• Samy Metyas, Christina L Chen, Karen Yeter, John Solyman, and Daniel G Arkfeld.
• Rheumatology, University of Southern California - Keck School of Medicine, Covina, United States.
• Curr Rheumatol Rev. 2018 Jan 1; 14 (2): 177-180.

BackgroundConclusionFibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and cognitive impairment.ObjectiveA significant number of fibromyalgia patients do not respond adequately to the current drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for fibromyalgia treatment including pregabalin, milnacipran, duloxetine. Thus, there is still a need for adjunctive therapies.MethodNaltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist used to treat alcohol and opioid dependence. It is hypothesized that low dose naltrexone causes transient blockade of opioid receptors centrally resulting in a rebound of endorphin function which may attenuate pain in fibromyalgia.ResultsTwo small prospective pilot studies have previously shown that treatment with low dose naltrexone may be an effective, safe, and inexpensive treatment for fibromyalgia.ConclusionThis prospective study lends further support to the preliminary body of evidence that naltrexone is a well tolerated and likely effective treatment option in the community setting. Further large prospective controlled trials are still needed.Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

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