How Are Cfs And Depression Diagnosed
Your doctor can diagnose either condition. Theyâll start with a complete physical exam and medical history. Theyâll ask you about your symptoms, when they started, when they happen, and what seems to make them worse or better.
Youâll get a diagnosis of CFS if you have sleep problems and at least 6 months of extreme fatigue that doesnât get better with bed rest and worsens after any physical or mental activity. Youâll also have one of the following symptoms: memory or concentration problems, or dizziness or faintness when you stand up.
Youâll get a diagnosis of depression if you have had symptoms for at least 2 weeks. If youâve had symptoms for 2 years or more, youâll get a diagnosis of persistent depression.
Lab tests.Blood or urine tests help rule out other illnesses that cause fatigue, like anemia, diabetes, or thyroid disease. People with CFS may have high levels of certain hormones that could show up on a blood test. A blood test can check for levels of certain inflammatory cells. CFS is associated with higher levels of T cells and lower levels of B cells, while depression is associated with fewer T cells, but more B cells.
Sleep study. You can be tested to see when your sleep is disturbed. CFS causes more problems during non-REM sleep, or periods of lighter sleep. Depression causes more problems during phases of deep, or REM, sleep.
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What Does Menopause Fatigue Feel Like
The main symptoms are finding it extremely hard to keep up with your life and commitments as your energy feels like its being drained away. You may feel exhausted to the bone in a way that you cant explain to others
However, its not just the extreme crashing tiredness that can cause major problems in your life.
Menopause fatigue brings its friends along just for fun. These related symptoms of fatigue can include
- Irritability and rage
- Anxiety and feeling jumpy and nervous
- Lack of focus or brain fog
- Cravings and hunger, especially for sweet things
- Insomnia and sleep issues resulting in waking up exhausted
- Worries and the 3am racing thoughts
- Lack of motivation and enthusiasm
- Emotional distress
- Lack of zest for life
- Depression like symptoms
- Memory problemsIf you visit your Doctor they may struggle to get to the heart of the issue. They may offer anti-depressants or sleeping pills but these wont really get to the heart of the matter.Its important that you tackle menopause fatigue at source.
How To Beat Menopause Fatigue
Menopause fatigue can be a real drain on your energy levels and motivation. Thankfully, several things can help you overcome the exhaustion that occurs at this time of life.
Lifestyle changes can make a big difference. These include making sure you eat a healthy, balanced diet, getting enough rest and sleep, and engaging in relaxation techniques.
Caffeine, alcohol and spicy foods can trigger hot flushes for some people, as they can be disruptive to sleep patterns, so you might find it useful to cut down on the amount you consume. Smoking can also be a trigger of hot flushes.
Exercise is also a great way to beat some menopause symptoms, including fatigue. Try to engage in regular aerobic activity if you can, such as jogging or swimming, as this can be more effective in relieving menopause symptoms than less frequent bursts of more strenuous activity.
Hormone replacement therapy may also be helpful in relieving menopause fatigue, as its used to treat many menopause symptoms that can be causing excessive tiredness. These include night sweats and mood swings.
Anxiety and depression are more common during menopause, and can all leave you feeling fatigued. Stress and anxiety can be relieved by lifestyle changes, although its important to see a doctor if you have symptoms that you feel are outside of your control.
Its especially important to see a doctor if you think you may have depression, as this is a serious condition that requires treatment.
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It Causes Overwhelm When People Try To Help
Your loved ones have good intentions and want to help you feel better. However, their undesired help can cause irritation and feelings of overwhelming frustration instead of making things better.
Even the most well-meaning people in your life can exacerbate your depression symptoms, making you feel tired. When people try to help, it can make you feel like youve lost all control of your life and the situation in general.
How The ‘lost Art’ Of Breathing Can Impact Sleep And Resilience
Another way that chronic stress makes us feel exhausted is by interfering with sleep, says Bufka. “When we’re feeling stressed, our sleep can get disrupted, which naturally leads to feelings of tiredness and exhaustion,” she says.
“We really rely on sleep to recover each day,” explains Epel. “And so for many of us, even though we might think we’re sleeping the same number of hours, it’s not the same quality. It doesn’t have the same restorative ability, because we’re getting less deep sleep, and we think that is tied to this chronic, subtle uncertainty, stress.”
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What Are The Consequences Of Residual Symptoms Of Fatigue In Mdd
Dr. Fava: The key point is that patients with residual fatigue are more likely to get depressed again despite continued prophylactic treatment. There is a much greater likelihood that patients with MDD who have residual symptoms like fatigue will also have work, school, and/or social difficulties. As you know, there is a very high medical comorbidity associated with depression as well. Therefore, we need to identify these symptoms and intervene as early as possible.
So What Does Fatigue Feel Like
So what does everyone’s fatigue feel like? I have yet to be diagnosed with CFS, but I exhibit a lot of symptoms. I have been diagnosed with chronic EBV and have some other testing I’m going through with. In the meantime, I have had a ton of testing to no avail so far. Today I have just felt out of it.
