Antidepressant can Relieve Pain Induced by Chemotherapy

A new study has found that common antidepressants can ease the pain related to chemotherapy. Researchers say that patients receiving duloxetine for 5 weeks report a greater reduction in pain compared to patients kept on placebo.

Pain associated with chemotherapy is reported by 20 to 40 percent of the patients. The condition can last from months to years, and there hasn't been a drug that can control the pain.

Duloxetine is used to treat depression and generalized anxiety disorder, according to Medline Plus. The drug is also used to treat pain and tingling sensation in patients who have diabetic neuropathy, ongoing muscle and bone pain related to osteoporosis, etc.

"Treating painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is critical. In some cases, physicians must reduce the patient's chemotherapy dose when the pain becomes too severe. This is not just about improving quality of life by decreasing pain, but potentially it's helping patients live longer because they can get their full chemotherapy treatment," said Ellen M. Lavoie Smith, lead author of the study from the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

"Patients make this trade-off sometimes: They don't want to give up the chemotherapy and decide they'd rather have this pain. That's a terrible trade off to make," Smith added in a news release.

The study included 231 patients who had pain after receiving drugs paclitaxel or oxaliplatin. The patients were then divided into two groups, where one group received duloxetine for 5 weeks while the other got placebo.

Patients on duloxetine not only reported lesser pain from chemotherapy, but also reported better quality of life.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.