Get A Good Nights Sleep
Depending on how severe your symptoms are, you may not be getting good quality sleep at night. Without good sleep, CFS can worsen physically and mentally.
Try to do relaxing activities before bed.
- Read a book instead of watching Netflix.
- Take a relaxing bath with your favorite essential oils.
- Do some deep breathing exercises to calm your mind.
- Do some easy stretches with your breathing exercises.
- Write down what causes your anxiety.
- Journal every evening.
Management Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms
Rest and sleep in CFSRest periods in the daily routine are part of management strategies for all people with chronic fatigue syndrome. Relaxation techniques at the beginning of each rest period can be helpful. Try to balance the need for rest during the day against how you are sleeping at night. Introduce changes to your sleep pattern gradually.
Physical functioning and mobility problems in CFSStrategies to help maintain and prevent deterioration of your physical function and mobility need to be carried out in small amounts and spread out throughout the day. Strategies should include joint mobility, muscle flexibility, balance, postural and positional support, muscle function, bone health and cardiovascular health.
Care and support plans in relation to physical functioning and mobility may include bed mobility, moving from lying to sitting to standing, transferring from bed to chair, using mobility aids, walking, joint mobility, muscle stretching, muscle strength, balance, and going up and down stairs.
People with CFS may experience intolerance of changing position, such as when first standing up. This may include postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome . You may need to be refered to a specialist if your symptoms are severe or worsening, or there are concerns that another condition may be the cause.
Pain in CFSChronic pain is commonly associated with CFS. You may need referral to specialist pain services if appropriate.
What Are The Treatments For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
There is no cure or approved treatment for CFS, but you may be able to treat or manage some of your symptoms. You, your family, and your health care provider should work together to decide on a plan. You should figure out which symptom causes the most problems and try to treat that first. For example, if sleep problems affect you the most, you might first try using good sleep habits. If those do not help, you may need to take medicines or see a sleep specialist.
Strategies such as learning new ways to manage activity can also be helpful. You need to make sure that you do not “push and crash.” This can happen when you feel better, do too much, and then get worse again.
Since the process of developing a treatment plan and attending to self-care can be hard if you have CFS, it is important to have support from family members and friends.
Don’t try any new treatments without talking to your health care provider. Some treatments that are promoted as cures for CFS are unproven, often costly, and could be dangerous.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Test
Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by chronic exhaustion that affects the quality of your life. The fatigue does not go away even after adequate sleep or rest. Most people who have CFS have other symptoms as well, such as joint pains, muscular pains, poor concentration, disturbed sleep patterns and headaches. What causes this condition is not clear and it is not easy to diagnose it either. The problem is that you may have normal test results even when you have it. Your doctor will work closely with you to rule out other conditions first to make a diagnosis.
What Do Doctors Prescribe For Extreme Fatigue
The doctor can determine the systemic injuries that are causing fatigue. The doctor will conduct an examination, assign the necessary diagnostic tests.
There is no effective way to treat chronic fatigue syndrome, but treating the symptoms can improve your condition. If your doctor thinks it is necessary, he or she may prescribe painkillers, antidepressants or other medications he thinks will help for chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.
A rehabilitation medicine specialist will teach you how to plan your day so you can be living with chronic fatigue syndrome and use the time for well-being for yourself. You may need the help of a psychologist.
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Impact And Prognosis Of Me/cfs
- Nacul L.
- Lacerda E.M.
Pharmacoecon Open.
- Campion P.
- et al.
BMC Public Health.J Chronic Fatigue Syndr.
- Cox D.L.
- Findley L.J.
Br J Occup Ther.
- Mild: mobile and self-caring may continue working but will have reduced other activities
- Moderate: reduced mobility, restricted in instrumental activities of daily living, needs frequent periods of rest usually not working
- Severe: mostly housebound limited to minimal activities of daily living severe cognitive difficulties may be wheelchair dependent
- Very severe: mostly bedridden unable to independently carry out most activities of daily living often experience extreme sensitivity to light, sound, and other sensory input
- Tian H.
- et al.
Am J Epidemiol.Chronic Illn.
Qual Life Res.Disabil Rehabil.Occup Med .
Rehabil Psychol.Front Pediatr.Fatigue.
