Background/Purpose: We asked patients with fibromyalgia to rank the effectiveness of medications they have tried.

Methods: In a rheumatology office practice, 95 patients (mean age 50.5) who met the 2010 ACR criteria for fibromyalgia (88 females and seven males) completed an in-office questionnaire regarding the effectiveness of various medications used to treat fibromyalgia. The medications included pregabalin, gabapentin, duloxetine, various muscle relaxants, sleep aids, stimulants, pain medications, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines. Patients rated the medications on a 1 to 4 scale from not helpful to very helpful.  

 Results:   See tables

Conclusion:   There were much higher effectiveness results for pain medications, sleeping aids, stimulants, muscle relaxants, and anti-inflammatory drugs than for pregabalin and duloxetine, which are both FDA-approved medications.

Fibromyalgia patients in this office survey concluded that the FDA approved medications for fibromyalgia were ineffective compared with other medications tried for this disorder.