Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a type of condition that causes you to feel so tired that you are unable to perform your normal activities for the day. Other symptoms exist as well, but being tired for more than six months is often the main symptom. Many individuals will improve within a year or so and don’t have a relapse. Some individuals continue to struggle with severe fatigue and other symptoms that last for a number of years. 

Since the disease isn’t well understood, many people believe it is a separate illness that has its own set of symptoms, but there are some doctors who don’t believe this. No tests exist for chronic fatigue syndrome. It is because of this reason that many people have issues with accepting their disease and getting the necessary support to handle it. When you have people who believe in your diagnosis and support you, recovery is easier than trying to go it alone. Getting someone you can trust in is critical. The tiredness is real and not simply something in your head. Your body is reacting to a number of different physical and emotional factors.

Understanding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

When an individual goes through bouts of extreme tiredness that cannot be alleviated by sleep or rest, that person might be dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome. This particular illness can make you feel fatigued constantly on a day-to-day basis, regardless of how much you sleep or rest. The syndrome ends up causing problems with coping with regular daily activities. Chronic tiredness can also be caused by other conditions such as glandular fever, which can be diagnosed more easily by a doctor, and should be ruled out.

Roughly, four million people struggle with this condition every year. Sufferers are often unemployed and live on disability due to the symptoms that they struggle with and the way they feel. Almost 40 percent of those who are diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome are diagnosed with substance abuse, diabetes or thyroid disease.

Other symptoms can include headaches, muscle pains, joint pains in multiple areas, impaired memory or tender lymph nodes around the neck or armpit.

How to Treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Psychological help, counseling, life coaching or CBT can help a sufferer with how to address the condition, cope with the condition, and how to train the body to overcome the condition.

2. Osteopathy

There are some pioneers in osteopathy who have found common links of most CFS sufferers. Dr Raymond Perrin leads the research, and has trained a number of osteopaths in the technique who are listed on his website. Some specialists believe that improving the body’s lymphatic drainage, and addressing rib issues, and problems with the neck muscles, and the upper back can give improvements in CFS.

3. Nutrition therapy

Seeking an expert in nutrition can be beneficial. Changes in biochemistry, minerals, vitamins and nutrients can play an important role, with some sufferers being deficient in some nutrients. Nutritional therapy and healthy eating is extremely important.

4. Exercises

Graded exercise therapy can be useful for challenging the body to recover. When the body is very fatigued, building up exercises on a daily basis can teach the body how to cope and challenge the body to recover. The exercises are made tougher with time, causing the body to adapt to the challenge, and recover.

5. Sleep

Being constantly tired makes sleeping very easy. Napping during the day is common, but combined with inactivity can cause an inability to sleep at night. Establishing normal sleep patterns is of utmost importance.

6. Changing Your Daily Regime

Since there is no definite cure for the condition, the best thing you can do is to treat the symptoms that are associated with the disorder. Patients who are suffering with chronic fatigue syndrome need to accommodate certain changes in their lifestyle. Reducing the amount of stress the individual is exposed to, preventing overexertion and gentle stretching exercises are all beneficial to treating the physiological manifestations that encompass the disorder. Those who are treated within two years tend to improve quicker than those who wait until further down the line.

Tips:

1. Risk factors are not understood clearly, but most adults who are diagnosed are women between the ages of 40 and 50. Pediatric patients that are diagnosed are often teenagers.
2. Two major criteria define chronic fatigue syndrome: chronic fatigue that has lasted longer than six months and four other symptoms occurring at the same time as the fatigue.
3. CFS typically occurs in high achievers. For example, academics or high-level sports people.
4. Some specialists have found that sufferers tended to have very good memories as children, and the body somehow remembers how to feel fatigue/pain.
5. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is one of the best things to overcome chronic fatigue syndrome.
6. Children have a better prognosis for overcoming chronic fatigue syndrome, while recovery in adults is fair to poor.