When To See The Doctor
Dont misjudge CFS as AIDS or HIV, where you may prefer to stay anonymous its not contagious! So, be open and communicative about your symptoms with family and your doctor.
Remember, at the very beginning, patients dont look bad so before seeing a GP or a family doctor think carefully of the signs.
Being partying for a few days will make you sick the same with some extra night shifts at work take a few more days to restore, and youll be okay.
Also, its about unexplained muscle pain. You may stop working out when something goes wrong and look at your lifestyle from the other perspective. As a premeditative go to a massage specialist or see a rheumatologist .
What I meant in the above said find the reasons to exclude other diseases which may be causing you CFS-like symptoms.
It wont take years to check yourself before consultation about a CFS, you need to provide a list of specialists youve already seen. To save time for you and the doctor, its best to maintain a daily journal.
A final point dont listen to friends or a family who are not helpful or not available to see you and listen to you. They will mostly tell you to look good and blame you that you are lazy. But if extreme tiredness is chasing you for months, plan a doctors appointment.
Tip: Although some believe it does, remember the science has not proven that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy helps in the treatment of CFS.
History and Research Basis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Men vs Women
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Symptoms And Signs Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Before onset of CFS, most patients are highly functioning and successful.
Onset is usually abrupt, often following a psychologically or medically stressful event. Many patients report an initial viral-like illness with swollen lymph nodes, extreme fatigue, fever, and upper respiratory symptoms. The initial syndrome resolves but seems to trigger protracted severe fatigue, which interferes with daily activities and typically worsens with exertion but is alleviated poorly or not at all by rest. Patients often also have disturbances of sleep and cognition, such as memory problems, “foggy thinking,” hypersomnolence, and a feeling of having had unrefreshing sleep. Important general characteristics are diffuse pains and sleep problems.
The physical examination is normal, with no objective signs of muscle weakness, arthritis, neuropathy, or organomegaly. However, some patients have low-grade fever, nonexudative pharyngitis, and/or palpable or tender lymph nodes.
Because patients typically appear healthy, friends, family, and even health care practitioners sometimes express skepticism about their condition, which can worsen the frustration and/or depression patients often feel about their poorly understood disorder.
Treat Your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Testing for chronic fatigue syndrome is definitely recommended and certainly helps to diagnose the condition. After testing is completed, a few different treatments can be used, including medication, getting plenty of rest, and natural remedies. To learn more about this condition and treatment options available for you, contact us at Medical Transformation Center in Louisville, KY today.
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Disability Evaluation Under Social Security
The Social Security Administration has prepared an online guide Disability Evaluation Under Social Securityexternal icon to provide physicians and other health professionals with an understanding of how its disability programs are administered. The guide explains how these programs work and lists the kinds of information that health professionals can provide to help ensure sound decisions on claims. It also includes links to the Listing of Impairments that SSA uses as part of the disability determination process.
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: What Are The Causes
The root causes of the disease remain unclear, although several theories exist. People with the condition often find it initially manifests as a run-of-the-mill flulike illness, leading many researchers to suspect that CFS/ME may be triggered by infectious disease. Long Covid could fall into this category.
Others believe that the condition could be caused by a change in the persons immune system and how it reacts to infection or stress, through chronic production of cytokines, low functioning natural killer cells or differences in markers of T-cell activation.
CFS/ME may also arise from a faulty hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis , a network that controls the bodys reaction to stress and regulates processes related to immune response, digestion, energy usage and mood.
People with CFS/ME may also have differences in the way the cells in their bodies get energy, while studies done in twins and families suggest that genes and environment might have a role to play too.
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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.
Alternative And Holistic Therapies
Alternative or holistic therapies may provide some comfort to those with a long standing illnesses but be cautious of any method that claims to offer a cure for chronic fatigue. If the therapy has not been published in respected peer-reviewed journal or is expensive you should talk to your GP before trying it. Until further research is done, no-one can be certain whether someone with CFS/ME might benefit from alternative therapies.
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What Can I Do For Myself
There are some things that you can do for yourself to help you manage the condition and still live your own life. Small changes can build and make a difference to your energy and mobility. This is called self-management.
