Fibromyalgia is a mysterious condition that is estimated to affect nearly 5 million Americans. Curiously, it affects mostly middle-aged women. The symptoms of fibromyalgia are body tenderness, pain, sleeplessness, muscle pain, and exhaustion. Little things, such as fabric touching the skin, can cause pain in patients with the disorder. Unfortunately, doctors are unaware of what causes the condition and are also at a loss when it comes to treating and curing the disorder.

Due to the lack of information about the condition, doctors usually treat separate symptoms, such as using painkillers and muscle relaxers for pain, sleeping pills for sleeplessness, and therapy for stress. A healthy diet and exercise are also highly recommended for those with the condition. Recently a drug called Lyrica has been approved for fibromyalgia treatment.

A new report has found that certain antidepressants are helpful for those suffering from fibromyalgia. The report was led by German researcher Winfried Hauser and was funded by grants from various associations, such as the German Research Network on Neuropathic pain, the University of Wurzburg, the German Ministry of Education and Research, the German Rheumatology League, and the German Fibromylgia Association.

The report examined 18 trials involving over 1,400 participants that took many different antidepressants and found that most of them decreased the amount of pain and sleeplessness that patients experienced.

Amitriptyline and duloxetine were especially helpful for fibromyalgia. The drug with the most data available was duloxetine and the drug with the biggest effect for pain was amitriptyline. Older generic drugs, such as tetracyclic and tricyclic antidepressants, seemed to reduce pain more than newer drugs. Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Paxil, a class of antidepressants known as SSRIs, did not offer pain relief due to one of the brain chemicals not being affected by the drugs.

This research is not the first research on antidepressants for fibromyalgia. It is becoming quite common for doctors to recommend antidepressants for the condition. For reasons unknown, antidepressants seem to curb the pain associated with fibromyalgia and offer relief from suffering for those who have mysteriously found themselves battling the condition.