How To Get Diagnosed With Chronic Fatigue

Incorporate Stress Reduction Techniques

Josie was also encouraged to begin a regular meditation practice and to harness thoughts of gratitude, compassion, and peace, and to picture herself in a healthy state six months from that time. These types of visualizations and emotions are necessary on a daily basis in order for our bodies to heal.

When we spend much of our time with negative thinking and anxiety, our bodies perceive that we are in survival mode. If we live in a chronic state of survival, then our brains will be surrounded by high levels of cortisol and adrenaline which can eventually cause the size of our hippocampus to decrease and can even shrink our muscles. These effects contribute to feelings of fatigue. Meditation on a regular basis switches the brain from survival into healing and resting mode and will counteract these effects.

What Are The Symptoms Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Symptoms of CFS often mimic the flu. The following are the most common symptoms of CFS. However, each person may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:

• Sensitivity to light
• Low-grade fever

The symptoms of CFS may look like other medical conditions. Always talk with your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.

Get Symptom Relief That Works

Fully dedicating yourself to overcoming chronic fatigue syndrome can be difficult when the very symptoms youre trying to nix chiefly fatigue and pain are the same ones holding you back from pursuing recovery. Healing takes time, and symptoms wont go away until healing is complete. Fortunately, there are many herbs and other natural options for feeling better, sooner, even as youre addressing the root causes of your misery.

I know we just covered a lot of ground, but my hope is that it feels supportive rather than overwhelming. Whats most important to remember is that while you dont have to follow every last bit of advice above, theres a lot you can do to overcome chronic fatigue syndrome.

You possess the power to change your health fate, and the minute you take the reins is the minute you truly begin your recovery.

Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease in Dr. Rawls new best selling book, Unlocking Lyme. You can also learn about Dr. Rawls personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.

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What Is The Treatment For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A treatment plan for CFS aims to relieve your symptoms to improve your quality of life. The plan should include:

• a plan for how to manage stress
• a very gentle exercise plan
• a nutritious diet, with regular meals/snacks to keep up your energy
• supplements if your diet lacks a good balance or if your blood tests indicate deficiencies
• a sleep management plan, which may include medication
• physiotherapy to help with pain and good breathing techniques
• medication for pain
• psychological input if you are particularly stressed or depressed.

Where Can I Get Support

ME/CFS can have a significant emotional and financial impact on your life. A lack of understanding and awareness about ME/CFS means patients can experience disbelief, and even discrimination, from friends, family, health and social care professionals and employers.

Information on entitlements to welfare benefits, accessing health and social care and others sources of support for patients and carers are available from Action for M.E. They also offer resources and services for children and young people affected by ME/CFS and their families.

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When Should I Call The Doctor About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

People seek medical care when the fatigue and cognitive difficulties of chronic fatigue syndrome affect their quality of life. People who have questions about a particular treatment should contact a qualified health-care provider, local medical society, or university medical school for additional information.

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Symptoms Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The main feature of ME/CFS is a type of exhaustion known as post-exertional malaise, crash or payback. This means having flu-like symptoms after exercise and not having enough energy for daily activities.

Research shows that people with ME/CFS have a different physiological response to activity or exercise from other people. This includes abnormal exhaustion after any form of exertion, and a worsening of other symptoms. The response may be delayed, perhaps after 24 hours. Depending on the amount and type of exercise, it may result in post-exertional malaise for a few days, or serious relapses lasting weeks, months or even years.

• problems with thinking, concentrating, memory loss, vision, clumsiness, muscle twitching or tingling
• disrupted sleep

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How Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Typically Diagnosed

Without an official blood test to help diagnose CFS, it can take years for people to receive a diagnosis. Heres what doctors currently look for when making a diagnosis:

• Substantial impairment: CFS causes significant impairment in someones ability to do activities at home, school, work, or in social settings. This impairment usually comes as a result of severe, persistent fatigue that doesnt get better with rest.
• Post-exertional malaise : After engaging in mental or physical activities, CFS can cause PEM, which is a worsening of chronic fatigue symptoms. PEM tends to appear within 12 to 48 hours after the exertion and can last for days or weeks.
• Trouble sleeping: Chronic fatigue syndrome can cause difficulties sleeping, such as trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, or the inability to feel refreshed after sleeping. Not feeling refreshed even after a full nights sleep is one of the hallmark symptoms of CFS.
• Cognitive difficulties: When someone has CFS, they may struggle with decreased cognitive function. Sometimes referred to as brain fog, cognitive impairment can cause trouble with memory, information processing, concentration, and even language comprehension.
• Orthostatic intolerance: Orthostatic intolerance refers to the development of symptoms, such as dizziness, that happen when moving from a reclining to an upright position. While CFS isnt the only condition to cause this, people with CFS often experience symptoms when sitting or standing up.

