Mike Feehan mike.feehan@btinternet.com

My name is Mike Feehan and I run the website: http://www.arachnoiditis.co.uk I strayed into your website this morning and read one of the articles where Ilena Rose described her rapidly failing health and mentioned both FM and ARC.

Yesterday, in the course of research for another ARC sufferer, I came across the Abstract that I have attached describing a successful trial with Duloxetine for FM sufferers, the link to ARC was a little tenuous, but, nevertheless I downloaded it and I also emailed Dr Arnold suggesting that it may be worthwhile conducted a similar RCT into the benefits of the drug for ARC sufferers. As I don't believe in co-incidences, when I read the article on your site I decided to send it on as the drug may indeed be appropriate for some of the members of your group.

If I can help in any other way please do not hesitate to contact me, but, please be patient as I am not at this machine every day due to my own condition. Right now I am getting pretty jealous of the five or six day old lambs cavorting around in the field opposite our house! Please take a look at the site to see if any of the content would help anybody that you know and if you wish to use any of the articles on your own site please feel free to do so, just let me know first.

I wish you the very best in all your endeavours.

Regards,

Mike Feehan

A randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of duloxetine in the treatment of women with fibromyalgia with or without major depressive disorder.

Arnold LM, Rosen A, Pritchett YL, D'Souza DN, Goldstein DJ, Iyengar S, Wernicke JF.

Women's Health Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45219, USA. lesley.arnold@uc.edu

This was a 12-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of duloxetine, a selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, in 354 female patients with primary fibromyalgia, with or without current major depressive disorder. Patients (90% Caucasian; mean age, 49.6 years; 26% with current major depressive disorder) received duloxetine 60 mg once daily (QD) (N=118), duloxetine 60 mg twice daily (BID) (N=116), or placebo (N=120).

The primary outcome was the Brief Pain Inventory average pain severity score. Response to treatment was defined as >or=30% reduction in this score. Compared with placebo, both duloxetine-treated groups improved significantly more (P<0.001) on the Brief Pain Inventory average pain severity score. A significantly higher percentage of duloxetine-treated patients had a decrease of >or=30% in this score (duloxetine 60 mg QD (55%; P<0.001); duloxetine 60 mg BID (54%; P=0.002); placebo (33%)).

The treatment effect of duloxetine on pain reduction was independent of the effect on mood and the presence of major depressive disorder. Compared with patients on placebo, patients treated with duloxetine 60 mg QD or duloxetine 60 mg BID had significantly greater improvement in remaining Brief Pain Inventory pain severity and interference scores, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Clinical Global Impression of Severity, Patient Global Impression of Improvement, and several quality-of-life measures. Both doses of duloxetine were safely administered and well tolerated. In conclusion, both duloxetine 60 mg QD and duloxetine 60 mg BID were effective and safe in the treatment of fibromyalgia in female patients with or without major depressive disorder.

Publication Types:

• Randomised Controlled Trial

PMID: 16298061 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]