Snipped from SciAm.com.

New studies have revealed interesting actions for antidepressants. They may be an effective pain killer for a mysterious, debilitating disease that can be almost impossible to diagnose, treat and even understand. Fibromyalgia is a very controversial diagnosis that is almost purely subjective considering there are no known tests, measures or scans to reveal the disease’s existence. The one’s who accept its existence are more likely to consider it a spectrum disorder, rather than a specific condition.

This disease can present itself differently depending on the person that it afflicts and can be very hard to manage. Many, up to 12 million people, are likely to describe it as pain of no known origin that can disrupt their ability to work, complete daily activities and psychological well being. There have been all kinds of treatments for the pain including anti-seizures, cox-2 inhibitors, dopamine agonists but many are not effective. Fortunately, antidepressants are starting to show more marked results than expected.

And for you all out there that come to the conclusion that they are just depressed, you are wrong. The drugs are used in a way that treats pain, not depression.

Here is a small portion of the article:

German researchers reviewed findings from 18 clinical trials (involving a total of 1,427 people in North America, South America and Europe) on the effect of antidepressants in relieving symptoms of fibromyalgia. Trial participants were given a drug from one of four classes of antidepressant drugs—tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants (TCA’s), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI’s), and serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRI’s).

“All classes of antidepressants had substantial effects on pain [but] we found differences between the classes of antidepressants on other key symptoms of FMS such as sleep disturbances, fatigue and depressed mood,” says lead study author Winfried Häuser, an internist at Klinikum Saarbrücken, a hospital in Germany.

For example, SSRI’s (such as Prozac) significantly reduced pain and lightened depression, but did not relieve fatigue or sleep disturbances, whereas SNRI’s (such as Cymbalta) helped with pain, sleep disturbances and the blues, although they did not perk up the weary. TCA’s (such as Vanatrip) helped alleviate pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances, but MAOI’s (such as Manerix) only seemed to help with pain.

“This is a major advance,” says Arnold. “We are trying to identify new treatments for fibromyalgia and raise awareness for this disease.”

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