Conditions: Pelvis Pain Chronic
Keywords: Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) Pelvic Pain
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 34
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study is examining the effectiveness of duloxetine as a treatment for chronic pelvic pain in women. Duloxetine is FDA approved for the treatment of other pain conditions, including fibromyalgia and diabetic neuropathy.

Detailed description:
Chronic pelvic pain in women can be caused by various pathologies, such as endometriosis, fibroids, and adhesions. Surgical treatment of the pathology often relieves the pain, but a significant number of women continue to have pain, even after visibly successful surgery. One model explored in this study is that in some cases of chronic pelvic pain, the central nervous system has changed in its processing of pain-related signals, requiring a therapy directed to the Central Nervous System (CNS) to effectively treat the pain. This model has been supported in studies of other chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia and migraine. This study will seek to determine whether the analgesic effectiveness of duloxetine is related to the pain state of the individual.

Arms:
arm 1: A pill that looks like the active drug, but does not contain any active ingredients. arm 2: The drug, Duloxetine, is marketed under the trade name Cymbalta. It is a serotonergic and noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor (SNRI).

Interventions: intervention 1: Duloxetine intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 30 mg dose once daily, administered orally for 1 week, 60 mg dose once daily, administered orally for 5 weeks, 30 mg dose once daily, administered orally for 1 week intervention 2: To serve as placebo for duloxetine. Administration schedule same as for active drug.

Protocol document: