European journal of pain : EJP
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Migraine is a common headache disorder that can vary menstrually in women and has been linked to an impairment of endogenous pain inhibitory systems. One of these endogenous pain inhibitory systems, namely conditioned pain modulation (CPM; formerly diffuse noxious inhibitory controls-like), has been shown to be affected by the menstrual cycle. The aim of this study was to examine CPM over the menstrual cycle in migraineurs and healthy controls. ⋯ Our findings suggest that CPM inhibition is not altered in female migraineurs; thus, it is questionable whether CPM really plays a role in the development of migraine or whether migraine leads to a dysfunctional CPM inhibition.
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Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2 ) therapy can produce analgesia in patients experiencing various conditions of chronic pain. Previously, we reported that naloxone antagonized the acute antinociceptive effect of both brief (11 min) and longer (60 min) HBO2 treatments. This implied a possible role for opioid receptors in the antinociceptive effects of HBO2 . ⋯ These results demonstrated that both μ- and κ-opioid receptors are involved in mediation of the acute antinociceptive response to HBO2 .
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Analgesic and anti-hyperalgesic effects of muscle injections with lidocaine or saline in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.
Patients with musculoskeletal pain syndrome including fibromyalgia (FM) complain of chronic pain from deep tissues including muscles. Previous research suggests the relevance of impulse input from deep tissues for clinical FM pain. We hypothesized that blocking abnormal impulse input with intramuscular lidocaine would decrease primary and secondary hyperalgesia and FM patients' clinical pain. ⋯ These results suggest that muscle injections can reliably reduce clinical FM pain, and that peripheral impulse input is required for the maintenance of mechanical and heat hyperalgesia of patients with FM. Whereas the effects of muscle injections on hyperalgesia were greater for lidocaine than saline, the effects on clinical pain were similar for both injectates.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Ecological momentary assessment for chronic pain in fibromyalgia using a smartphone: a randomized crossover study.
Daily diaries are a useful way of measuring fluctuations in pain-related symptoms. However, traditional diaries do not assure the gathering of data in real time, not solving the problem of retrospective assessment. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) by means of electronic diaries helps to improve repeated assessment. However, it is important to test its feasibility in specific populations in order to reach a wider number of people who could benefit from these procedures. ⋯ The findings of this study support the use of smartphones for EMA even in specific populations with a specific pain condition, fibromyalgia and with low familiarity with technology. These methods could help clinicians and researchers to gather more accurate ratings of relevant pain-related variables even in populations with low familiarity with technology.