Cymbalta For Fibromyalgia

Cymbalta for Fibromyalgia Is Particularly Effective In Women.

Cymbalta is a drug originally developed to treat depression by Lilly pharmaceuticals. Lilly pharmaceutical is a global company that was founded in 1876 by Eli Lilly, a chemist. Lilly pharmaceuticals was responsible for major medical breakthroughs with medication including the antibiotics cephalosporin and erythromycin, insulin and the antidepressant Prozac.. Fibromyalgia is one of those diseases that is not wholly understood by the medical community. Symptoms of fibromyalgia can include widespread pain, sleep disturbances, fatigue, excessive perspiration and depression. The depressive symptoms are what caused doctors to start prescribing Cymbalta.

Then it was found to be effective for fibromyalgia pain. It is particularly effective in women, and for unknown reasons, doesn’t usually work for men. Alternate treatments for fibromyalgia include other antidepressants such as Amitril or Elavil, pain relievers such as Ultram (a non steroidal anti-inflammatory). Anticonvulsant drugs such as Lyrica is used to treat the fatigue caused by the disease. Some people have found success for the fatigue aspect of the disease by taking narcolepsy drugs such as Xyrem or Provigil. A medication similar to Cymbalta called Savella was approved for used in early 2009. There is no medication developed as yet to treat fibromyalgia specifically. All the medications prescribed for it are used to treat it’s many symptoms such as depression, pain and fatigue.

Mirapex which is also used for the pain aspect is made by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory are also used to treat thepain suh as Motrin and Naproysn. Cymbalta is the only antidepressant drug proven to be effective for fibromyalgia symptoms. Cymbalta has relatively few side effects such as dry mouth and constipation which are all easily treatablle and no reason to stop therapy. There are some drugs that interact with Cymbalta such as some cough medicines, MAOI inihibitors, heartburn medication and St. John’s wort.