Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Gets A New Name
The Institute of Medicine on Tuesday proposed a new name and new diagnostic criteria for the condition that many still call chronic fatigue syndrome.
Experts generally agree that the disease has a physical basis, but they have struggled for decades to characterize its symptoms. The new report may help improve diagnosis, but the recommendations are unlikely to end the long, contentious debate over who has the condition and what may be causing it.
An institute panel recommended that the illness be renamed systemic exertion intolerance disease, a term that reflects what patients, clinicians and researchers all agree is a core symptom: a sustained depletion of energy after minimal activity, called postexertional malaise.
The new name really describes much more directly the key feature of the illness, which is the inability to tolerate both physical and cognitive exertion, said Dr. Peter Rowe, a member of the panel and a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins who treats children with the condition.
An alternate name for the illness, myalgic encephalomyelitis, meaning brain and spinal cord inflammation with muscle pain, was coined decades ago. Many experts now refer to the condition as M.E./C.F.S.
About one million people in the United States are believed to have the syndrome. Many say they have been accused of imagining or exaggerating their symptoms, and many doctors have long viewed it as a psychological illness.
How Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosed
CFS can be difficult to diagnose. There is no specific test for CFS, and other illnesses can cause similar symptoms. Your health care provider has to rule out other diseases before making a diagnosis of CFS. He or she will do a thorough medical exam, including:
- Asking about your medical history and your family’s medical history
- Asking about your current illness, including your symptoms. Your doctor will want to know how often you have symptoms, how bad they are, how long they have lasted, and how they affect your life.
- A thorough physical and mental status exam
- Blood, urine, or other tests
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Has A New Name Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease
Many healthcare providers struggle with the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome .
- Is it real or psychosomatic?
- Does it follow an infection such as Lyme disease?
- How does it differ from fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome?
Because of these complexities, the Institute of Medicine was asked by several federal agencies to review the evidence base for CFS.
In 2015 they recommended a new namesystemic exertion intolerance disease or SEID.
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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.
Names Of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis And Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The name myalgic encephalomyelitis was coined by Dr. Melvin Ramsay following the 1955 Royal Free Hospital outbreak and is a portmanteau of several of the key signs and symptoms of the disease: myalgic , encephalo , myel , itis .
Several other names have been used or proposed throughout the history of the disease, including atypical polio, Icelandic disease, benign myalgic encephalomyelitis, epidemic neuromyasthenia, chronic fatigue syndrome , and systemic exertion intolerance disease . This has lead to much confusion as a variety of names have been used at different times to describe discrete outbreaks, a wider and potentially more heterogenous population of sporadic cases, and with a wide variety of case definitions.
A survey by The MEAction Network in 2016 found that the majority of patients prefer the name myalgic encephalomyelitis to other names including chronic fatigue syndrome. Most government agencies and researchers around the world now use the term ME/CFS.
Main article: Definitions of myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome
Patients that meet the International Consensus Criteria defining ME are usually more severely impaired than patients that meet the Canadian Consensus Criteria defining ME/CFS, or the minimum symptoms defined in the criteria for patients with SEID which also defines ME/CFS. Researchers believe all patients meeting these criteria, including Fukuda criteria defining CFS, are experiencing brain inflammation.
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How Will Me/cfs Affect My Quality Of Life
Not everyone will experience the same symptoms so itâs important not to compare people with ME/CFS. People with ME/CFS can have very different experiences of the condition and how long their symptoms last.
The impact of symptoms can be:
As symptoms change over time so does the impact they have on peopleâs lives.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A New Name & Diagnostic Criteria
Maggie McNulty
In March 2015, a report from the Institute of Medicine was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association to redefine the illness known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome .
Over the years, clinicians and researchers have developed different diagnostic criteria for ME and CFS however, the two terms describe conditions with similar symptoms. In the World Health Organizations International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, both ME and CFS are coded the same and classified as disorders of the nervous system . The term benign myalgic encephalomyelitis was first used in the 1950s in London when describing an outbreak in patients who experienced a variety of symptoms, including malaise, tender lymph nodes, sore throat, pain and signs of encephalomyelitis.
The cause was never found, but it appeared infectious in etiology, and the term benign myalgic encephalomyelitis was used to reflect the absent mortality, the severe muscular pains, the evidence of parenchymal damage to the nervous system and the presumed inflammatory nature of the disorder. Then in 1970, two psychiatrists reviewed reports of 15 of these outbreaks and concluded that the outbreaks were psychosocial phenomena caused by mass hysteria or altered medical perception of the community.
