While no clinical trial to date has specifically targeted fatigue , r and omized controlled trials , systematic review s , and meta-analyses indicate that treatment modalities studied in the context of other fibromyalgia symptoms could also improve fatigue .
Fatigue is a disabling , multifaceted symptom that is highly prevalent and stubbornly persistent .
Although fatigue is a frequent complaint among patients with fibromyalgia , it has not received the same attention as pain .
Reasons for this include lack of st and ardized nomenclature to communicate about fatigue , lack of evidence -based guidelines for fatigue assessment , and a deficiency in effective treatment strategies .
Fatigue does not occur in isolation ; rather , it is present concurrently in varying severity with other fibromyalgia symptoms such as chronic widespread pain , unrefreshing sleep , anxiety , depression , cognitive difficulties , and so on .
Survey-based and preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that multiple symptoms feed into fatigue and it may be associated with a variety of physiological mechanisms .
Written Emotional Expression Produces Health Benefits in Fibromyalgia Patients
Objective : Written expression of traumatic experiences , an intervention found to have health benefits in rheumatoid arthritis , asthma , and breast cancer , was tested in a r and omized , controlled trial with female fibromyalgia patients . It was hypothesized that relative to controls , patients engaging in the writing intervention would experience improved status on psychological well-being and physical health variables . Methods : Patients ( N = 92 ) were r and omized into a trauma writing group , a control writing group , or usual care control group .  The two writing groups wrote in the laboratory for 20 minutes on 3 days at 1-week intervals . Psychological well-being , pain , and fatigue were the primary outcome variables . Assessment s were made at pretreatment , posttreatment , 4-month follow-up , and 10-month follow-up . Results : The trauma writing group experienced significant reductions in pain ( effect size [ ES ] = 0.49 ) and fatigue ( ES = 0.62 ) and better psychological well-being ( ES = 0.47 ) at the 4-month follow-up relative to the control groups . Benefits were not maintained at the 10-month follow-up . Conclusion : Fibromyalgia patients experienced short-term benefits in psychological and health variables through emotional expression of personal traumatic experiences . ED = written emotional disclosure ; RA = rheumatoid arthritis ; QOL = Quality of Life Scale ; STAI-S = state version , State-Trait Anxiety Inventory ; BDI = Beck Depression Inventory ; MOS = Medical Outcome Study ; CLINHAQ = Clinical Health Assessment Question naire ; FIQ = Fibromyalgia Impact Question naire ; VAS = visual analogue scale ; NW = neutral writing group ; UC = usual-care control group ; ANOVA = analysis of variance ; ES = effect size
While no clinical trial to date has specifically targeted fatigue , r and omized controlled trials , systematic review s , and meta-analyses indicate that treatment modalities studied in the context of other fibromyalgia symptoms could also improve fatigue .
Fatigue is a disabling , multifaceted symptom that is highly prevalent and stubbornly persistent .
Although fatigue is a frequent complaint among patients with fibromyalgia , it has not received the same attention as pain .
Reasons for this include lack of st and ardized nomenclature to communicate about fatigue , lack of evidence -based guidelines for fatigue assessment , and a deficiency in effective treatment strategies .
Fatigue does not occur in isolation ; rather , it is present concurrently in varying severity with other fibromyalgia symptoms such as chronic widespread pain , unrefreshing sleep , anxiety , depression , cognitive difficulties , and so on .
Survey-based and preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that multiple symptoms feed into fatigue and it may be associated with a variety of physiological mechanisms .