To help with this, you might try:
- Planning your time record what you do so that you can build a picture of what uses more energy and what activities you can ask others to do for you. This will help you choose what is important to you and plan your day to achieve this. It will also show you if there are patterns of symptoms and when they appear during your day
- Rest and relaxation this is very important for managing CFS/ME. You may need some support and advice on what that might mean for you in terms of your physical, mental and emotional activities for resting
- Getting support being open with people and asking for help when you need it before you are exhausted is a key approach to managing your condition. Talking about how you are feeling is important for long term health conditions because of the impact your symptoms have on the way you live your life. While you are adjusting to the diagnosis and the change in your life, it may be helpful to get outside support such as counselling or CBT. Talk to your GP about emotional support available to you.
Key Points About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by profound tiredness.
- Symptoms often worsen with physical or mental activity.
- In addition to severe fatigue, symptoms include light sensitivity, headache, muscle and joint pain, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, and depression.
- Treatments may include medicines, exercise, supplements, and counseling.
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Beware Of Insurer Attempts To Characterize Your Disability As A Mental Disorder
Most long term disability group policies limit benefits to two years when the disability is caused or contributed to by a mental illness. Insurance companies frequently use these provisions as a shield because the symptoms of CFS/ME are often similar to symptoms of depression. It is much harder for your insurance company to make this claim when your treating doctor has followed the proper diagnostic criteria and performed the right tests to rule out other conditions.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Me/cfs
The most common symptom is ongoing, unexplained overwhelming tiredness or fatigue which worsens after exercise or mental effort. This is known as post-exertional malaise . The level of activity that triggers PEM will vary from person to person and can depend on how severe their condition is. PEM is sometimes delayed and can last for a few days. A more serious relapse can last for weeks or months.
A common misconception is that people with ME/CFS have ‘chronic fatigue and are just very tired. Persistent and profound fatigue is just one symptom of ME/CFS.
Other symptoms may include:
Some people may experience only mild symptoms, but others may develop more severe symptoms.
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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Myalgic encephalomyelitis , commonly referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome , is a complex disorder characterized by unexplained and persistent fatigue lasting longer than six months. It is estimated that ME/CFS affects between 12.4 million people in the US. Symptoms can include memory loss or the inability to concentrate, mild fever, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, headaches, non-restorative sleep and depression. These symptoms overlap a wide range of medical conditions commonly associated with ME/CFS including anemia, anxiety, autoimmune diseases, depression, endocrine disorders, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, mononucleosis, sleep apnea and persistent viral or bacterial infections.
Fatigue is one of the most common complaints in primary care, with up to 33% of patients complaining about long-lasting exhaustion and tiredness. For one third of these patients, the etiology of this fatigue cannot be identified.
Diagnostic Criteria For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Your doctor will order tests only when you meet diagnostic criteria. It means you should have persistent, unexplained fatigue for at least six months with other symptoms. Here is more about these symptoms:
Fatigue
Persistent tiredness or fatigue is the most common symptom of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The extreme exhaustion lasts for more than 24 hours after mental or physical exercise and keeps you from living comfortably. The tiredness you experience in CFS will not go away with rest, is different from everyday tiredness, is not due to muscle weakness, is not like tiredness after over-exertion, and is not accompanied by loss of pleasure or motivation.
Other Symptoms
In addition to fatigue, there will be some other symptoms as well.
- You will experience cognitive difficulties, such as bad short-term memory, poor concentration and reduced attention span. You may also find it difficult to organize your thoughts and feel disorientated.
- You will experience sleeping difficulties. Some people are unable to sleep while others may face issues such as early waking or disrupted sleep/wake patterns.
- You will notice muscular pains, headaches and joint pains as well.
Some people with CFS have also reported some other symptoms, such as palpitations, nausea and dizziness.
Severity of the Symptoms
- Mild
If your symptoms are mild, you will be able to do light domestic tasks with some difficulty. Still, you will be able to complete your jobs.
- Moderate
- Severe
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Help From A Lawyer With Expertise In Disability Insurance
Disability insurance law is complex, making hiring an experienced disability attorney important. All disability lawyers at this law firm focus on disability insurance claims, and we have expertise in disability insurance law.
That means we have:
And, we never charge fees or costs unless our clients get paid.
The firm can help at any stage of your disability insurance claim, including:
- Submitting a disability insurance claim
- Appealing a long-term disability denial
- Negotiating a lump-sum settlement or
- Filing a lawsuit against your disability insurance company.
Because federal law applies to most disability insurance claims, our lawyers are able to represent clients across the country.
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