Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Description:  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS),  is not an easily defined or understood condition.  People who get diagnosed with this condition usually have a number of different symptoms.  No real cause to this CFS has been formally identified, however a number of theories have surfaced over the years.   CFS is classified as an auto-immune disease, and has some sister diagnosis that are also auto-immune (Fibromyalgia, Lupus and myalgic encephalomyelitis).  A number of virus have been suspected as potential causes or factors, these include; Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), enteroviruses, retrovirus and a number of other herpes virus.

Symptoms:  Not all patients have the same symptoms and usually tend to vary from patient to patient depending on sex, age, race, time of onset, general health and stress.  However some of the typical symptoms are the following.

1.  Extreme Fatigue

2.  Fever or Chills

3.  abnormally high or low body temp.

4.  Sore thoart

5  swollen or painfull lymph nodes

6.  Some muscle or joint pain that varies from location to location

7.  Some mental confusion, depression or inablility to concentrate.

8.  Most patients have some issues with sleep, either irregular

     sleep habits, or inablitity to go to sleep, interrupted sleep or 

     wake up still felling tied after an number of hours of sleep.

Convential Treatments:  Treatments may vary depending on the patient's symptoms.   The catigory of medications can range from anti-virals, antibiotics, pain meds, anti-depressients and anti-inflammatory drugs.

 

Questions for your MD:  If you are have been diagnosised or having some or all of the symptom of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the there are some questions you may what to ask you physician.   These questions are to insure that all steps to find out potential causes have been tested for or at least acknowleged. 

1.  Make sure you have had a full Thyroid panel.  This will include TSH, free thyroxine, free triiodothyronine, reverse T3, anti-thyroglobulin antibodies, anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies, fT4/fT3, fT3/rT3.  Some phycian will only run TSH and will tell you that your Thyroid is fine, however running a full thryoid panel should give a patient complete insurance that their thryroid is operating properly.  If one of the test(s) come back abnormal, then hopefully this information may help you resolve some of your CFS symptoms or may be the cause of your symptoms.

2.  Ask your physician about a sleep study.   Over the past 15 years there has been a high percentage of patient come into my practice with a diagnoises of CFS, and I have sent them back to their phycian to have a sleep study.   We were looking for Sleep Apnea.   In a lot of cases a pateint has been diagonsed with Sleep Apnea and took the measure to help treat Sleep Apnea and a lot of their CFS symptom were alleveated.