Fibromyalgia Doc Recommends Two Different Drugs

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
In an interview with Donna regarding her latest book, Dr. Ginerva Liptan talks about two of the more unusual drugs she uses. I find the memantine comment very interesting - memantine is a microglia inhibitor :)

I didn't know that Nucynta was a upgrade of Tramadol...stronger but with fewer side effects ;)

http://fedupwithfatigue.com/ginevra-liptan-interview/

  • Tapentadol (Nucynta) is a relatively new medication that is similar to tramadol (Ultram) but stronger and with less risk of side effects. Although tapentadol has not been specifically studied for fibromyalgia pain, studies have found tapentadol effective for other types of chronic musculoskeletal pain. I have found this medication to be one of the most helpful fibromyalgia pain relievers. It acts both on the opiate receptors to reduce pain, but also increases norepinephrine and serotonin levels in the brain (similar to how Cymbalta works). Its effects are like a combination of oxycodone plus duloxetine (Cymbalta).
  • Memantine (Namenda) is a medication that has been approved to treat Alzheimer’s dementia, but also improves fibromyalgia pain by calming down hyperactive pain signals in the spinal cord. One study found that memantine reduced pain in fibromyalgia over a period of six months, and subjects also reported improved cognitive functioning, which makes sense since the original purpose of the drug was to recover brain function in dementia. Quite a few patients of mine have registered significant pain reduction on memantine.
 

Who Me?

Well-Known Member
@Cort I know @Strike me lucky has talked about memantine previously. I tried it and even half a dose, I think it was 5 or 2.5 mgs caused horrible fog. I think he said it's an NMDA agonist so helps with benzo tolerance. But don't quote me.
 

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