Sodium Oxybate May Help With Pain And Fatigue
Previous evidence-of-concept studies have shown that sodium oxybate can minimize pain and fatigue in patients, and provide polysomnographic improvement in sleep compared to placebo. A large-scale, multi-year cohort research on the health effects of sodium oxybate in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, and associated quality of life.
A randomized double-blind sodium oxybate trial studied the treatment in 548 patients with the condition. Patients got either a placebo or a combination of the two medications, either as a single 1 mg or 2 mg daily dose, or both.
Of the 147 patients completing the study, 52 took placebo, 51 took 4.5 grams daily, 44 took 6 grams daily and 51 took 4-5 grams daily. Of the 334 patients who completed this study, all reported pain decrease within the first week of the study. The researchers removed all other drugs used to treat their symptoms as soon as the study participants began taking their medicine.
In certain cases, Dr Russell said the medication induced nausea and dizziness, an effect that increased as the dosage of sodium oxybate increased but there were no unexpected side effects recorded.
