first as described below is that it is a common symptom and patients
who believe that they have a disease maybe misinterpreting the symptom
and actually have a psychosomatic disorder. The other, as described by
Dr. Komaroff, it that ME/CFS is an unusual illness and an uncommon
cause of persistent fatigue. (Many ME/CFS clinicians believe it is
more than just persistent, that it is specifically post exertional
lasting 24-hours or longer, unrelieved by rest (in general, with rest
most people recover rapidly from fatigue) and occurs upon minimal
exertion.) Ruling out, or controlling for, other possible causes of
fatigue is part of the process of differentiating between say
depression which is a lack of energy and post exertional exhaustion
which is unrelated to depression. Although there is no cure for
ME/CFS, controlling for other forms of fatigue that may be co-morbid
and making the disease worse may be one way to reduce the impact of
ME/CFS.
Fight fatigue by finding the cause
POSTED JULY 06, 2011, 11:47 AM
Kay Cahill Allison, Editor, Special Health Reports
Feeling tired? If so, it=92s not surprising. Fatigue is one of the most
common problems people report to their doctors. The Health and
Retirement Study of more than 17 million older people ages 51 and up
reported recently that 31% said they feel fatigued.
Fatigue is a symptom, not a disease. Different people experience it in
different ways. The tiredness you feel at the end of a long day or
after a time zone change might feel similar to that resulting from an
illness. But fatigue from stress or lack of sleep usually subsides
after a good night=92s rest, while disease-related lethargy is more
persistent and may be debilitating even after restful sleep.
Finding the cause. How do you know if your low-energy is caused by an
underlying illness or is the result of stress, poor diet, or lack of
sleep? For example, could you have chronic fatigue syndrome? That is
an unusual illness and an uncommon cause of persistent fatigue, says
Anthony Komaroff, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard,
world-renowned expert on chronic fatigue syndrome, and medical editor
of a new Harvard Special Health Report, Boosting Your Energy
(http://www.health.harvard.edu/special_health_reports/boosting_your_energy#=
excerpt).
About 4 to 8 of every 1,000 adults in the United States suffer from
chronic fatigue syndrome, which is about twice as common in women as
in men. The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome are still unknown, and
there is no accurate diagnostic test. However, scientists have found
abnormalities in the brain and peripheral nervous system, in the
immune system, and in energy metabolism in people with this syndrome.
If you feel unaccountably fatigued, make an appointment to see your
doctor, especially if you feel so weary that you can=92t do your regular
activities as well or as often as you once did. Fatigue is a symptom
of many illnesses, so try to describe your symptoms in detail to help
your doctor narrow down the possible causes. How, exactly, does the
fatigue feel to you? Do you have trouble concentrating? Does your body
tire more quickly? Answers to these questions indicate how severe your
fatigue is and whether it mainly involves muscle fatigue, brain
fatigue, or both.
Medical conditions that cause fatigue. Once you=92ve described your
symptoms, your doctor may want to do some tests to rule out underlying
causes listed here. Conditions that cause fatigue include:
Anemia
Congestive heart failure
Diabetes
Hypothyroidism
Infection
Kidney disease
Chronic fatigue syndrome
For more detail about how these conditions are linked to fatigue, read
an excerpt from Harvard Medical School=92s Special Health Report
entitled Boosting Your Energy. This new Special Health Report offers
information about the causes of fatigue and how it is linked to
illness. No matter what the cause, there are lots of things you can do
to try to get your old energy back. To help you do this, the report
includes a step-by-step plan for boosting your energy naturally.
---------------------------------------------
Send posts to CO-CURE@listserv.nodak.edu
Unsubscribe at http://www.co-cure.org/unsub.htm
---------------------------------------------
Co-Cure's purpose is to provide information from across the spectrum of
opinion concerning medical, research and political aspects of ME/CFS and/or
FMS. We take no position on the validity of any specific scientific or
political opinion expressed in Co-Cure posts, and we urge readers to
research the various opinions available before assuming any one
interpretation is definitive. The Co-Cure website <www.co-cure.org> has a
link to our complete archive of posts as well as articles of central
importance to the issues of our community.
---------------------------------------------
