In this quarterly update, I’m sharing the latest fibromyalgia research from ClinicalTrials.gov. There are several treatment-related studies including those for psychedelics, reconsolidation therapy with propranolol, acupuncture, pain education smartphone apps, sound therapy and more!
Let me know in the comments section below if you’re excited about any of these trials. I’m particularly interested in your opinions on the studies using psilocybin (psychedelic mushrooms) for fibro.
1.
TRYP Therapeutics will conduct a small study involving 20 patients to test the safety of synthetic psilocybin therapy for fibromyalgia.
(Read more: Can psychedelics be used to treat fibromyalgia?)
(Read more: Tryp Therapeutics receives confirmation from FDA to proceed with phase 2a study in fibromyalgia)
(Read more: Psychedelics meet mainstream medicine)
2.
Psilocybin-facilitated treatment for chronic pain
The University of Alabama at Birmingham will study the efficacy of a psilocybin-facilitated treatment for fibromyalgia.
3.
Reconsolidation therapy with propranolol as a treatment for chronic pain
Researchers from Université de Sherbrooke in Canada will study the feasibility/acceptability of combining neuroscience education and reconsolidation therapy with propranolol as a treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain.
(Read more: What is reconsolidation therapy? This article focuses on PTSD, but the Canadian study linked above will follow a similar protocol for fibromyalgia.)
4.
Dual Task in Female Patients With Fibromyalgia
About 80 fibromyalgia patients will be assessed for their ability to dual task (i.e. perform two tasks simultaneously) during this study out of Izmir Katip Celebi University in Turkey.
I don’t usually go into great detail on these summaries since people can read the actual listing on ClinicalTrials.gov, but I had to include the task that my fellow fibro warriors will need to complete as part of the study:
“Participants are required to get up from the chair without assistance from their arms, walk 3 meters as fast as possible without running, turn their backs, walk back to the chair, and sit without assistance from their arms. The dual-task condition is performed by counting aloud backwards by twos, starting with a random number greater than 100 while performing the tests,” as summarized on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Am I the only one who felt anxious as soon as they finished reading that paragraph? There is NO WAY I could complete that task correctly!
5.
Pilot Study of Warm Acupuncture in Treatment of Cold-sensitive Fibromyalgia Syndrome
Researchers from Guang’anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, China, will study the effectiveness of warm acupuncture among 38 fibromyalgia patients who are sensitive to the cold.
(Read more: What is the warm needle technique in traditional Chinese medicine?)
6.
Prospective Study to Evaluate a Digital Regimen for Fibromyalgia Management (PROSPER-FM)
Around 300 fibromyalgia patients will evaluate the safety and efficacy of two digital therapy smartphone apps for Swing Therapeutics, a company that develops evidence-backed treatments for people with chronic conditions. One group of participants will use an app dedicated to Digital Acceptance and Commitment Therapy while the other will use an app to track and monitor their symptoms and functionality.
(Read more: What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?)
7.
Colombian and Mexican researchers will test the effectiveness of a neuroscience education program focused on pain among 62 fibromyalgia patients.
8.
Evaluation of sound therapy in a population of women with fibromyalgia aged between 30 and 60 years
Researchers from Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Toulon La Seyne sur Mer, France, will “compare the effects of relaxation sessions with sound therapy delivered by tuning forks to a control group who will benefit from relaxation sessions without tuning fork activation” among 40 women with fibromyalgia, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.
(Read more: The effect of low-frequency sound stimulation on patients with fibromyalgia)
9.
Consuming of Opuntia Among Women With Fibromyalgia
About 80 fibromyalgia patients will test if eating tzabar fruit twice a day will reduce fatigue, pain and depression and improve quality of life during this study at Soroka University Medical Center, Israel.
(Read more: What is tzabar (aka prickly pear)?)
Now it’s your turn: Are you excited about any of these studies? What do you think of researchers studying psilocybin as a possible fibromyalgia treatment? Share your feedback in the comments section below!
I’m Donna, a longtime newspaper reporter, health writer and chronic illness thriver! Fed Up with Fatigue provides weekly news, research, treatments and more to help you live better with fibromyalgia and/or Lyme.
I am disappointed that these are predominantly looking at emotional regulation and not at physical etiology of the disease. .
Thank you for keeping us up to date with what is happening in fibromyalgia research land. I look forward to these helpful posts. Thanks also for linking up at Fibro Blogger Directory each week as I’m sure this research is so helpful to thousands of people. Just knowing that fibro research is being done gives us hope
I am excited to see them exploring the sound therapy with the tuning forks. I have experienced remarkable improvement in my fibro symptoms with sound therapy. I have been getting treatments with the Harmonic Egg, which is a resonant chamber using sound and light, and I have received so much relief. I have also had biofield tuning done with the tuning forks and have experienced relief and improvement with this also. After many years of seeking all sorts of treatments these two have given me the most improvement.
I am very intrigued by the use of hallucinogens in many different things. I was particularly impressed with the gentleman in the 60 minutes episode that cured chronic alcoholism in one session.
Donna been subscribed for a few years now my Fibro which was diagnosed in 2020 finally well it took a turn after covid omicron variant I had in January the fatigue and ripple Effects are agonizing daily they are amplified I sleep now 12-15 hours a day the time I can spend up on my feet has to be cut to an hour maybe less at a time my productivity and efficacy at doing anything has been squashed now I know the winter has crippled me I’m 65 but it seems to be getting worse and the anxiety is thru the roof all I’m on is topomax metacam blood pressure meds but not having my pain meds (opiates) is scary depressing and my quality not quantity I’d severely effected I use Kratom the only thing that saves me and energy supplements all herbal and cbd oil but it’s a fight daily. Horrible
Hello Joanne , I’m so sorry to hear about ur condition, I am also 65 and was diagnosed at 85% FM due to EBV , I am on a pain med called Xtamza and sometimes tramadol they the pain management doctor , I’ve had FM since my early 50’s , I also sleep around 12 to 15 hours and it’s very hard to cook and clean , I can walk ok and love to drive but no energy, motivation and lots of nerve pain throughout my whole body , I try not to feed the Epstein bar virus by eating sugar , too much fat and grains , I can eat honey which I love , I’m also on high blood pressure medications, just want to let you know that your not alone , try and get a little heaven in ur life and gods bless you 😌