Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia with D-Ribose- An Open-label, Multicenter Study

Abstract

Objectives: 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, 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, and was shown to significantly improve clinical outcomes in CFS/FMS in an earlier study, we hypothesized that giving D-ribose would improve function in CFS/FMS patients. Design, Location, and Subjects: An open-label, unblinded study in which 53 US clinics enrolled 257 patients who had been given a diagnosis of CFS/FMS by a health practitioner. Interventions: All subjects were given D-ribose (Corvalen), a naturally occurring pentose carbohydrate, 5-g TID for 3 weeks.