Trial of a Selective Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor, Galanthamine Hydrobromide, in the Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to search for a means of diminishing the plight of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and to test the hypothesis that central to the pathogenesis of CFS is a cholinergic defect. Forty-nine patients who fulfilled consensus criteria for CFS were treated with the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, galanthamine hydrobromide. Thirty-nine patients finished the study according to the protocol with 43% reporting 50% improvement in fatigue, myalgia and sleep and 70% reporting 30% improvement whereas patients in the placebo group reported only 10% improvement in the same parameters of CFS. The improvement of patients on galanthamine was in most cases gradual and reached significance for the group only after four to eight weeks. The improvement was stable, and no patients who reported over 50% improvement on galanthamine relapsed to a pretrial level of any symptom. One of the most surprising effects was the dramatic improvement of sleep disturbances that occurred in most patients ...