Drug Combo May Offer Best Relief for Nerve Pain

People with nerve pain respond better to a combination treatment using the anticonvulsant gabapentin and antidepressant nortriptyline than to treatment with either drug alone, according to Canadian researchers.

The study findings suggest that combination treatment could be used to help people who only partially respond to one drug or the other.

Nerve, or neuropathic, pain -- which affects 2 to 3 percent of the population -- is "initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system," according to a news release from The Lancet, which is publishing the study online Sept. 29. Conditions that cause neuropathic pain include nerve problems in the spine, diabetes-related nerve damage and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is nerve pain caused by the varicella zoster virus that can follow an outbreak of shingles.

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Gabapentin (Neurontin) Eases Chronic Pain in Fibromyalgia

For treating the chronic pain and other symptoms of fibromyalgia, the anticonvulsant gabapentin (Neurontin) proved safe and effective, researchers here reported.

In a 12-week randomized, double-blind clinical trial, patients taking gabapentin displayed significantly less pain, better sleep, and less fatigue than placebo controls, Lesley M. Arnold, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues reported in the April issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism.

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