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Are You Tired All The Time Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Did you know that hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps chronic fatigue syndrome?
Tiredness, weariness, lethargy, and exhaustion are all symptoms indicating a lack of energy.
It may be accompanied by depression, diminished motivation, or apathetic mood.
In the most typical cases, inadequate sleep, overexertion, overworking, stress, lack of exercise, or boredom can all result in a lack of energy.
Issues like these are often resolved with rest, better sleeping habits, stress management, and decent nutrition.
However, a persistent lack of energy that does not alleviate with self-care may be a symptom of an underlying health or psychological issue.
Allergies and asthma, anemia, cancer, and its treatments, chronic pain, heart illness, infection, depression, eating disorders, bereavement, sleeping difficulties, thyroid problems, medication side effects, and alcohol or drug usage are also common reasons.
Constant exhaustion without a clear cause may result from a flu-like sickness known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome .
Other typical symptoms include cognitive difficulties, prolonged weariness and illness after activity, muscle or joint discomfort, sore throat, headache, and painful lymph nodes.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy seeks to address this by increasing cellular energy production to alleviate the general fatigue and pain that patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome experience.
Numeric Rating Scales Show Prolonged Post
- 2Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- 3Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis , Amsterdam, Netherlands
Introduction: Muscle pain, fatigue, and concentration problems are common among individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome . These symptoms are commonly increased as part of the phenomenon of postexertional malaise . An increase in the severity of these symptoms is described following physical or mental exercise in ME/CFS patients. Another important symptom of ME/CFS is orthostatic intolerance, which can be detected by head-up tilt testing . The effect of HUT on PEM has not been studied extensively. For this purpose, we assessed numeric rating scales for pain, fatigue, and concentration pre- and post-HUT. As pain is a core symptom in fibromyalgia , we subgrouped ME/CFS patients by the presence or absence of FM.
NRS scores of pain, fatigue, and concentration were significantly increased even at 7 days post-HUT compared with pre-HUT in ME/CFS patients with and without FM, suggesting that orthostatic stress is an important determinant of PEM.
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New Name For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
I understand that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is being renamed. I dont get it. Why change a name that is well recognized? Can you tell me what this is all about?
Andrew Weil, M.D. |April 16, 2015
Over the years, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has been called many things from the dismissive yuppy flu to the very technical myalgic encephalomyelitis, a medical term meaning brain and spinal cord inflammation with muscle pain. For understandable reasons that particular tongue twister never caught on among the public.
Putting the name aside, people still struggle to understand this controversial condition characterized by unexplained, long-lasting fatigue. To help clarify things, the authors of a recent report from the Institute of Medicine came up with a new name systemic exertion intolerance disease, and they endorsed new diagnostic criteria that may help physicians better identify the condition.
The new name was chosen to reflect the consensus among patients, doctors and researchers that the major characteristic of CFS is a sustained depletion of energy after minimal activity, defined medically as postexertional malaise.
The term chronic fatigue syndrome was chosen by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1988. Many physicians and researchers consider the term inadequate to describe the disorder, since prolonged fatigue can also characterize other conditions, including depression.
Andrew Weil, M.D.
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Jun 11, 2022 · Background This study aims to provide 12-year nationwide epidemiology data to investigate the epidemiology and comorbidities of and therapeutic options for chronicfatiguesyndrome by analyzing the National Health Insurance Research Database. Methods 6306 patients identified as having CFS during the 20002012 period and 6306 controls were ….
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a condition lasting for more than 6 months in which a person feels tired most of the time and may have trouble concentrating and carrying out daily activities. Other symptoms include sore throat, fever, muscle weakness, headache, and joint pain. Also called CFS.
2021. 8. 22. ·As many as 2.5 million Americans live with chronic fatigue syndrome , although most of them haven’t been diagnosed with it..
Chronic fatigue syndrome is a debilitating illness with many sufferers in the UK. Over the years this condition has been called different names including among other things neurasthenia, post-viral fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalitis . There are an estimated 250,000 people in Britain affected by this illness the cause of which is.
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Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome are serious, debilitating conditions that affect millions of people in the United States and around the world. ME/CFS can cause significant impairment and disability. Despite substantial efforts by researchers to better understand ME/CFS, there is no known cause or effective treatment. Diagnosing the disease remains a challenge, and patients often struggle with their illness for years before an identification is made. Some health care providers have been skeptical about the serious physiological – rather than psychological – nature of the illness. Once diagnosed, patients often complain of receiving hostility from their health care provider as well as being subjected to treatment strategies that exacerbate their symptoms.
Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome will be a valuable resource to promote the prompt diagnosis of patients with this complex, multisystem, and often devastating disorder enhance public understanding and provide a firm foundation for future improvements in diagnosis and treatment.
Central Nervous System Abnormalities
Abnormal levels of certain chemicals in the brain system known as the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis have been proposed as a cause of CFS. This system controls important functions, including sleep, the stress response, and depression. Some people with CFS appear to have imbalances in hormones controlled by the HPA axis, such as cortisol.
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What Is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is a complex and disabling disease. It has been classified as a neurological disorder by the World Health Organization, though it affects many parts of the body, including the brain and muscles, digestive, immune and cardiac systems.
The term myalgic encephalomyelitis means pain in the muscles, and inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. Scientists are starting to understand some of the biological changes in the bodies of people with ME/CFS, although they have not yet found how to prevent, or cure it.
Research has found that ME/CFS is associated with problems involving:
- The bodys ability to produce energy at a cellular level
- Immune, neurological and hormonal systems
- Blood pressure and heart rate regulation
- Cognition how quickly information is processed
ME/CFS affects men, women and children of all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. 75-80% of people with the disease are female. It is estimated that up to 600,000 Victorians may be living with ME/CFS, and as many as 90% are undiagnosed.
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Fibromyalgia What Is It
Fibromyalgia is a complex pain disorder that affects the musculoskeletal system, causing widespread chronic pain, aches and tenderness to touch. Fibromyalgia pain can be located in only one part of the body at a time, moving from one area to the next, or pain may be felt all over the body at the same time.
A chronic pain disorder, fibromyalgia heightens the sense of pain in an individual, and is accompanied by sleep issues, fatigue, digestive symptoms as well as mental and social problems.
More women are at the risk of developing fibromyalgia than are men. In fact, of the approximately 10 million Americans suffering from this condition, women are affected more than men with a ratio of about 8 to 2.
Although fibromyalgia is literally translated to mean pain in the tendons, ligaments, and muscles, this condition presents as much more than just pain, with a wide range of symptoms that vary from one person to another.
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How Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Treated
Treatment is determined by your healthcare provider and based on:
- Your overall health and medical history
- Extent of the condition
- Your tolerance for specific medicines, procedures, or therapies
- Expectations for the course of the condition
- Your opinion or preference
- Medicine, including corticosteroids, antidepressants, and others
- Light-intensity aerobic exercise
- Dietary supplements and herbal preparations
- Psychotherapy and supportive counseling
Me/cfs: A New Name For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome , a condition of severe, chronic tiredness, is a well-known term in the medical world and affects between one and four million people in the United States. However, since it was coined in 1988, considerable controversy has arisen over the term CFS. Many patients, advocacy groups, and experts believe the name trivializes the condition and leads to a lack of respect for patients within the medical community some doctors view the illness skeptically and as a psychosomatic condition, and patients find they receive improper – or no – treatment for the illness.
Globally, a number of accepted names for this illness of uncertain cause are used, including Myalgic Encephalopathy , Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome, and Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome. In the United States, organizations and doctors recently started calling the illness ME/CFS, for Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This combined name reflects the standpoint that the illness is indeed physical as opposed to psychological.
What is ME/CFS?
ME/CFS affects four times as many women as men, occurs most often in people in their 40s and 50s, and does not draw lines around race. It is a debilitating chronic illness characterized by the following symptoms:
The Functional Medicine Approach To ME/CFS
The functional medicine practitioner will look at possible underlying roots of an individuals symptoms, such as:
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How Is Me/cfs Diagnosed
Theres no single test to detect ME/CFS. A diagnosis is made after other possible known causes for symptoms have been excluded.
The earlier the illness is recognised, the sooner you can get help to manage your symptoms. Many people with ME/CFS find it helps to keep a diary of their symptoms so that they can take this to their GP or specialist.
Your GP will usually:
- do a physical and mental examination to rule out other conditions
- ask about recent travel, tick or insect bites, unusual infections, and drug and alcohol use
- review current medication
They may be able to make a diagnosis after 3 or 4 months of seeing a pattern of symptoms. Anyone suspected of having ME/CFS should be considered for routine blood tests to identify other possible illnesses. More investigation may be needed if the diagnosis remains in doubt.
Some people with ME/CFS also have another long-term condition and its important that you talk to your GP about how to manage the symptoms of the 2 conditions.