Moving Beyond Diagnosis To Find The Causes

I learned firsthand the struggle to understand fatigue-related disorders when a personal encounter with debilitating fatigue around age 50 forced me to see them differently than most physicians. After years of intense night call as an OB/GYN and keeping some pretty poor health habits, I was gradually propelled into chronic misery and had to give up my practice as a result.

I experienced the full range of symptoms common to chronic fatigue syndrome. And like most sufferers, I struggled between a diagnosis of CFS and fibromyalgia, but ultimately chose fibromyalgia because of pain issues. Later, after a tick bite with a bulls eye rash, I concluded that I had been suffering from chronic Lyme disease all along.

Now, after more than a decade of research and trial and error with nearly every possible conventional and alternative treatment, Im finally well again. In the process, Ive also come to the conclusion that all three of these illnesses chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic Lyme are variations of the same fundamental problem: Loss of energy that can be sourced to mitochondrial dysfunction and disrupted communications within the body.

The list of possible coinfections includes mycoplasma, bartonella, babesia, anaplasma, ehrlichia, and rickettsia, but new microbes are being added to the list on a regular basis. In addition, most everyone with chronic Lyme disease is also found to have reactivation of EBV and a variety of other viruses.

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What Else Could It Be

Many people who have ME/CFS have other conditions, too. If you get treated for those, it might also improve your chronic fatigue.

ME/CFS can look a lot like âmonoâ , Lyme disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, sleep disorders, or depression. It affects about 2.5 million Americans, but experts believe only about 20% are diagnosed.

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Wrong diagnoses hurt. They lead doctors to prescribe treatments that dont work and may even be harmful and they keep doctors from prescribing treatments that do work. They waste patients money and, given the fact that the earlier a person is diagnosed with ME/CFS the better chance they have of improving their health, they contribute to poor health.

Many people with ME/CFS and FM are mistakenly diagnosed with depression first

The fact that only from 15-20% of people in the U.S. with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome have been diagnosed with it suggests wrong diagnoses run rampant in this disorder. Of all the wrong diagnoses, being diagnosed with depression is surely the most common.

Who has not been diagnosed with depression at some point? I was diagnosed with depression by my primary care provider only to have the psychologist I was sent to tell me, I know what depression is and youre not depressed.

I was lucky.

Fortunately, Dr. Lenny Jason has come up with a way to convince your doctor that youre not simply depressed. But first, a little history.

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Guidelines For Diagnosing Me/cfs

Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence say doctors should consider diagnosing ME/CFS if a patient has extreme tiredness that cannot be explained by other causes and the tiredness:

• started recently, has lasted a long time, or keeps coming back
• means you cannot do the things you used to do
• gets worse after activity or gentle exercise, such as a short walk

You must also have some of these symptoms:

• problems sleeping, such as insomnia
• muscle or joint pain
• fast or irregular heartbeats
• doing exercise or concentrating makes your symptoms worse

The GP should consult a specialist if they’re unsure about the diagnosis or if you have severe symptoms.

If a child or young person under 18 has symptoms of possible ME/CFS, they may be referred to a paediatrician.

As the symptoms of ME/CFS are similar to those of many common illnesses that usually get better on their own, a diagnosis of ME/CFS may be considered if you do not get better as quickly as expected.

The diagnosis should be confirmed by a doctor after other conditions have been ruled out, and if your symptoms have lasted at least 3 months.

Page last reviewed: 29 October 2021 Next review due: 29 October 2024

Mental Health Support And Me/cfs

ME/CFS is not a psychological disorder. However, living with a chronic illness is challenging, especially one that involves missing out on normal life activities, and this may lead to mental health problems like anxiety or depression.

Speaking with a qualified mental health professional who understands the challenges of living with ME/CFS can be very helpful. They can help with things such as coping with changes to schooling, employment or social activities, and symptoms such as difficulty with sleep or pain. With the availability of Medicare rebates for telehealth, many mental health practitioners now offer remote consultations which makes healthcare more accessible for those who are housebound or bedbound with ME/CFS.

