Ohio State doctors are conducting a study to find out what common allergy medications, antihistamines and antidepressants best help ease symptoms of fibromyalgia, a fatigue-causing ailment.Dr. Kevin Hackshaw, a rheumatologist with 10 years of experience at the Ohio State University Hospitals, said there are hundreds of people in the area who are affected by fibromyalgia and seeking a doctor’s care for it. He also said there are hundreds of others who choose not to enlist the care of a doctor.He is involved in a long-term observational study to help better medicate those with this disorder. As part of a broader funding program by the National Institutes of Health, which is aimed at chronic pain research in general, Hackshaw and others will eventually conduct a controlled experiment to determine which medications best serve to alleviate the pain involved with specific facets of the disorder.”We have patients who suffer from both allergies and fibromyalgia,” Hackshaw said. “When these patients take their allergy medications, many find their fibromyalgia symptoms lessen as well as their allergy symptoms.”Hackshaw said that symptoms are noticeable after a life-altering event, like an accident, a serious sleep disturbance, trauma or illness. He also related the incidence of fibromyalgic pain with fluctuating seratonin levels in an individual. Seratonin is a neurochemical involved in both fibromyalgia and allergies.Paula Marr, 51, of Groveport is a fibromyalgia sufferer. She said that she is forced to deal with intense fatigue and must plan her life accordingly.”I try to pace myself,” Marr said in an interview Thursday evening at OSU Hospitals’ Davis Center. “Some days it’s easier to cope than others… Sometimes I can’t even stand for people to hug me, I’m in so much pain.”Marr, who was diagnosed with the disorder two years ago, said she found out she had it when being tested for arthritis. Marr, who works as a registered nurse, said when tests for arthritis and similar musculoskeletal ailments turn up negative, fibromyalgia is the next usual suspect.Besides fatigue and a generalized feeling of malaise, fibromyalgia sufferers experience musculoskeletal discomfort, pain in the joints, hypersensitivity to hot and cold, swollen lymph nodes and a low-grade fever, in some cases, according to Hackshaw.Hackshaw said that the range of ages affected by fibromyalgia spans from about age nine to 80 and affects 3 to 7 percent of the population. Hackshaw also said the illness is more common in women than in men. The largest age group of sufferers are women in their child-bearing years, but he said anyone is susceptible.Hackshaw said even though allergy medications may seem to help eliminate fibromyalgia symptoms, they are not a cure.”Right now, there is no one answer for those people who have fibromyalgia, but we do think this study is a step forward to help prevent the disease and find a possible cure,” Hackshaw said.