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Why Depression Makes You So Damn Tired All The Time
Fatigue, like stress and busyness, has become a default state for many people. The feeling, characterized by extreme tiredness and low energy, usually occurs after an especially mentally, emotionally or physically draining experience.
But its not always temporary or circumstantial. Fatigue can also be a symptom of a bigger issue, like depression. In fact, fatigue occurs in over 90 percent of people living with the mental health condition, according to 2018 data.
For someone to have depression, not just general fatigue, several of these symptoms need to be present most days, for most of the day, for at least two weeks, said Don Mordecai, a psychiatrist and the national leader for mental health and wellness at Kaiser Permanente.
Part of the reason depression and debilitating fatigue go hand in hand is because depression affects neurotransmitters associated with alertness and the reward system, Mordecai said. That means the illness physiologically has an impact on your energy levels.
Another reason is that depression negatively affects sleep, whether its difficulty falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, waking up too early or just not sleeping as deeply, said Sari Chait, a clinical psychologist based in Massachusetts.
People with depression who push themselves to get through their day can, in turn, experience more fatigue, which can then make them feel even more depressed, and the cycle keeps going.
– Sari Chait, clinical psychologist
What Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Feels Like
Chronic fatigue syndrome is far different from normal tiredness due to physical or emotional stress. The debilitating condition can last for yearsor even a lifetimeand is not curable. Researchers do not understand what causes CFS/ME, which makes it difficult to diagnose and even harder to treat. Doctors currently focus on treating the symptoms of CFS/ME with medications.
Although no one knows how CFS/ME develops, researchers agree on a few facts. Nearly 2.5 million Americans may have the condition. The average age of onset is 33. The condition most commonly affects women between the ages of 40 and 60. Most CFS/ME patients are Caucasian, but because the disorder may be underreported it is hard to tell how people of other ethnicities may also have the syndrome.
One thing everyone agrees on is that CFS/ME is a real, debilitating illness. Heres what it feels like to live with , and the symptoms that make it more than just feeling tired.
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How Common Is Long Covid
Different studies have varied wildly in their results, estimating that anywhere from 10% to 60% or more of COVID-19 patients may be affected by lingering symptoms such as fatigue, sleep problems, and mood changes. Even those who werent hospitalized and only experienced mild coronavirus symptoms may still experience long COVID. Perhaps the most startling research has suggested that up to one third of COVID-19 survivors are likely to suffer neurological or mental health problems within six months, ranging from mood disorders to dementia or stroke.
If youve had and recovered from COVID-19, though, try not to let the numbers alarm you. Many long COVID symptoms are hard to quantify and some may be due to the trauma of the pandemic with all its stress, grief, isolation, and upheaval, rather than the virus itself. After all, how many of us havent experienced anxiety, a depressed mood, or had trouble sleeping or concentrating at some point during this difficult time?
The length of the pandemic, its escalating death toll, and all the associated lockdowns, quarantines, and financial hardships have taken a huge toll on our collective mental health, with skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and other emotional problemsall of which can trigger physical symptoms as well.
Similarly, its common for long-term health effects such as fatigue, anxiety, and PTSD to follow treatment for any life-threatening illness, especially if it involves hospitalization .
How Your Doctor Can Help
You need to let your doctor know all about your fatigue symptoms. This can help them see the patterns in your day-to-day life.
âDonât just say âI’m fatigued,ââ Hou says. âExplain what that actually means, like âI’m fatigued and therefore I can’t finish showering,’ or ‘I avoid showering because itâs too tiring.â Tell us if you canât finish vacuuming, or have to take a nap at two o’clock every day.â
Once theyâve gathered this info, they can help you come up with a plan. They might suggest that you:
Above all, reach out. Talk to your doctor, your loved ones, and others with MS for connection and help with your fatigue.
âAs with everything MS, having a good support system is of great importance,â Serra says. âRecognizing that fatigue is a common and disabling symptom in MS, and that you are not alone in experiencing it, is a good first step.â
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What Can Cause Compassion Fatigue
Before we proceed with the signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue, we must first understand what can cause it.
Healthcare workers and chronic caregivers are the most susceptible people to compassion fatigue. Their job description requires them to care, listen, and devote themselves to caring and healing.
When To Seek Professional Help
If support from family and friends and positive lifestyle changes arent enough, it may be time to seek help from a mental health professional. There are many effective treatments for depression, including:
Therapy. Consulting a therapist can provide you tools to treat depression from a variety of angles and motivate you to take the action necessary. Therapy can also offer you the skills and insight to prevent the problem from coming back.
Atypical Depression: Whats in a Name? Article on the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of atypical depression.
Depression and Other Illnesses An overview of the mental and physical illnesses that often co-exist with depression, and how this impacts treatment.
