UF researchers to study new fibromyalgia pain medications

Current treatments do little to relieve the constant, intense pain suffered by an estimated 6 to 12 million Americans with fibromyalgia. UF researchers hope to change that.

The Arthritis Foundation has awarded them a $225,000 grant to study new medications to treat the excruciating pain caused by the puzzling disorder, which affects up to 10 percent of the population, mainly women of childbearing age.

“In these patients, pain is very long-lasting or it never goes away, and their pain sensations are very frequently worsened by physical activity,” said Dr. Roland Staud, an associate professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology and clinical immunology at UF’s College of Medicine. The disorder can be so severe that some patients are unable to walk or leave their homes, he said.

Researchers will track as many as 40 patients during the three-month study, evaluating the amount of pain they usually experience, as well as their responses to experimental skin and muscle stimulation, including mild heat and cold. Study participants will be randomly assigned to receive either study medications or placebos. They also will undergo psychological testing, and their sleep and physical activity patterns will be evaluated.

Staud is collaborating with Donald Price, a professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at UF, and Charles Vierck, a professor of Neuroscience and director of the Center for Neurobiological Sciences at UF’s Brain Institute. The research team includes other UF scientists from a variety of specialties. The study is an extension of related research they are conducting through a National Institutes of Health grant.

“This is part of our long-term efforts to shed some light on this disease,” Staud said. “We want to ease the suffering of our patients and find better ways to improve their lives.”