What Can I Expect
Having chronic fatigue syndrome can be hard. But for most people, the symptoms are most severe in the beginning. Later, they may come and go. Teens with CFS generally get better faster and recover more completely than adults do. Most teens get partial or full recovery within 5 years after symptoms began.
Many new and experimental treatments for CFS are available. But don’t use any unproven treatments until checking with your doctor.
CFS is a misunderstood illness. But scientists continue to learn about it through research and clinical trials. They’re trying to better understand its symptoms and causes in kids and teens.
Good medical care and coping techniques are the keys to helping your child manage chronic fatigue syndrome. It can also help to find support sites and groups, such as:
Where To Get Help
- Sleep, Better Health Channel. More information here.
- Why is sleep important? National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. More information here.
- Sleep deprivation, Better Health Channel. More information here.
- Sleep and mood are closely connected, Sleep Health Foundation. More information here.
- Sleep hygiene, Better Health Channel. More information here.
- Sleep – common disorders, Better Health Channel. More information here.
- Herbal remedies and sleep, Sleep Health Foundation. More information here.
- Sleeping pills and natural sleeping aids, Helpguide.org. More information here.
- The link between sleep and mood, Get sleep. More information here.
- Up all night: the effects of sleep loss on mood, Psychology today. More information here.
- Sleep and mental health, Harvard Medical School. More information here.
Signs And Symptoms: Anxiety
- Cardiovascular: pounding heart, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, blushing
- Respiratory: fast breathing, shortness of breath
- Neurological: dizziness, headache, sweating, tingling, numbness
- Gastrointestinal: choking, dry mouth, stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Musculoskeletal: muscle aches and pains , tremors and shaking, inability to relax
PsychologicalUnrealistic or excessive fear and worry , mind racing or going blank, decreased concentration and memory, indecisiveness, irritability, impatience, anger, confusion, restlessness or feeling on edge or nervous, fatigue, sleep disturbance, vivid dreams
BehavioralAvoidance of situations, obsessive or compulsive behavior, distress in social situations, phobic behavior
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Mood Swings And Mental Illness
While shifts in mood can be completely normal, triggered by stress, and/or part of dealing with a physical health condition, mood swings also can be a symptom of mental illness.
When characterizing and diagnosing mental health disorders, particularly bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, the constellation of intense, rapid, and frequent shifts in mood is sometimes referred to as emotional lability.
However, a labile mood is not unique to mental illness. Its also seen in people with traumatic brain injury, stroke, and Alzheimers, as well as other medical conditions.
If you are experiencing changes in mood along with other specific signs and symptoms of a mental health condition, talk to your doctor. Understanding the underlying cause is essential to finding the most effective way to manage your mood swings.
What Can You Do About Cyclothymia
If you suspect you may have this condition, talk to your doctor or to a mental health professional. Getting help will allow you to avoid the problems cyclothymia may be causing in your life now and in the future.
Taking this step is also important because having cyclothymia increases your risk for bipolar disorder. And the sooner you get treatment, the sooner youll learn how to handle mood swings and maintain your mental health.
Dr. Bowers-Smith recommends psychotherapy over medications. Although bipolar disorder requires mood-stabilizing drugs, the side effects can be problematic. The symptoms of cyclothymia arent typically severe enough to justify their use, Dr. Bowers-Smith says. People who are in an emergency situation should consider an intensive outpatient program which will also teach them many coping skills. While some people will need medication, its not necessarily the same amount or the same type of medication that people with bipolar disorder are on, she adds.
Find a good therapist it can make a real difference in your life. Youll learn how to identify your triggers, better handle stress and develop solid skills for managing your moods.
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Early Light Period Extreme Mood Swings Frequent Urination Fatigue Disorientation
dazednconfused over a year ago
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Guest over a year ago
I just wanted to throw this out there: women who are on hormonal birth control, like Implanon, the oral contraceptive pill, Depo Provera, Mirena, and so on often have irregular vaginal bleeding that is not a period. Your bleeding could easily be caused by your birth control!
Fatigue, being light headed, and mood swings are also associated with low iron, which you said you have. I am not sure about the frequent urination. Did you drink a lot of water?
In any case, on paper, there are all kinds of ways to explain what is happening to you besides pregnancy. But you could also be pregnant. I’d be taking a pregnancy test really rapidly to see what was going on. Definitely see a doctor if you aren’t pregnant as well though, because those symptoms are concerning.
over a year ago
Guest over a year ago
artemis235192699 over a year ago
sk8erchick06597966 over a year ago
over a year ago
In reply to Guest on 2007-11-04 – click to read
aliluvesyou44118568 over a year ago
Low On Energy It May Not Be Depression
Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Depression is a common cause of fatigue, so you might be wondering whether your fatigue is a result of depression. But just because you’re tired all the time doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re depressed.
The fact is there are many underlying conditions that could be responsible for feeling tired all the time. From mood disorders to issues affecting your physical health like chronic fatigue syndrome, the following psychiatric and medical conditions are some of the most common ailments associated with fatigue.
