Cartoon of Nobel price winner professor Rita Levi-Montalcini who discovered the mechanism of action of PEA. In 1992 she pointed out the relevance of PEA for medicine and since then more than 300 scientific papers on PEA have been published.
I just found out about this food based supplement, Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), from Europe that has been successful with neurological pain and complex pain syndromes.
“These include peripheral neuropathies such as diabetic neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatic pain, osteoarthritis, low-back pain, failed back surgery syndrome, dental pains, neuropathic pain in stroke and multiple sclerosis, chronic pelvic pain, postherpetic neuralgia, and vaginal pains. Probably due to the fact that PEA is an endogenous modulator as well as a compound in food, such as eggs and milk, no serious side effects have been reported, nor have drug–drug interactions.” -Jan M Keppel Hesselink, Thecla AM Hekker
Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Bosch en Duin, Netherlands
Here is a good overview paper with many conditions studied:
http://www.thblack.com/links/RSD/OpenPainJ2012_5_12_RoledOfPEAinPainControl-11p.pdf
This is from the Abstract:
Therapeutic utility of palmitoylethanolamide in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with various pathological conditions: a case series.
http://www.dovepress.com/therapeutic-utility-of-palmitoylethanolamide-in-the-treatment-of-neuro-peer-reviewed-article-JPR-recommendation1
