Treatment of fibromyalgia at the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway. A six-month follow-up study.

BACKGROUND

Treatments offered at the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway are based on Maharishi Vedic medicine, which is also known as Maharishi Ayurveda. It is a consciousness based revival of the ancient Ayurvedic medicine tradition in India and is established by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a pilot study of the effect of the treatment program at the Health Centre on fibromyalgia patients.

METHODS

Thirty-one women with diagnosed fibromyalgia received an individually designed Maharishi Vedic physiological purification therapy. All subjects received personal advice on diet based on Ayurvedic principles, including a novel approach to food into-lerance, and daily routines. In addition they were offered instruction in TM (for stress and pain management and personal development) (four subjects started), and recommended Ayurvedic herbal food products for home treatment.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

A modified Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire included a visual analogue scale for each of the seven outcomes: working ability, generalised pain, tiredness, stiffness, tiredness on arising, anxiety and depression. Pre-treatment scores were compared with scores at six-month follow-up for levels of statistical significance.

RESULTS

Twenty-eight subjects (90%) completed the follow-up. The outcome measures were reduced by 25 to 46% by the study's endpoint: working ability (p<0.002), pain (p<0.001), tiredness (p<0.001), morning tiredness (p<0.001), stiffness (p<0.005), anxiety (p<0.136), and depression (p<0.001). A group of five excellent responders including all four participants who started to practise TM, had almost no symptoms by the endpoint. Compared to the non-meditating control group the TM-subgroup showed statistically significant improvements for all outcome measures except depression.

CONCLUSIONS

In this pilot study fibromyalgia patients undergoing treatment at Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre in Norway showed significant improvements six months post treatment. Because fibromyalgia is considered a treatment-resistant condition, these encouraging results warrant further research.