But first, it’s important to note that many of these conditions share symptoms similar to depression, so we’ll start there. By understanding the distinctions between depression and other factors that cause fatigue, you can seek out the right treatment and start to feel like your energetic self again.
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Robuvit For Fatigue And Mood Problems
Dr Franziska Weichmann, Manager of Scientific Communications and Product Development, Horphag Research, discusses a natural and healthy way to cope with mentally challenging situations and low energy levels
Fatigue, mood swings and stress are common conditions that can affect anyone at any point in time. Fatigue, described by one in five people in a 2019 cross-sectional survey, is a typical symptom that can be linked to physical, psychological and/or social problems.1
When not dealt with, fatigue, moodiness and chronic stress can lead to more severe problems, such as burnout syndrome.
During the current global coronavirus pandemic , a notable increase in physical health problems and severe psychological issues have been recorded, which should not be underestimated.
The lockdown procedures, which affected one third of the world population at times, could have long-lasting psychological effects, such as mood swings, fatigue, stress, burnout or post-traumatic stress disorder .26
Confinement or isolation for several months, home schooling, the risk of unemployment and the unprecedented situation itself has affected people all over the world and left them stressed out, anxious and exhausted.
Dr Franziska Weichmann
Not Just Stress And Depression There Are A Host Of Health Conditions That Can Lead To Mood Swings
Written by Mita Majumdar | Updated : June 7, 2016 8:20 PM IST
Happy one moment, and extremely sad the next. Too many of us are familiar with this wavering of feelings. Mood swings!
I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between. Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Obviously, Plath is talking about mood swings here and its dangerous consequences.
Mood is a state of mind, an emotion, and it is natural to have different moods depending on what s going on in our life. When we are happy we ignore the negative events and when we are sad we can t find anything positive in our life. There is nothing wrong with mood swings, there is nothing wrong with going from one state of mind to another during the course of the day. The problem arises when we have an extreme response to events around us or within us. The mood swings are so rapid, they affect the quality of life. It is then that we suffer from mood disorder.
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Fatigue And Arousal In Migraine
Fatigue is a vague and multifactorial symptom, which is clearly influenced by sleep and arousal, systemic health, mood, and other exogenous factors including medications. While sleepiness and fatigue are different, there is clearly an interaction between them and a general difficulty among patients distinguishing the two. To our knowledge, the two separate issues or the distinction between them has not been studied in migraine studies. While it has been historically recognized that fatigue is a dominant feature of migraine , more recently, associations with sleep disorders and shared physiological mechanisms with sleep pathways have been recognized . In addition, sleep disruption is a commonly reported migraine trigger among sufferers .
In general, it is estimated that approximately 60% of migraineurs report pathologic fatigue, based on several questionnaires including the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, the Insomnia Severity Index, and the Fatigue Severity Scale . Interestingly, emerging work using the novel CGRP pathway antibodies has suggested a beneficial impact on symptoms including fatigue and concentration on non-headache days and therefore improved function .
Emotional Mood Swings And Pregnancy
You may feel elated at times and at other times depressed or anxious. Moodiness and frequent mood swings are very common during pregnancy. Typically, this moodiness flares up in the first trimester, eases upin the second trimester, and then reappears in the later stages of the third trimester.
Mood swings are often related to hormonal changes that are taking place in your body and to the common, but uncomfortable, physical changes that accompany pregnancy. Indigestion and heartburn,fatigue, frequent urination, sleeplessness, constipation, and worries about weight gain or looking “fat”, worry about whatcan happen during the pregnancy, concerns about labor and delivery, how adding a child to your life will affect your future, how it will affect your relationship with your partner, and general anxiety aboutthe future all contribute to moodiness and rapidly changing mood swings.
Some of the following suggestions may help you:
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Try to keep in mind that emotional turmoil during pregnancy can be normal.
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Educate yourself about the common concerns of pregnancy and recognize that many of the changes taking place in your body are temporary.
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The Impact Of Caffeine And Energy Drinks
90% of American adults drink caffeine-infused beverages almost every day. This includes coffee, tea, and energy drinks, which have high quantities of sugar in addition to containing the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Some of the smaller energy shots can contain up to 160mg of caffeine in a 60ml bottle. With extreme tiredness, you may start drinking too much of these drinks to give yourself a temporary energy boost.
The problem is that these caffeinated beverages have short-lived results and do not tackle your general fatigue. Caffeine has a stimulatory effect on the nervous system, and creates a momentary surge of adrenaline. However, once it subsides, you are left drained of energy the opposite effect to what you wanted. Caffeine can also lead to other problems such as:
So rather than improving your fatigue, caffeine can cause you to feel worse.
Who Is At Risk For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Because the cause of CFS is not known, its hard to know what might put someone at risk for getting the condition. However, certain factors are seen more often in people with CFS. These factors include:
- Gender. CFS happens up to 4 times more often in women than in men.
- Age. CFS commonly affects middle-aged people, but people of any age can get it.
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Signs And Symptoms: Psychosis
Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder are mental disorders in which a person has lost some contact with reality.
- The person may have severe disturbances in thinking, emotion, and behavior.
