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Many antidepressants, particularly tricyclics and even some serotonin reuptake inhibitors, relieve neuropathic pain from, for example, diabetic neuropathy or sciatica. In a double-blind, crossover study, researchers randomized 41 nondepressed patients with chronic pain (46 percent male; mean age, 60) to receive placebo or 150 mg of sustained-release bupropion (a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) twice daily for 6 weeks. The patients had experienced pain symptoms for at least 3 months (median duration, 4 years). At least half of the patients had previously received other antidepressants or anticonvulsants, and most (18) had stopped treatment because of lack of efficacy or adverse effects.
While on bupropion, 73 percent of patients reported i…