Venlafaxine HCl in the treatment of painful peripheral diabetic neuropathy.

In a recent letter by Davis and Smith (1), venlafaxine HCl was reported to be effective in the symptomatic treatment of patients with painful diabetic neuropathy. This observation is in accordance with a similar finding made by us. We administered venlafaxine HCl in 8 patients who had unremitting painful peripheral diabetic neuropathy that did not respond to conventional analgesia. All patients had type 2 diabetes and were of Greek origin. The patients’ ages ranged from 49 to 80 years, and their duration of diabetes ranged from 6 to 21 years. Of these patients, 5 were men and 3 were women; 5 of the patients were being treated with oral antidiabetic agents, and 3 were on treatment with insulin. The glycemic control of each patient was good (mean HbA1c value 7.2 ± 1.2%).