- Psychosis usually occurs in episodes and is not a constant or static condition.
- Difficulties with concentration or attention
- Sense of alteration of self, others, or the outside world
- Odd ideas
- Unusual perceptual experiences
- Sleep disturbances
- Grandiose delusions
- Lack of insight
*Source: Gibb, B. 2011, “Learn About Mental Illness: The Mental Health First Aid Action Plan” pp 11-13.
Symptoms Commonly Seen In People With Frequent Mood Swings
There is a wide range of symptoms that can be seen in people suffering from frequent mood changes. The symptoms can be seen in the behavior of a person or may be occurring in the back of his mind without being noticed. Below is a list of common symptoms that can be seen in people experiencing rapid mood transitions:
| Behavioral Symptoms |
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Causes Of Mood Swings From Anxiety
Mood swings are one of those symptoms that may be a symptom of anxiety directly, or they may be a symptom of symptoms – in other words, for some people, other symptoms of anxiety cause so much distress that they cause mood swings, rather than the anxiety itself leading to mood swings.
This is common in those with more severe symptoms, that find that while their symptoms essentially cause them to become more emotional, which in turn leads to mood swings.
All emotional swings and reactions can be hard to diagnose and may have any variety of possible causes. The most likely include:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Versus Depression
- Categorized Center for Discovery, Depression
Depression is a leading cause of disability in the United States and with so many different signs and symptoms, it can be difficult to diagnose. In fact there are many other disorders that mimic depression including hypothyroidism, vitamin D deficiency, fibromyalgia, diabetes, dementia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Chronic fatigue syndrome is a medical diagnosis with an unknown cause that affects young and middle aged adults primarily in the United States. Individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome often report feelings of excessive tiredness, lapses in short-term memory and feelings of depression secondary to their excessive fatigue.
Chronic fatigue syndrome
- A lapse in short term memory but an intact long term memory
- Problems concentrating
- Unable to perform everyday tasks due to extreme fatigue
- Preceding viral infection
- Inability to say or find a particular word during normal speech
- Postexertional fatigue
- Non-restorative sleep
- Depression because of the inability to perform everyday tasks
Major depressive disorder
- Sleep disturbance
- Suicide ideations
Differences and similarities between chronic fatigue syndrome and depression
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Case Study: Mood Swings And Hair Loss
Tina was a 43 year old lady who came to see me because she was fed up with feeling so unwell. On her symptom questionnaire the words that stood out the most were mood swings and scalp hair loss. Tina had not felt well for many years and she had seen her doctor regularly. There were several abnormalities in Tinas blood test results, and together they contributed to each of her health problems.
Tina was a very busy person. She had two part time jobs and one of them was a night job she restocked the supermarket shelves 3 evenings a week. Tina was chronically exhausted but she had no other choice than to keep going. The loss of scalp hair was stressing her very much. She learned how to style her hair in a clever way so as to minimize the problem, but when she parted her hair for me I could see the extent of the hair loss. Tina found this incredibly upsetting, and this is understandable.
Each month, a week before her menstrual period was due Tina became extremely irritable and upset. She flew off the handle and became snappy at her children and partner. Tina said she really didnt like herself at this time and desperately wanted to feel calmer and happier.
I found some interesting things in Tinas blood test results.
In a word, Tina was malnourished.
My recommendations for my patient:
Tina is booked to see me again in another 3 weeks and I look forward to monitoring her progress.
Migraine Is More Than Just Headache: Is The Link To Chronic Fatigue And Mood Disorders Simply Due To Shared Biological Systems
- 1Headache Group, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, Division of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2NIHR-Wellcome Trust Kings Clinical Research Facility, SLaM Biomedical Research Centre, Kings College Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- 3Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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How Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosed
CFS diagnosis depends on two criteria:
A specific treatment for CFS has yet to be proven effective. Vitamin supplements and medicines have some benefit. Many treatments just relieve the symptoms of CFS.
Tips To Tame Mood Swings:
Experiencing frequent and rapid mood swings or having bad mood swings for no reason can be overwhelming for an individual. That is why we are here to help you find different ways to master your mood swings.
1. Keep a schedule:
Have a routine in your life so that you dont end up surprising your body in a bad way. While creating a routine does focus on eating and sleeping at the right time, these two will fuel you and your emotions.
2. Get enough sleep:
Many studies have found that sleep deprivation can result in severe mood swings. Sleep is like the restart button in our lives, when the emotional roller coaster gets an issue, sleep will help you fix it.
You can read more about it here.
5. Move your body:
Your body needs the emotional energy within you to flow out rather than being trapped. To make this work you have to exercise regularly and sweat it out.
6. Talk and express:
Dont let your emotions keep rolling within you, find a way to roll them out. That is why it is suggested that you talk about your feelings to your friends, family members, or even a professional. Or you can express them by penning down your thoughts.
7. Try relaxation techniques: Calm your mind and severe mood swings by trying different relaxation techniques which involve yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and more.
What do you do to deal with your severe mood swings? Share it with us in the comments section below. If you ask me I like to practice deep breathing. It does cool me down fixing my mood swing!
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