Güler, Nalan Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , Kaptanoğlu, Ece Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , Şahin, Özlem Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , Hizmetli, Sami Cumhuriyet University - Medical Faculty - Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , Elden, Hasan Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Turkey

The effectiveness of gabapentine in female patients with fibromyalgia

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Aim. We aimed to search the effectiveness of gabapentin in the treatment of female fibromyalgia patients. Methods. Seventy-five female fibromyalgia patients were included in the study. The patients were randomly assigned to three groups. First group was given gabapentin (1200-2400 mg/day); second group was given amytriptyline (25 mg/day) and the third group was given placebo. Patients were evaluated before and after the 12th week of the treatment by the same doctor. Number of the tender points were counted, VAS for pain, fatigue and morning stiffness were evaluated, and Beck Depression Scale (BDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) were given to the patients. Results. Considering the results at the 12th week, the improvement in fatigue, morning stiffness, tender point count, PSQI and FIQ were statistically significant in all of the groups (p 0.05). There was improvement in BDS in amytriptyline group (p 0.05), and pain in gabapetin and placebo groups (p 0.05). On comparing the groups, there was a difference in fatigue on behalf of gabapentin (p 0,05) and there was a significant difference between amytriptyline and placebo in PSQI values (p 0,05). Other parameters were comparable in all of the groups. Conclusions. Gabapentin and amytriptyline were found to be favourable regarding fatigue and pain, and depression and PSQI, respectively. Unfortunately, although there were statistically significant improvements after the treatment the overall impacts were not satisfactory. Gabapentin was found to be as effective as amytriptyline,which is still the gold standart treatment of FMS, however this effect was not different from that of placebo. Our study revealed that the effect of amytriptyline in fibromyalgia is questionable and gabapentin seems far away from meeting the needs for giving up searching new treatment modalities in FMS.

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Gabapentin , amytriptyline , fibromyalgia syndrome

Cumhuriyet Medical Journal

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