Treatment with weak electromagnetic fields improves fatigue associated with multiple sclerosis

It is estimated that 75-90% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience fatigue at some point during the course of the disease and that in about half of these patients, subjective fatigue is a primary complaint. In the majority of patients fatigue is present throughout the course of the day being most prominent in the mid to late afternoon. Sleepiness is not prominent, but patients report that rest may attenuate fatigability. The pathophysiology of the fatigue of MS remains unknown. Delayed impulse conduction in demyelinated zones may render transmission in the brainstem reticular formation less effective. In addition, the observation that rest may restore energy and that administration of pemoline and amantadine, which increase the synthesis and release of monoamines, often improve the fatigue of MS suggest that depletion of neurotransmitter stores in damaged neurons may contribute significantly to the development of fatigue in these patients. The present report concerns three MS patients who experienced over several years continuous and debilitating fatigue throughout the course of the day. Fatigue was exacerbated by increased physical activity and was not improved by rest. After receiving a course of treatments with picotesla flux electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which were applied extracranially, all patients experienced improvement in fatigue. Remarkably, patients noted that several months after initiation of treatment with EMFs they were able to recover, after a short period of rest, from fatigue which followed increased physical activity. These observations suggest that replenishment of monoamine stores in neurons damaged by demyelination in the brainstem reticular formation by periodic applications of picotesla flux intensity EMFs may lead to more effective impulse conduction and thus to improvement in fatigue including rapid recovery of fatigue after rest.