Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome patients experienced relief from debilitating dysautonomia symptoms after completing an eight-week trial of noninvasive electrical nerve stimulation, researchers reported.
Trial Targets Vagus Nerve
The study, published in Neurological Sciences, evaluated 14 women with a mean age of 37 who suffered from disabling dysautonomia and poor quality of life, Ehlers-Danlos News reported. Participants received one 60-minute session of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation each week from October 2023 to July 2025.
Electrical stimulation was delivered to the left ear at an intensity individually adjusted so each participant could feel the sensation without pain. Researchers said that existing medical treatments remained unchanged throughout the duration of the study.
Symptom Severity Scores Drop
Autonomic impairment was severe at the study’s start, marked by a mean Composite Autonomic Symptom Score-31 of 44.6. By the end of the eight weeks, the mean score decreased to 28.3, representing a 36.5% reduction in the overall dysautonomia symptom burden.
Gastrointestinal symptom scores also dropped from 11.3 to 5.2. Five participants, or 35.7%, recorded scores below the 20-point cutoff used to define disabling dysautonomia, compared to zero participants falling below that threshold at baseline.
Participants Completed the Protocol Without Serious Adverse Events
All 14 participants completed the eight-week protocol without reporting any serious adverse events. Five women experienced mild, temporary tingling or warmth at the stimulation site.
Did you know? Dysautonomia affects up to 90% of people with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, contributing heavily to chronic fatigue, orthostatic intolerance, and digestive dysfunction.
“This study provides preliminary evidence that transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation is safe and associated with clinically meaningful improvements in dysautonomia in patients with hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome,” the researchers wrote.
Study Limitations Remain
The trial relied on a small participant pool at a single medical center without a control group. Researchers also depended on self-reported questionnaires to measure outcomes, meaning findings require validation through larger randomized trials.
Common Questions About the Trial
How was vagus nerve stimulation administered?
Participants received weekly 60-minute sessions over eight weeks where mild electrical currents were delivered through the skin of the outer left ear.
What specific improvements were measured?
Researchers tracked changes using the COMPASS-31 questionnaire for autonomic symptoms and the SF-36 questionnaire for quality of life, reporting drops in autonomic and gastrointestinal symptom scores.
Were there any severe complications?
No cardiovascular or neurological side effects related to the treatment were reported, though five women experienced mild, temporary tingling.