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Old 12-16-2006, 04:56 PM
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ZucchiniFlower ZucchiniFlower is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
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ZucchiniFlower ZucchiniFlower is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 782
15 yr Member
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In reading about the anti-pain effects of anti-convulsive drugs, I found a pain article that said that anti-depressants are also effective pain killers, and not just neuropathic pain.

I began taking a tricyclic, doxepin, to help me with joint and muscle pain, and it does help me alot, and also helps me sleep well. It was being studied at the time as a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. I've been taking it for about 20 years and am afraid to stop it, so azilect isn't an option for me now.

Forgot to add that doxepin is good vs itching, too, and I had a problem of being itchy (having nothing to do with dry skin!), a neurological kind of itching. I take four doses throughout the day instead of one dose at night. It has antihistamine properties. Substance P may be the cause of my itching: (Vol. 286, Issue 3, 1140-1145, September 1998
Substance P Induction of Itch-Associated Response Mediated by Cutaneous NK1 Tachykinin Receptors in Mice).

Way back then, when I first had fibromyalgia symptoms, I also had raynaud's syndrome along with discoid lupus, an autoimmune disorder. It's interesting the people with fibromyalgia have high level of substance P in their cerebral spinal fluid. And substance P is low in PD brains. And high in spinal fluid of very depressed people. Anyway, this article suggests that substance P may be the cause of raynaud's which I hadn't read before:

Elevated CSF levels of substance P and high incidence of Raynaud phenomenon in patients with fibromyalgia: new features for diagnosis.

In 30 patients with diagnosed fibromyalgia, the CSF level of immunoreactive substance P (SP) was investigated. Compared to normal values (9.6 +/- 3.2 fmol/ml), all the patients had elevated CSF levels of SP (36.1 +/- 2.7 fmol/ml, range 16.5-79.1 fmol/ml). Anamnestic information from the patients revealed that 53.3% had Raynaud/Raynaud-like phenomenon localized in the fingers, the toes or both. Although SP levels did not differ significantly in patients with or without the Raynaud phenomenon, elevated activity may be present in the peripheral branches of SP neurons which could be responsible for the last (rubor) phase of the triphasic Raynaud's phenomenon. ...

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Also found this interesting:

Chronic fatigue syndrome differs from fibromyalgia. No evidence for elevated substance P levels in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Levels of substance P were determined in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 15 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). All values were within normal range. This is in contrast to fibromyalgia (FM). The majority of patients with FM have increased substance P values in the CSF. The results support the notion that FM and CFS are different disorders in spite of overlapping symptomatology.

Last edited by ZucchiniFlower; 12-16-2006 at 10:25 PM.
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