Improving Cancer-Related Fatigue Using Certain Mental Health Medicines

Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common symptoms in people with cancer. The cancer itself, treatment side effects, pain, poor sleep, emotional stress, and low appetite can all contribute. Because many factors can affect fatigue, managing it often requires more than one approach.

Exercise, physical therapy, counseling, sleep support, and medicines may all help depending on the situation. New studies presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting found that two mental health medicines may help reduce fatigue for some patients. 

Bupropion helped reduce fatigue

Bupropion is a medicine used for depression. Researchers studied whether it could also help with cancer-related fatigue. 

The study included 428 adults with moderate to severe fatigue. Participants had completed cancer treatment at least two months earlier. They received either bupropion or a placebo for 13 weeks. A placebo looks like the study medicine but contains no active treatment. 

Researchers found that fatigue modestly improved in the bupropion group. Women experienced the greatest improvement. 

Fatigue can make it harder to work, exercise, concentrate, and complete daily tasks. These findings suggest bupropion may be an option for people whose fatigue continues after cancer treatment. 

Methylphenidate helped patients in a real-world study

A second study looked at psychostimulants. These medicines can increase alertness and energy. 

Researchers reviewed records from 8,439 people with advanced cancer. Nearly 75% reported moderate to severe fatigue. About 41% reported very severe fatigue.

Despite the high rate of fatigue, only about 4% of patients received a psychostimulant prescription. Most of those patients received low-dose methylphenidate. Among patients who took methylphenidate and had follow-up information: 

• 68.8% reported less fatigue
• 15.6% reported no benefit
• 15.6% had unclear results in their medical records
• 3.9% reported non-serious side effects 

Researchers also compared fatigue scores before and after treatment. Scores improved from a median of 7 out of 10 to 6 out of 10.

Many patients felt better after starting methylphenidate. The low rate of side effects may support additional research on this approach.

New options may help some patients

These studies add to the growing research on cancer-related fatigue. Bupropion improved fatigue in a clinical trial. Many patients taking methylphenidate also reported feeling better. 

Neither medicine removed fatigue completely. More research is needed to understand who benefits most. Still, these findings give patients and healthcare teams additional options to discuss when fatigue affects daily life.

Sources: 

• Nationwide randomized, phase III, placebo-controlled trial of bupropion for cancer-related fatigue: Primary outcome results
• Fatigue and psychostimulant use in patients with advanced cancer in an oncology palliative care clinic: A retrospective cohort study