Use of stimulants for cfs

[forestglip]

Ok. So some meds fall into the category 'they work but we don't know how or why'?

Yes. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of examples off the top of my head. But for example, they don't really know how SSRIs work for depression (if they actually work at all and it's not placebo).

Wikipedia

Owing to the lack of a widely accepted comprehensive theory of the biology of mood disorders, there is no widely accepted theory of how these changes lead to the mood-elevating and anti-anxiety effects of SSRIs.

Another example is general anesthesia:

General anesthetics are very potent and effective in transiently inhibiting neuronal communication (6). However, despite their widespread use, the mechanisms of their anesthetic action are not fully understood. Based on the studies published over the last few decades, it appears that there are specific cellular targets through which general anesthetics act (7). In general, enhancement of inhibitory synaptic transmission and/or inhibition of excitatory synaptic transmission have been reported. [...]

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Yes. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of examples off the top of my head.

Aha! It is easier being a rheumatologist. Drugs that have been used for RA without knowing why they work:

Gold
Penicillamine
Chloroquine
Sulphasalazine
Aspirin until John Vane
Azathioprine
Methotrexate
Cyclophosphamide
Leflunomide

In fact everything until TNF and Il-6 inhibitors and rituximab in the 1990s.