2019-05-03 14:38:32
Neuropathic pain is a consequence of damage to the central nervous system (CNS), for example, cerebrovascular accident, multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury, or peripheral nervous system (PNS), for example, painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN), postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), or surgery (1). Evidence suggests that people suffering from neuropathic pain are likely to seek alternative modes of pain relief such as herbal medicinal products due to adverse events brought about by current pharmacological agents used to treat neuropathic pain. This review examined studies in which participants were treated with herbal medicinal products (topically or ingested) who had experienced neuropathic pain for at least three months to assess their efficacy. The authors included 2 studies, testing two herbal medicinal products, namely nutmeg (applied topically as a 125 mL spray for four weeks, containing mace oil 2%, nutmeg oil 14%, methyl salicylate 6%, menthol 6%, coconut oil and alcohol) and St John’s wort (taken in capsule form containing 900 μg total hypericin each, taken three times daily, giving a total concentration of 2700 mg for five weeks). The authors conclude there was insufficient evidence to determine whether nutmeg or St John’s wort has any meaningful efficacy in neuropathic pain conditions. The quality of the current evidence raises serious uncertainties about the estimates of effect observed, therefore, they have very little confidence in the effect estimate; the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect.
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- Boyd A, et al. Herbal medicinal products or preparations for neuropathic pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019;4:CD010528.
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