Palmitoylethanolamide and acetyl-L-carnitine act synergistically with duloxetine and pregabalin in fibromyalgia: results of a randomised controlled study
Randomised controlled trialHumansWith acetyl-L-carnitine
This study tested palmitoylethanolamide together with acetyl-L-carnitine. Its results cannot be assigned to palmitoylethanolamide alone. More combination studies.
- Design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Subjects
- 142 patients with fibromyalgia randomised after 3 months of stable treatment with duloxetine and pregabalin. 130 completed: 68 on the drugs alone and 62 with the supplement added.
- Dose used in the study
- 600 mg of palmitoylethanolamide with 500 mg of acetyl-L-carnitine, twice a day, added to duloxetine and pregabalin
- Duration
- 12 weeks after randomisation, with outcomes tracked over 24 weeks
- What was measured
- The Widespread Pain Index every two weeks as the main outcome, plus the revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a disease status questionnaire, all expressed as area under the curve
What the authors reported
The authors reported that the add-on group showed further improvement on all three measures: the pain index (p = 0.048), the impact questionnaire (p = 0.033) and the status questionnaire (p = 0.017). Scores fluctuated in both groups during the study.
Limits of this study
No placebo: the comparison group continued its drugs with nothing added, so patients knew whether they had the supplement, and all outcomes were self-reported. The pain index result is close to the threshold for significance. The combination contains two active compounds. Funding and conflicts were not in the abstract supplied.
Source
PubMed 37378482 · doi:10.55563/clinexprheumatol/pmdzcq
Entry checked against the abstract, supplied by Devlin from the journal's page on 2026-09-21. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.