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 .
A randomized placebo-controlled study of noninvasive cortical electrostimulation in the treatment of fibromyalgia patients.
OBJECTIVE The aim of this multicenter study was to evaluate the efficacy , safety , and tolerability of noninvasive cortical electrostimulation in the management of fibromyalgia ( FM ) . DESIGN A prospect i ve , r and omized , double-blind , placebo-controlled design was used . Setting . Subjects received therapy at two different outpatient clinical locations . PATIENTS There were 77 subjects meeting the American College of Rheumatology 1990 classification criteria for FM . Intervention . Thirty-nine ( 39 ) active treatment ( AT ) FM patients and 38 placebo controls received 22 applications of either noninvasive cortical electrostimulation or a sham therapy over an 11-week period . OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome measures were the number of tender points ( TePs ) and pressure pain threshold ( PPT ) . Secondary outcome measures were responses to the Fibromyalgia Impact Question naire ( FIQ ) , Symptom Checklist-90 ( SCL-90 ) , Beck Depression Inventory-II , and a novel sleep question naire , all evaluated at baseline and at the end of treatment . RESULTS Intervention provided significant improvements in TeP measures : compared with placebo , the AT patients improved in the number of positive TePs ( -7.4 vs -0.2 , P<0.001 ) and the PPT ( 19.6 vs -3.2 , P<0.001 ) . Most secondary outcomes also improved more in the AT group : total FIQ score ( -15.5 vs -5.6 , P=0.03 ) , FIQ pain ( -2.0 vs -0.6 , P=0.03 ) , FIQ fatigue ( -2.0 vs -0.4 , P=0.02 ) , and FIQ refreshing sleep ( -2.1 vs -0.7 , P=0.02 ) ; and while FIQ function improved ( -1.0 vs -0.2 ) , the between-group change had a 14 % likelihood of occurring due to chance ( P=0.14 ) . There were no significant side effects observed . CONCLUSIONS Noninvasive cortical electrostimulation in FM patients provided modest improvements in pain , TeP measures , fatigue , and sleep ; and the treatment was well tolerated . This form of therapy could potentially provide worthwhile adjunctive symptom relief for FM patients
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 .