Fibromyalgia is a complex chronic disorder. Unfortunately, doctors haven’t found many effective ways of treating it yet. One of the current fibromyalgia treatment modalities that’s being heavily investigated is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS therapy). TMS treatment is a non-invasive means of stimulating your brain. Through various research studies, it’s already shown that it has great promise when it comes to treating people who are suffering with disorders that effect their central nervous system.
How TMS Treatment is Used for Fibromyalgia Treatment
TMS therapy is delivered to the left-hemisphere dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). This is done at a high frequency (10Hz) on a daily basis for a month. In total patients undergo 20 sessions which means that they received a 120% resting motor threshold (75 x 4-s 10 HZ trains).
What Research Says About Using TMS for Fibromyalgia Treatment
A recent study looked at 26 patients (14 active participants and 12 who didn’t actively receive any treatment throughout this study), all of whom were diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Each of these patients underwent a daily, double-blind stimulation of TMS therapy for a month. Doctors conducted assessments at their baseline, at the end of the month, and again at the patient’s one-month follow-up appointment.
At the conclusion of the study, researchers found that those participants who actively received TMS treatment had a lot more improvement when it came to their physical and overall feelings of fatigue. This group of patients was also much more likely to reduce their pain by at least 30%. As such, researchers believe that TMS therapy can lead to clinically meaningful improvement in pain intensity for these patients and thus they believe this may be a relevant form of fibromyalgia treatment.
Conclusion
This is a significant study because it does indeed prove that four weeks of this treatment will improve the fatigue that many fibromyalgia patients experience. While doctors have been seeking ways to relieve their patients’ fatigue for quite some time now, this may indeed be the best way to treat this difficult symptom.
If you’re suffering from fibromyalgia and would like to try TMS treatment for it, we recommend contacting The TMS Advantage. They’ve provided successful TMS sessions for numerous patients over the years. While additional research needs to be done regarding this treatment modality for fibromyalgia patients, it doesn’t hurt to give it a try and see if it may benefit you so get in touch with them today.
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