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Caring For Someone With Me/cfs

Having a supportive community of family, friends, school, work, employers and health workers, who understand the potential seriousness of ME/CFS, can also help improve the quality of life of people living with ME/CFS.

Everyone involved in supporting someone with ME/CFS needs to understand Post Exertional Malaise, which is an abnormal, biological response to exercise or activity. This means the patient will not be able to do all of the activities they used to be able to do, and will benefit from practical and emotional support. People with ME/CFS will each have different needs and preferences, so it is important to talk with them about how best to provide support. This may include help with daily routines, family life, accessing healthcare and other personal priorities.

What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Someone with chronic fatigue syndrome can have many possible symptoms. The most common ones include:

• severe fatigue, which can make it hard to get out of bed and do normal daily activities
• sleep problems, such as trouble falling or staying asleep, or not having a refreshing sleep
• symptoms getting worse after physical or mental effort
• symptoms or dizziness that get worse after standing up or sitting upright from a lying down position
• problems with concentration and memory
• headaches and stomachaches

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How I Got Diagnosed With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue. It sounds like something were all experiencing, right? It seems like everyone is functioning on too little sleep, getting by on fumes, hitting the weekend too tired, stressed, and worn out. Fatigue seems to be an epidemic. And yet, when I talk about chronic fatigue syndrome, Im talking about a whole different animal.

Its hard to clarify for those who havent experienced it the difference between the fatigue that most adults are functioning with and what living with chronic fatigue syndrome is like. The name betrays the significance of the actual condition. This isnt simply being tired all the time, this is bone-weary, joint and muscle pain, extreme exhaustion that remains unchanged with sleep, and sleep is often elusive. For most of us, CFS is accompanied by additional symptoms of the illness like swollen glands, sore throats, headaches, cognitive difficulties, fevers, night sweats, and difficulty recovering from any kind of exertion. For me, it feels a lot like an unrelenting flu.

Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome And Fibromyalgia

Theres no standard treatment for ME/CFS or fibromyalgia. Most people end up with multiple types of treatment. It can take a lot of trial and error to come up with a good treatment regimen.

Types of treatment include:

• Painkillers: Ranging from over-the-counter or prescription anti-inflammatories to opioid painkillers, such as Advil/Motrin , Aleve , Relafen , Vicodin , OxyContin
• Sleep drugs: To improve sleep duration and quality, including Klonopin , Lunesta , Ambien

Topical pain relievers like BioFreeze and Tiger Balm are commonly used, as well.

Therapies

Therapy for ME/CFS aims to help you adjust to a life with chronic illness and the limitations it imposes. Types include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy : A type of talk therapy that addresses negative thoughts and habits and how to replace them with healthier behaviors.
• Graded exercise therapy: Controlled exercise that attempts to build exercise tolerance.
• Emotional support and counseling: May involve a therapist to help with lifestyle changes and possibly a support group.

CAM Treatments

CAM treatments are common in ME/CFS because drug therapies are rarely effective enough on their own. They include:

Most of these have very little research to back them up.

Supplements

Supplements are also poorly researched but popular in people with ME/CFS. Many are in common use, including:

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Appendix 1 The Interview Guide

What follows is a guide some themes may emerge spontaneously so the order of the questions varied as the interview and analysis phase developed allowing for the exploration of themes from the initial interview. The researcher probed and asked for examples to explore each topic as time permitted.

How Is Me/cfs Treated

There is no cure for ME/CFS, but there are several things your doctor can suggest to help you relieve your symptoms and improve your quality of life.

Be careful when considering any commercially available product or treatment promoted as a cure for ME/CFS, as it doesnt have a known cure yet.

Current treatments have 2 key aspects.

• Pacing and rest: pacing is a strategy designed to help you live within your energy envelope this is the amount of energy you can safely use without triggering symptoms. It breaks down your activity into short bursts, interspersed with rest. The aim is to have some energy left at the end of the day. For more information about pacing, see the Emerge Australia fact sheet.
• Stepwise symptom management: this involves ranking your symptoms and exploring ways to reduce your symptoms, starting with the most problematic ones.

Your doctor may also suggest working with other healthcare professionals such as an occupational therapist, physiotherapist or psychologist.

Ask your doctor about how to best manage your work or school commitments while you are sick and when you might be ready to return.

It may also help if you:

• keep a diary to see whether certain activities or levels of exercise tend to trigger your symptoms
• make time to relax when you can
• go to bed at the same time each night and limit your daytime napping
• avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and anything else that could affect your sleep

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