You Experience Debilitating Fatigue
The type of exhaustion chronic fatigue causes is not the same weariness you may experience after a taxing week. Instead, the profound fatigue leads to a sharp reduction in your ability to function daily, lasting for six months or more.
The tiredness isn’t brought on by excessive activity but by everyday, manageable activities.
“Even sitting for a long period of time in an uncomfortable position could generate symptoms,” said Dr. Snell.
The tiredness is unrelenting and does not go away with rest. The 2015 NASEM report found that at least one-quarter of people with chronic fatigue syndrome become home-or bed-bound at some point.
How Can Parents Help
To help your child cope with the emotional symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome:
- Encourage your child to keep a daily diary to identify times when they have the most energy and help plan activities for these times.
- Help your child to recognize and express feelings, such as sadness, anger, and frustration. Itâs OK to grieve the loss of energy.
- Get support from family and friends because emotional health is important when coping with a chronic health problem.
- Allow more time for your child to do things, or break down activities into smaller steps, especially activities that take concentration or physical effort.
- Work with your childs teachers and school administrators to adjust their workload so that it fits within the limits of what your child can tolerate.
Do I Have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Unfortunately, reaching a diagnosis can be a complicated and long process for many patients. Because it shares so many symptoms with other conditions, its diagnosed by ruling out similar diseases. However, there is a path to diagnosis.
As HealthLine notes, to be diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, you must have at least four major symptoms. In addition: You also must have severe, unexplained fatigue that cant be cured with bed rest. The fatigue and other symptoms must last for six months or longer.
You may have chronic fatigue syndrome if:
- You have severe, unexplained fatigue that is severely impacting your quality of life
- Youre suffering from a combination of post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, cognitive impairments, or symptoms that worsen when you stand upright
- Your symptoms rule out another similar condition, like fibromyalgia or Lyme disease
- These symptoms have lasted for six months or more
You may also be more likely to have CFS if youre a middle-aged woman. According to some sources, chronic fatigue syndrome is diagnosed four times more often in women than men.
However, many believe that chronic fatigue syndrome is seriously under-reported and under-diagnosed. You should always talk to your doctor or a pain specialist if you believe that youre suffering from this condition.
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How Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosed
Before diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome, a doctor examines a person and rules out other possible causes of their symptoms.
There is no specific test that conclusively proves the existence of chronic fatigue syndrome. Instead, testing may involve physical tests of blood, urine, thyroid function, muscle enzymes, gluten tolerance, and other analyses depending on the persons symptom profile.
The doctor also asks questions and may administer questionnaires, such as the Centers for Disease Control Symptom Inventory or the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire, for a better picture of the symptoms.
Symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome can come and go, and they vary from person to person. This variability can make it difficult for diagnostic measures to capture how a person is affected by the disease, even if the effects are real and noticeable. Some experts argue that chronic fatigue syndrome should be further divided into different subtypes based on groups of symptoms.
Housebound Or Bedbound With Me/cfs
About 25% of people with ME/CFS are housebound or bedbound. Those who are housebound may be able to undertake minimal daily tasks for themselves, such as brushing teeth, cooking or using a computer for short periods of time, but they have to pace their activity and often use aids to help them . They are unable to leave the house, often because this requires more energy than they have available. When they do leave the house, they often need mobility aids such as a wheelchair or mobility scooter, or other assistance . Recovery from a trip out of the house can take days, or longer.
Some people are so severely unwell that they are bedbound some or all of the time. The most severely unwell may be unable to undertake even simple tasks, like eating or going to the toilet by themselves. They may require additional medical devices, such as feeding tubes, to help them get enough nutrition and fluids, and can be totally dependent on carers.
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Treatment Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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Acknowledgment of patient’s symptoms
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Sometimes graded exercise, limited to avoid a setback
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Drugs for depression, sleep, or pain if indicated
To provide effective care to patients with CFS, physicians must acknowledge and accept the validity of patients’ symptoms. Whatever the underlying cause, these patients are not malingerers but are suffering and strongly desire a return to their previous state of health. For successful management patients need to accept and accommodate their disability, focusing on what they can still do instead of lamenting what they cannot do.
