Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia With D-ribose- a Multicenter Study

Kona Research Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Fibromyalgia; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Treatments: Dietary Supplement: Ribose

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT01108549

RiboseCFS03

Details and patient eligibility

About

To determine whether adding Ribose 5 grams 3 x day would improve quality of life, energy, sleep and cognitive function and decrease pain in patients with CFS and/or fibromyalgia (CFS/FMS).

Full description

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia (CFS/FMS) are debilitating syndromes affecting ~ 2-4% of the population. Although they are heterogeneous conditions associated with many triggers, including infections, autoimmune illnesses, hormonal dysfunctions and other processes, they appear to have the common pathology of being associated with impaired energy metabolism.

As D-ribose has been shown to increase cellular energy synthesis in heart and skeletal muscle, and was shown to significantly improve clinical outcomes in CFS/FMS in an earlier pilot study, we conducted a larger, community based, multicenter trial to see if these findings could be generalized to a broader patient population. We hypothesized that giving D-ribose would improve function in CFS/FMS patients.

Enrollment: 257 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (FMS) (by American College of Rheumatology [ACR] criteria) and/or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS- by Centers for Disease Control [CDC] criteria) by a health practitioner.

Exclusion criteria

• pregnant or nursing women, or
• any participants with known severe medication or nutrient sensitivities, or
• previous ribose use.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)