Two-Drug Combo Lessens Chronic Nerve Pain

In a finding that may bring relief to millions, Canadian researchers say a combination of morphine and the analgesic gabapentin better controls chronic nerve pain than either drug alone, and at lower doses. Chronic neuropathic pain -- which includes both shooting and steady pain, as well as numbness and tingling -- can stem from any number of causes, including diabetes, chemotherapy, viral infections such as shingles or HIV and certain forms of back pain, such as sciatica. Overall, experts estimate that 5 million Americans suffer from this type of chronic pain. People tend to rely on increasingly high doses of sedating medications, including morphine, to dull that pain. Many of those people "would rather have a little more pain than have [the] side effects" that accompany mega-doses, explained study lead researcher Dr. Ian Gilron, of Queens University, in Kingston, Ontario. "However, if you can achieve the same benefit with a lower dose, the potential for decreasing side effects is there," added Dr. Srinivasa Raja, a professor of anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-author of a commentary on the study, published in the March 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.