If these measures are ineffective, hypnotic drugs and/or referral to a sleep specialist may be necessary. Patients with pain widespread tenderness of muscles, areas around… read more ) can be treated using a number of drugs such as pregabalin, duloxetine, amitriptyline, or gabapentin. Physical therapy is also often helpful. Treatment for orthostatic hypotension Treatment Orthostatic hypotension is an excessive fall in blood pressure when an upright position is assumed. The consensus definition is a drop of > 20 mm Hg systolic, > 10 mm Hg diastolic… read more may also be helpful.
Unproven or disproven treatments, such as antivirals, immunosuppressants, elimination diets, and amalgam extractions, should be avoided.
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.
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Diagnosis And Treatment For Me/cfs
Currently, there is no single test to diagnose ME/CFS. Doctors make a diagnosis by excluding all other illnesses that might be causing symptoms and following accepted diagnostic criteria. The persons results from routine medical tests will often be normal, but additional tests may show abnormalities.
Facts About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- The CDC estimates up to 2.5 million Americans have ME/CFS.
- Anyone can get it, including children and teens.
- It is most common in women in their 40s and 50s.
- Women are more likely to develop it than men.
- Most cases are mild or moderate.
- About 1 in 4 people with the condition have severe symptoms.
If you have mild chronic fatigue syndrome, you can probably manage on your own. Moderate symptoms can make it hard for you to move around. For example, you might need to sleep in the afternoons.
If your symptoms are severe, the impact on your quality of life and abilities can be as bad as if you had lupus, heart disease, or rheumatoid arthritis.
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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Essentials Of Diagnosis And Management
- Alison C. BestedAffiliations
- Lily ChuCorrespondenceCorrespondence: Address to Lily Chu, MD, MSHS, Independent Consultant, 16 Lorton Ave, Unit 4, Burlingame, CA 94010.
- Nancy G. KlimasAffiliationsInstitute for Neuro Immune Medicine, Dr Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Jose G. MontoyaAffiliationsDr Jack S. Remington Laboratory for Specialty Diagnostics, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA
- Irma R. ReyAffiliationsInstitute for Neuro Immune Medicine, Dr Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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.
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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.
How Is Me/cfs Diagnosed
There is no single test to diagnose ME/CFS. Your doctor will ask you about your symptoms, and how long you have had them, and might do some tests to rule out other possible causes.
You can only receive a diagnosis of ME/CFS after you have had symptoms for 6 months or more.
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You Feel Even Worse When You Push Your Limits
The technical term is post-exertional malaise. It means that your symptoms flare when you put more physical, mental, or emotional stress on your body than it can handle. And it may take a whole day or longer to recover.
” lymph nodes might swell up,” said Dr. Keller, “or they might have joint pain or pain in other areas.”
According to the CDC, it’s important that people with chronic fatigue syndrome accurately determine their stress limits so as not to overexert themselves.
A Catalogue Of Losses: What Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Took Away From My Life
Whether anybody else could see it or not, I hadlost someone: my former, healthy self
On Friday, 14 December 2012, I would experience the sudden onset of an illness that, looking back almost a decade later, bears a powerful resemblance to the narratives of those suffering from long Covid.
That night, I had plans to meet a woman I was seeing. At the time, I was working as an adjunct English professor at a local college in Westchester, New York, commuting over the George Washington Bridge from my fourth-floor walkup in Hoboken, New Jersey, and trying to persuade distracted 19-year-olds to appreciate the black comedy and cryptic comeuppances of Flannery OConnor. After walking back to my apartment from the gym, I showered and sprayed on cologne. But before I could leave, a wave of weakness and disorientation crashed over me. My balance became wobbly, and my stomach lurched forward and back. I staggered through my apartment as if it was the cabin of a boat heaving and pitching in a storm.
This weather, I was soon to find out, would never pass.
But I was 26 years old, and my longstanding approach to illness whether a cold, cough, virus, or stomach bug was to ignore it and continue with my normal activities in a deluded gesture of masculine contempt. I assumed that, like all the previous maladies that had passed through my life asthma attacks, walking pneumonia, chickenpox, influenza this too would promptly bow out.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Me/cfs
The key symptom or feature of ME/CFS is called post-exertional malaise . This means that your symptoms get worse after exercise or mental effort and dont improve after sleep or rest. PEM can be very disabling and can reduce your ability to function during regular daily activities. PEM is also common if you have long COVID.
