This Study May Have Found a Multiple Sclerosis Fatigue Solution

(HealthDay News) — Medication and behavioral therapy are both effective in combatting fatigue caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), either separately or together, a new study finds. MS patients felt significantly less fatigue after they were prescribed modafinil (Provigil), a drug that promotes wakefulness and is used to treat sleepiness, researchers reported recently in The Lancet Neurology journal. Patients also reported less fatigue after they were given cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), in which they were taught to recognize the factors that make their fatigue symptoms worse or better. Combining the two treatments, drugs and therapy, provided about the same results as either on their own. However, a person’s own sleep habits also played a role in whether one or the other would work better, researchers discovered. “This research offers new evidence to show that both CBT and modafinil are comparably effective for MS fatigue, which could shape treatment approaches to one of the most challenging symptoms experienced by people with multiple sclerosis,” said lead researcher Dr. Tiffany Braley, director of the University of Michigan Health’s Multiple Sclerosis/Neuroimmunology Division. As many as 90 percent of the nearly 3 million people with MS worldwide experience fatigue, and nearly half describe it as their...