Provigil for Fatigue
Some of the new studies with ginseng, donepezil, and Provigil for the treatment of fatigue in cancer patients presented here at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) show a glimmer of promise, but so far there is not enough evidence to support any pharmacological treatment, and the only consistent evidence of benefit is from exercise programs. This was the conclusion of Ian Tannock, MD, PhD, from Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Ontario, who was discussing the new studies.
Dr. Tannock praised the research efforts in this area but said that more work was urgently needed. Fatigue is the number-one symptom that cancer patients complain about, and yet doctors frequently do not even ask about it, he said. A survey of more than 1000 cancer patients reported in the Annals of Oncology found that 58% complained of fatigue, more than double the patients who complained about pain (22%) or about nausea and vomiting (18%)