of the European Federation of the Neurological Sciences in Madrid.
http://www.healthnews.com/medical-updates/depression-drug-may-help-reduce-back-pain-1696.html
