Brain Stimulation Helps Some Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Magnetic brain stimulation improved symptoms and quality of life in people with fibromyalgia. That’s the finding of a study of 38 patients. Fibromyalgia causes chronic pain, fatigue and other symptoms. Previous brain imaging studies have suggested brain abnormalities are associated with the condition. Researchers randomly assigned the subject to receive either transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or a “sham” stimulation. With TMS, electrodes applied to the head send small electric charges to the brain. The study lasted 10 weeks and involved 14 sessions of real or sham TMS. The people who got the real TMS reported small improvements in their quality of life compared with the people who got the sham treatment. But the treatment had no effect on pain. PET brain scans of the people who got the real TMS showed changes in the area of the brain involved in emotion.