Home Remedies And Lifestyle Changes
Making some lifestyle changes may help reduce your symptoms.
Limiting or eliminating your caffeine intake can help you sleep better and ease your insomnia. You should limit or avoid nicotine and alcohol too.
Try to avoid napping during the day if its hurting your ability to sleep at night.
Create a sleep routine. Go to bed at the same time every night and aim to wake up around the same time every day.
Home Remedies And Lifestyle
Making lifestyle changes may greatly impact how you feel, and the specific changes you need can depend on the severity of your illness and whether certain activities exacerbate your symptoms. While some people may see the tremendous benefit just from making changes to the way they eat, for example, others may find that more sweeping changessuch as a job changemay be necessary.
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.
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Popular Medications For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome can have a devastating effect on a woman’s life and relationships. Unlike normal tiredness and fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome is a long-term, incurable form of intense fatigue that does not improve with rest or sleep. While there is no cure for this condition, there are medications for chronic fatigue syndrome that may help manage symptoms. A doctor can help you decide which of these five popular chronic fatigue medications is right for you.
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:
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Get 7 9 Hours Of Sleep Nightly
The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults get seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Some questions you can ask yourself to see if you are not sleeping enough include: Does it take me a long time to fall asleep? Do I wake up often or am I restless? Do I feel sleepy when driving? Do I need caffeine to get through the day? Answer, yes, to any of these indicates you may not be getting enough quality sleep.
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Can Complementary Or Alternative Medicine Help Manage The Symptoms Of Me/cfs
Some people say that complementary or alternative medicine has helped their ME/CFS symptoms. Keep in mind that many alternative treatments, dietary supplements, and herbal remedies claim to cure ME/CFS, but some might do more harm than good. Talk to your doctor before trying alternative therapies to be sure they’re safe.
When Your Cfs Symptom Is Pain
If a patients most serious CFS symptom is pain in his muscles and joints, his doctor may pursue pain management via such tactics as medication , massage, water therapy, relaxation techniques, and/or a stretching and exercise program.
If a CFS patients most disruptive symptom is depression, his physician may recommend psychological counseling as well as movement therapies , deep breathing and muscle relaxation techniques, massage therapies, or an antidepressant prescription.
The first step, though, is to meet with your healthcare provider to review your symptoms. From there, you and your healthcare team can pursue the most appropriate chronic fatigue treatment.
Meanwhile, its important to find out everything you can about chronic fatigue syndrome. Besides useful summaries at the U.S. National Library of Medicine and at the CDC, you can access these free University Health News posts:
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Memory And Concentration Problems
Memory aids, like organizers and calendars, can help with memory problems. For people with ME/CFS who have concentration problems, some doctors have prescribed stimulant medications, like those typically used to treat Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder . While stimulants might help improve concentration for some patients with ME/CFS, they might lead to the push-and-crash cycle and worsen symptoms. Push-and-crash cycles are when someone with ME/CFS is having a good day and tries to push to do more than they would normally attempt .
Continued Research Should Lead To Better Understanding And Treatments
A great deal more is known about ME/CFS today than 35 years ago. With continued and expanded support from the NIH, CDC, and private foundations dedicated to ME/CFS, I expect a lot of progress in the coming decade. Instead of doctors saying, The tests came back normal, there is nothing wrong, they will say, Tests showed us what was wrong, and we have treatments to fix it.
And doctors will recognize the wisdom of the wise advice we all learned in medical school: Listen to your patient. The patient is telling you the diagnosis.
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Natural Remedies That Work
Guest Writer for Wake Up World
We all feel tired, even exhausted, some of the time. But for some people, the exhaustion never lets up, and it comes along with physical discomfort, sleep issues, and trouble with memory and concentration. Anywhere from about 800,000 to 2.5 million Americans may have myalgic encephalomyelitis more commonly called chronic fatigue syndrome .
Medical experts once told people these symptoms were all in their head but they have come to accept that the suffering is real.
As one patient put it, having ME/CFS feels like permanently having the flu, a hangover, and jet lag while being continually electrocuted ME/CFS results in nerve pain as much as it does fatigue.
Though little understood and currently without a known cure, certain natural remedies may provide some relief from the discomfort and constant fatigue.
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Dumbfounded that physicians knew so little about chronic fatigue syndrome also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME/CFS Allen resolved several years ago to take part in any study that would have her. In 2017, she got her chance: she entered a study assessing how women with ME/CFS respond to synthetic hormones.
After decades of pleading, people with the condition have finally caught the attention of mainstream science and dozens of exploratory studies are now under way. Scientists entering the field are using the powerful tools of modern molecular biology to search for any genes, proteins, cells and possible infectious agents involved. They hope the work will yield a laboratory test to diagnose ME/CFS which might have several different causes and manifestations and they want to identify molecular pathways to target with drugs.
The US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, bolstered the field last year by more than doubling spending for research into the condition, from around US$6 million in 2016 to $15 million in 2017. Included in that amount are funds for four ME/CFS research hubs in the United States that will between them receive $36 million over the next five years.
Early days
Epidemiologists have suggested that the anguish of contending with the disorder and societys general dismissal of it contribute to an up to sevenfold increase in the rate of suicide for people with ME/CFS.
Immune system
Nature553, 14-17
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Skip Heavily Processed Foods
Heavily processed foods typically have fewer nutrients than their whole food counterparts. Its important to load up on plants like legumes, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to support your bodys needs.
