5 ways antidepressants can help with pain relief

While many people are wary of taking them, antidepressants can be very effective for pain relief for certain conditions. Here are five common medical issues that could be helped with antidepressants.

• Antidepressants known as SNRIs are becoming the antidepressants of choice for nerve damage that can occur from diabetes, shingles, sciatica and stroke.
• They work by increasing levels of the brain chemicals serotonin and norepinephrine. These, in turn, appear to help regulate pain, stress responses and the release of glucose for energy.
• Tricyclic antidepressants don't affect nerve pain directly, but may help you sleep better so that you can tolerate your pain more easily.

• Duloxetine and milnacipran are the only two antidepressants approved by the FDA for fibromyalgia.
• Studies also indicate that tricyclics, as well as other antidepressants, can help relieve pain, fatigue and sleeplessness in about 25 percent of fibromyalgia patients.
• Tricyclics appear to work best at relieving a combination of pain, depression and sleeplessness.
• The tricyclic most commonly used for fibromyalgia is amitriptyline, but it can become less effective over time. Doses lower than those used for depression are effective.
• Studies on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) suggest that they improve sleep and well-being and lessen fatigue in some people with fibromyalgia.
• Since sleep and pain seem to be linked in fibromyalgia, improved sleep is critical.

• Depression is common in people with arthritis pain.
• Tricyclic antidepressants and trazodone may help with depression and pain and sleeplessness.

Tricyclics may be helpful in preventing these nasty headaches.

• Tricyclics may help improve sleep, and lessen the intensity and duration of pain in women with chronic pelvic pain.
• In some cases, particularly when depression accompanies the pelvic pain, a combination of tricyclics and SSRIs is used.

Different varieties of antidepressants are recommended for various sources and symptoms of pain. Talk to your doctor to see if you're a candidate for treatment with these drugs.