ME/CFS may start suddenly or gradually over months or years. The level of activity that triggers your PEM will vary from person to person and can depend on how severe your condition is. For example, if your ME/CFS is relatively mild, you may experience PEM after going for a walk or a jog, but if your ME/CFS is severe, just reading a book or brushing your teeth could bring on your PEM. Your PEM may appear immediately after activity or may sometimes be delayed by up to 3 days. It can last for 24 hours or 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 common symptoms of ME/CFS, that may also increase with PEM include:
- thinking problems, loss of memory or poor concentration
- gastrointestinal changes such as nausea, constipation or diarrhoea
- sensitivities to light or noise, food, medicines or chemicals
- problems with temperature regulation
Everyone is different, so you might experience only mild symptoms, or you might develop more severe symptoms.
What One Should Do Before Choosing Cbd To Use For Chronic Fatigue
Before one chooses the type of CBD and how to use it, there are important guidelines one should follow. The following are important before one chooses the use of CBD:
- Consult your doctor on when to use it and the results it will have on your body
- Do more research by consulting individuals who have used CBD
- Know types of and the ones suitable for your condition
- Ensure you understand your health condition and know whether CBD will react with the body
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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.
I Don’t Have Insurance How Can The Affordable Care Act Help Me
If you’re uninsured or have been denied coverage in the past for ME/CFS, the Health Insurance Marketplace may be able to provide you with access to affordable coverage. With health insurance plans in the Marketplace, you can no longer be refused coverage just because you have a pre-existing health condition. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program also can’t refuse to cover you or charge you more because of a health condition. They also can’t charge women more than men. Learn more about the Affordable Care Act and the Health Insurance Marketplace at Healthcare.gov.
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What Causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The cause of CFS is not yet fully understood, but it is likely that several factors contribute to its development. There are changes in the immune system and body chemistry.
CFS is usually triggered by a viral infection, such as glandular fever or influenza, but any infection may be the trigger. It is likely that the potential for getting CFS is genetic and runs in families. Some people experience ongoing effects of COVID-19 infection, known as long COVID, which are very similar to the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Other factors that may contribute include:
- emotional or physical distress
- multiple joint pain without joint swelling or redness
- headaches of a new type, pattern or severity
- unrefreshing sleep
- tiredness that can last for more than 24 hours after physical or mental effort.
Some people also report a range of other symptoms such as nausea, loss of appetite, irritable bowel syndrome , bloating, diarrhoea, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, jaw pain, night sweats, increased sensitivity to alcohol or medication, chronic cough, dizzy spells or dry eyes.
The severity of symptoms can vary from day to day, or even within a day.
How Can I Care For Myself With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In addition to the treatments above, there are things you can do to help manage this condition, such as:
- reducing your stress
- getting plenty of rest
- making sleep a priority if you are having trouble sleeping, check out these tips to improve your sleeping habits
- eating a healthy diet to make sure your body is getting the nutrients it needs
- having plenty of salt if you have low blood pressure and a tendency to feel dizzy or even faint on standing
- learning to prioritise the things you need to get done, and then pacing yourself by dividing them into short times of activity with rest breaks in between
- learning mindfulness, meditation or creative visualisation
- getting out into nature regularly, listening to music and enjoying your pets
- developing a support network of understanding friends and family/whnau for when you need help
- joining a support group if there is one in your area
- talking to your doctor about whether there are any medications or supplements that may help you.
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Discussing Treatment Options With A Doctor
The medical community differs over the exact treatment courses for those living with CFS. Youll need to work closely with a healthcare team to determine which symptoms are impacting your quality of life the most.
You may start with treatment of these issues and progress to others in time. Many treatment options are available, ranging from over-the-counter drugs to alternative therapies.
The most effective treatment for CFS is the one thats catered to you and your specific symptoms. A doctor may suggest a variety of treatments depending on what youre experiencing and what your treatment goals are.
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