Depression support & suicide prevention help
Depression support
In the U.S.: Find DBSA Chapters/Support Groups or call the NAMI Helpline for support and referrals at 1-800-950-6264
UK: Find Depression support groups in-person and online or call the Mind Infoline at 0300 123 3393
Australia: Find Support Groups and regional resources or call the SANE Help Centre at 1800 18 7263
India: Call the Vandrevala Foundation Helpline at 1860 2662 345 or 1800 2333 330
Suicide prevention help
In the U.S.: Call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255
UK and Ireland: Call Samaritans UK at 116 123
Australia: Call Lifeline Australia at 13 11 14
Other countries: Visit IASP or International Suicide Hotlines to find a helpline near you
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The Solution To Crashing Fatigue In 3 Steps
If youre experiencing crashing fatigue, you want to interrupt that pattern and reestablish your normal sleep-wake cycle. Careful attention to hormones can restore their natural rise-and-fall patterns, and allow them to interact in a healthy way.
1. Let your hormones send the right messages to your body.
Crashing fatigue is linked tightly to fluctuating estrogen levels, especially when the changes are severe or rapid. The correct balance between naturally-declining estrogen and other hormones smooths out the hormonal spikes and crashes that drain energy and disturb sleep. Women in menopause are more vulnerable to the effects of stress and adrenal hormone responses. That means remembering to pace yourself during the day, and allowing for more time-outs as needed.
You can help your body coax its hormones back into balance using herbal extracts. The best formulas contain combinations of phyto-ingredients that have adaptogenic qualities that allow them to continually adjust as necessary. Look for red clover, ashwagandha, and especially black cohosh these shift naturally to the changing hormonal needs of your body, and they function well together.
2. Take snacking seriously.
Eating regularly is important to fuel energy and prevent crashing fatigue. If youre a meal skipper, youll need to change your ways, at least for a while. Eat every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day and keep snacks super simple, healthy and fast but not junky.
Have snacks ready if you can, and choose:
Take A Meditation Break
Stress can sap your energy and interrupt your sleep. One way to beat stress is meditation. To practice one of the most popular forms, mindfulness meditation, sit in a quiet place and close your eyes. Slowly breathe in and out, clearing your mind while focusing on your breath. When negative thoughts try to enter your mind, steer them gently back out.
If you have trouble sitting still, try yoga or tai chi, which combine exercise with meditation to harness the benefits of both practices.
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It May All Be Rooted In Stress
Its not clear what causes depression, but prolonged stress seems to play a major role. When were stressed, the brain is flooded with the stress hormone cortisol. If stress remains heightened for a long time, there will be more cortisol and less dopamine and serotonine, the lack of which have been linked with depression. So, stress might exhaust the brain and lead to depression, which seems to trigger vicious cycles: youre depressed, so you become more stressfed out you have trouble sleeping, so you feel tired you feel tired so you dont feel like doing anything meaningful anymore. It really is terrible, and once the circle is complete, most people have a hard time breaking free.
This is why depression can be very cruel, and serious medical attention needs to be considered. Both depression and insomnia can be treated with antidepressants. The most antidepressants belong to the class called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors , and insomniacs who start taking one of those drugs often find relief for their sleeping problems. Non-pharmaceutical methods of addressing insomnia can also help with depression. A few short tips that might help include:
- exercising during the day, but avoid doing so two hours before planning to go to bed,
- avoid caffeine and alcohol,
- use deep-breathing exercises to relieve anxiety.
Hopefully this, article helps explain why depression makes you tired.
What Fibromyalgia Feels Like
Fibromyalgia feels like a migraine all over your body Its not an excuse to be lazy. Its my everyday struggle. Dealing with Fibro isnt just physically draining. Its mentally draining, causing my anxiety and depression to go through the roof on multiple occasions. – Chanel M. A Crippling Fatigue
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Your Relationships Outside Work Gets Affected
We all know that we shouldnt let our work affect our life and vice versa.
However, a person experiencing compassion fatigue can no longer separate their work life and personal life.
They go home, still carrying the heavy emotion of anger and hopelessness.
They begin to be irritated at their kids, spouses, or friends. They start releasing anger at the slightest trigger, which can affect their family.
What Is Compassion Fatigue
Not everyone can effectively and efficiently deal with people who have experienced trauma. It takes a big heart to be there to listen and to show empathy. Its admirable to see our health care workers take care of the people who have been through so much.
They may not have been there, directly exposed to the scene that caused the trauma, but as they hear the story, their empathy takes over. These workers put their time, mind, and their heart into every patient they have.
Unfortunately, even health care workers can suffer from compassion fatigue.
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Mild And Moderate Depression
These are the most common types. More than simply feeling blue, the symptoms of mild depression can interfere with your daily life, robbing you of joy and motivation. Those symptoms become amplified in moderate depression and can lead to a decline in confidence and self-esteem.
Recurrent, mild depression
Dysthymia is a type of chronic low-grade depression. More days than not, you feel mildly or moderately depressed, although you may have brief periods of normal mood.
- The symptoms of dysthymia are not as strong as the symptoms of major depression, but they last a long time .
- Some people also experience major depressive episodes on top of dysthymia, a condition known as double depression.
- If you suffer from dysthymia, you may feel like youve always been depressed. Or you may think that your continuous low mood is just the way you are.
