Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Overview
While many people complain of feeling overly tired from time to time, some of those individuals may actually be experiencing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). A patient is generally thought to be stricken with CFS when his or her fatigue becomes a prevalent condition which is not alleviated over an extended period of time.
The condition, which first surfaced as CFS in the 1980’s, was recognized by the Centers for Disease Control in 1988 as a “constant state of exhaustion.” While an accurate diagnosis may be difficult to confirm, a Harvard University Study reached the conclusion that as many as 3 out of every 1,000 people in the U.S. have CFS.
Causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
While some researchers believe CFS can be caused by any number of infections, foods, allergies, nutritional deficiencies and other illnesses, one study suggests individuals who are most prone to contract CFS are middle-class white women whose occupations are highly stressful.
This rationale may be at least somewhat accurate as other studies show one occupational group with unusually high numbers of CFS is flight attendants. Flight attendants are subjected to high levels of stress but also are working in small areas with contained and contaminated air, atmospheric radiation, and pressure changes.
Other scientists feel the onset of CFS may be due to the administration of vaccinations. Although more research is in order before firm conclusions can be reached, there is some evidence that vaccinations may contribute to the artificial reduction of uncommitted immune cells in the body. If a human’s uncommitted immune cells are fighting infections, the ability to counteract other onslaughts in the body is adversely affected. Because young people encounter many new challenges to their immune systems, some researchers believe current inoculation programs (normally delivered to infants and toddlers) hinder the body’s ability to properly fight the new adversaries. Many CFS patients are found to have deficiencies of uncommitted immune cells.
This conclusion is finding acceptance in some quarters of the medical community by establishing a direct correlation between Gulf War syndrome (which is often characterized by symptoms of CFS) and the vaccination programs initiated by the U.S. military during the Persian Gulf War. However, soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf also frequently came into contact with other agents such as biological warfare chemicals and the toxic pollutants in the air from burning oil wells.
Other researchers attribute CFS to viral infections, particularly C pneumonia.
Types of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
While people in the U.S. know this condition as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, other nations have different labels for the same symptoms. Japanese physicians call the condition Low Natural Killer Syndrome (LNKS), while chronic fatigue in Great Britain is known as yalgic encephalomyelitis. Other countries where the condition is becoming well known include Holland, Canada and Australia.
Prevention of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
If an otherwise healthy person is beginning to experience some signs of CFS, the first challenge is to identify the suspected cause. Most instances of exhaustion are not caused by viral infections. Fatigue that is caused by a viral infection is typically accompanied by other viral symptoms, while individuals with general fatigue have an absence of other symptoms. Such extreme fatigue is often brought on by sleeping disorders caused by stress. Infrequent insomnia, when combined with stress, can become debilitating for certain individuals.
Fatigue can also be the cause of poor dietary habits and thereby a lack of calories. Many people feel they are consuming an adequate amount of calories when in reality those calories are of little or no nutritional value. Proper diets consisting of foods without excessive sugar and processed white flour could alleviate some symptoms of fatigue.
Signs & Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
CFS has quite a number of symptoms. Some of the common symptoms of CFS include sore throat that is unexplained, loss of memory and/or someone being unable to concentrate, enlargement and tenderness of lymph nodes in the areas around armpits and neck. In addition to that, the patient will experience soreness of muscle, pain on joints that does not swell or cause redness but moves from one joint to another, headaches and being extremely exhausted or fatigued after doing normal daily activities. These are the main symptoms of the CFS.
Other additional symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome include earaches, some chest pain, nauseating, being dizzy, having heartbeats that are irregular, coughing, alcohol intolerance, bloating, drying of eyes and mouth, diarrhea, depression, night sweats, losses in weight and so on.
Other symptoms may include earaches, abdominal pain, chest pain, diarrhea, coughing, bloating, dry eyes and mouth, irregular heartbeat, night sweats, weight loss and depression.
Posted in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Ask a Question Or Join a Discussion
