Lidocaine injections may help relieve fibromyalgia pain. A new study found that injections into peripheral tissues substantially reduced pain.
Fibromyalgia is a painful condition in which a person suffers pain all over the body. The pain may be chronic, consistent, and may come in stabs or bursts, which makes it even more difficult to bear. This is a difficult condition to diagnose as well as treat. For a patient suffering from the stabbing bursts of chronic pain, going to work may become not just difficult, but impossible.
In a new study, researchers found that when Lidocaine was injected directly into the muscles of the shoulders or buttocks, there was substantially reduced sensitivity to pain. Usually, persons who suffer from fibromyalgia are prescribed over-the-counter painkillers, which do not always do much to help control the chronic pain. The Lidocaine injections, however, seemed to help patients manage pain better.
Understanding how fibromyalgia progresses and developing ways to manage the condition painlessly is an ongoing process, and there is substantial research being conducted in this field. In this particular study, 62 women who suffered from fibromyalgia received four injections of Lidocaine in certain muscles in the shoulders and buttocks. A control group was given saline injections. The researchers found that the women who received the Lidocaine injections had a better pain threshold and were able to tolerate the pain better, compared to those who received the saline injections.
Although the Social Security Administration does not have a separate disability listing for fibromyalgia, persons who suffer from such chronic pain, may apply for benefits because of their impaired and restricted ability to work. The pain must be chronic and widespread, and there must be no other diseases that could cause the pain. If you suffer from debilitating pain as a result of fibromyalgia, speak to Houston disability attorney M. Stanley Whitehead about your options for disability benefits.