Dont know what to eat? Groppo recommends sticking with foods that are as close to how Mother Nature made it as possible. Choose popped corn instead of corn flakes or brown rice instead of pasta, for example.
Other Lifestyle Changes To Manage Me/cfs
Other ways to manage ME/CFS include:
- equipment â some people may need a blue badge for parking, a wheelchair, a stairlift, or other adaptations for their home
- changes in your place of work or study â when you’re ready and well enough to return to work or studies, your doctor should be able to advise you on changes that could ease your return
There’s limited or no evidence to recommend:
- resting completely â there’s no evidence this helps
- complementary medicine â there is not enough evidence that it’s helpful for ME/CFS
You should not take up vigorous unsupervised exercise such as going to the gym or for a run as this may make your symptoms worse.
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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
- sore throat, tender lymph nodes and a flu-like feeling
- inability to cope with temperature changes.
Will I Still Be Able To Work With Me/cfs
Research shows that about half of people with ME/CFS work part-time or full-time jobs. For some people with ME/CFS, the ability to work is possible thanks to a supportive employer and certain workplace accommodations, including a flexible schedule, a quiet comfortable place to rest, and memory aids.
But, if you can’t work because of ME/CFS, you may be eligible for Social Security benefits. Learn more about applying for disability through the Social Security Administration.
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Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Although experts have not yet found a cure for CFS/ME, many people who have the illness are able to make lifestyle changes and find treatments that allow them to reduce or manage their symptoms. Improvement is possible by living within your limits and working with a doctor to find treatments that help you. There are also many CFS/ME support groups both online and in-person. Meeting with such a group might prove to be helpful.
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Chronic Fatigue Treatment: Whats Next
Theres currently no cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, nor have prescription drugs been developed to relieve the condition. Healthcare providers instead talk about managing CFSa challenge because it affects each patient in a different way. Plus, symptoms can vary over time, further complicating matters.
The most effective treatment of CFS, experts say, involves a team approach: doctors who specialize in different areas working with the patient himself. By working together, they have a better chance of creating a customized treatment program.
Doctors typically set out to relieve the most disruptive symptoms in a chronic fatigue syndrome patient. For example, some patients may experience a serious sleep disorder as one of their symptoms, whether its insomnia, restless leg syndrome, or nocturnal myoclonus . A sleep specialists treatment might involve the establishment of a hard-and-fast bedtime routine, the elimination of napping during the day, regular exercise, and the avoidance of caffeine after lunch and of alcohol and tobacco altogether.
If those steps dont resolve sleep issuesif the patient is still experiencing unrefreshing sleepdoctors may test for sleep apnea or narcolepsy and/or prescribe medication.
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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.
There May Not Be A Cure But There Are Ways To Manage Cfs To Give You A Better Chance At Finding The Right Chronic Fatigue Treatment It Helps To First Understand What It Is And What May Cause It
Do you feel like this too often? If it’s chronic fatigue, treatment is in order..
If youre suffering from the syndrome known as chronic fatigue, treatment can varyno surprise, considering that the condition itself is so mysterious. Before we get into the best ways to manage and treat chronic fatigue syndrome, consider the genesis of how we define it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bases its description of chronic fatigue syndrome on a 1994 case definitionone that provides a consensus viewpoint from leading researchers and clinicians and that followed different studies of CFS in adults.
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Complementary And Alternative Medicine
CFS/ME patients tend to use more alternative medicine treatments than people without . Patients often leave orthodox medical care because they feel that their condition has been unjustifiably attributed to psychological causes: they are given the message that it is all in the mind. In a twin study, 91% of twins with CFS/ME and 71% without CFS/ME used at least one alternative treatment. A large proportion of the study participants stated that alternative treatments were helpful .
What We Knew Then
First of all, the textbooks of medicine didnt describe an illness like this. In addition, all the usual laboratory tests to screen for various diseases came back normal. At this point, a doctor has two choices: decide to believe the patient and keep searching to find what is wrong, or to tell the patient, There is nothing wrong. Indeed, some doctors seeing people like my patient did just that, adding insult to injury.
Fortunately, many physicians and biomedical scientists around the world became interested in this illness, and over 9,000 scientific studies have been published in the past 35 years. The Institute of Medicine has concluded that the condition, now called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is a serious, chronic, complex systemic disease that often can profoundly affect the lives of patients. It affects up to 2.5 million people in the United States, and generates direct and indirect expenses of approximately $17 to $24 billion annually.
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What Causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
So far, experts have not identified a cause of chronic fatigue syndrome or how to prevent it. Scientists think the condition might be the combined result of more than one illness, or that if it is a single disease, two or more factors may trigger it.
Risk factors include:
- Age: Chronic fatigue syndrome tends to affect people in their 40s and 50s .
- Gender: Women are four times more likely to get chronic fatigue syndrome than men.
- Race: White people tend to get it more than people of other races.
- Health history: About 10 percent of people exposed to certain infections sometimes later develop chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms. These include the Epstein-Barr, herpes 6, and Ross River viruses and a bacterial infection known as Q fever. Others develop symptoms after a bout of flu or following a stressful event, such as surgery.
Some experts think an immune system malfunction, where the body attacks its own tissues, may cause chronic fatigue syndrome. Others believe a possible cause is an abnormal number of disease-fighting proteins or cells. Alternatively, hormonal changes an imbalance of stress hormones in the brain and body could be the culprit. Genetics plays a role, so it can run in families.
