Effects of a paracetamol and tramadol fixed-dose combination on pain, asthenia, cognitive disorders and sleep quality in fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex syndrome associated with a wide range of symptoms such as as-thenia, sleep disturbance and cognitive disorders, that frequently lead to wrong diagnoses and pointless tests or examinations. We focused our attention on a fixed combination of tramadol 37.5 mg + paracetamol 325 mg in a retrospective observational study on sixty-nine consecutive outpatients. An improvement in pain was observed in almost all patients , with a statistically significant reduction in VAS (8.1 vs. 5.5; p<0.001), Evoked Pain Score (2.7 vs. 2.0; p<0.001) and FM-related symptoms. The combined mechanism of action of paracetamol and tramadol are not merely analgesic: they may also provide a "ground-based" approach to FM and can be a valid analgesic treatment as they act on pain and on the associated symptoms