In a new study, researchers found that treating insulin resistance could strongly reduce the pain of fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is one of the most common conditions causing chronic pain and disability.
This new finding may improve the way that chronic pain can be detected and managed.
The research was led by a team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
People with fibromyalgia usually experience widespread muscle pain and tenderness.
The pain areas include the muscles, abdomen, back, and neck. The pain feelings can be chronic, diffuse, sharp, or severe.
In addition, patients may experience fatigue, sleep problems, mood disorders, morning stiffness, headaches, swelling in hands and feet, gut problems, and restless legs syndrome.
Currently, there’s no specific diagnostics or therapies for this disease other than pain-reducing drugs.
Previous studies have found that insulin resistance causes dysfunction within the brain’s small blood vessels.
This issue is also present in fibromyalgia.
In the current study, the team found that a common blood test for insulin resistance, or pre-diabetes, could separate patients with fibromyalgia from healthy people.
After that, they treated the fibromyalgia patients with a common drug (metformin) targeting insulin resistance and strongly reduced their pain.
The finding suggests that most patients with fibromyalgia can be identified by their A1c levels.
In addition, pre-diabetics with slightly increased A1c values carry a higher risk of developing central (brain) pain. This is a hallmark of fibromyalgia and other chronic pain disorders.
The team believes the findings may lead to a revolutionary shift in how fibromyalgia and related forms of chronic pain are treated.
The new approach may help save billions of dollars to the health care system and decrease many peoples’ dependence on opiates for pain management.
One author of the study is Dr. Miguel Pappolla, UTMB professor of neurology.
The study is published in PLOS ONE.
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