Melatonin Effective In Treating Fibromyalgia Pain

New findings published in the BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology journal indicate that melatonin significantly reduced pain symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia. This research also found that melatonin appeared to effectively reduce pain associated with fibromyalgia when used alone or when combined with the antidepressant amitriptyline (Elavil).

How’d They Do That?

Until now, little research demonstrating the effectiveness of melatonin when treating fibroma has been conducted. When conducting this study, researchers divided confirmed fibromyalgia patients into three groups; a group receiving amitriptyline, a group receiving 10 mg of melatonin before going to sleep, and a third group that received both the amitriptyline and melatonin.

After six weeks, and when asked to rate pain on a scale of 0 to 10, patients reported that melatonin group and the melatonin/amitriptyline group reported less pain symptoms than the group receiving just amitriptyline. Of particular interest is the finding that the melatonin/amitriptyline group appears to have had the highest amount of decreased pain symptoms.

What Does This Mean For Me?

These findings offer great possibility for the nearly 3 million patients suffering from patients suffering from fibromyalgia each year. With no current known cure, fibromyalgia can last months, years, or even a lifetime. The condition causes muscle tenderness, muscle stiffness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and mental fatigue and affects roughly 8-10 times more women than men.

Considering that sleep disturbances are one of the most common reported symptoms of fibromyalgia, researchers studying the role of the hormone melatonin are testing to see how effective it is in returning the body’s circadian rhythm to normal function. Melatonin has also been associated with improvement in various types of chronic, long-term pain like inflammation. Researchers are hoping to further demonstrate that melatonin increases the effectiveness and function of the body’s natural pain modulating systems.

Although further research is needed, researchers are hopeful that melatonin might be a better, more effective treatment option than what currently exists.