Could zapping the brain ease fibromyalgia pain?
NCT ID NCT07525063
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jul 29, 2026 · Updated 2 times
Summary
This early study tests whether a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called TMS can help reduce pain, fatigue, and brain fog in people with fibromyalgia. About 30 adults will receive multiple TMS sessions and undergo MRI scans to see how the brain changes. The goal is to gather initial data to plan larger future studies on this potential treatment.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
About 30 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
-
Jul 2026
- Expected to finish
-
Jun 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 years and older
- Sex
-
Female participants only
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusions: 1. Female and ages 18 + 2. Ability to read/understand English and give consent to participate 3. Physician diagnosis \& confirmation of primary fibromyalgia syndrome 4. Verbal agreement to maintain dose of prescribed medication (if any) constant throughout the study, except exclusion medication and except if there is a medical emergency requiring changes in medication 5. If enrolled in psychotherapy, verbal agreement to maintain (not change or stop) the psychotherapy during the study 6. Absence of use of opioid medications (during the previous 90 days, and no greater than a 30-day period during lifetime) Exclusions: 1. limited ability to participate fully in behavioral tasks, longitudinal follow-up (e.g., plans to move out-of-state within 3 months) 2. MRI contraindication (e.g., metal implants, claustrophobia, pregnant or planning to become pregnant) 3. any factors that at the discretion of the investigators would adversely affect the participant or the integrity of the study (e.g., ongoing legal action or disability claim regarding pain, uncontrolled psychiatric disorder, head/neck injury, use of certain medications) 4. male \* TMS-Specific Exclusions: 1\. TMS contraindication (e.g., history of seizures, medications contraindicated for risks/efficacy of TMS procedures) 1. current hypomania, 2. meets diagnostic criteria for current psychotic disorder, or psychotic features, 3. meets diagnostic criteria for Bipolar I disorder, 4. meets diagnostic criteria for current alcohol or substance use disorder (moderate and high severity) 5. current uncontrolled anorexia or other condition requiring hospitalization, 6. current serious medical illness, including current severe migraine headaches, 7. changed psychotropic medications in the prior 2 months, or plans to change medication during the study, 8. history of seizure except those therapeutically induced by ECT (childhood febrile seizures are acceptable and these subjects may be included in the study), history of epilepsy in self or first degree relatives, stroke, brain surgery, head injury, cranial metal implants, known structural brain lesion, devices that may be affected by TMS (pacemaker, medication pump, cochlear implant, implanted brain stimulator), 9. conditions associated with increased intracranial pressure, space occupying brain lesion, transient ischemic attack, cerebral aneurysm, dementia, Parkinson's or Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, 10. use of investigational drug or devices within 4 weeks of screening, 11. cochlear implants, 12. pregnancy * Only females will be enrolled in this study because it focuses on patients who have fibromyalgia which is more prevalent (both diagnosed and self-reported) in females. Due to the contributions of hormones to the conditions under study in this project, female eligibility in this study will be defined as an individual who is female sex at birth and currently female sex
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Chronic pain and fatigue are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
-
The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
-
The official record
The full official record for this study. This one lists no contact details, but it is the first place any would appear.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, North Carolina, 27710, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can the Body's stress wiring explain why pain spreads and lingers?
- Can qigong loosen the grip of fibromyalgia? trial tests two styles
- Can a light bulb dial down chronic pain?
- Can a Hands-On nerve technique ease Fibromyalgia's grip?
- Why some days hurt more: charting Fibromyalgia's daily swings
- Zapping the vagus nerve: a new hope for fibromyalgia pain?