Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
CFS is a descriptive name of a myriad of symptoms including: recurring sore throat; low grade fever; lymph node swelling; headache; muscle and joint pains (fybromyalgia); intestinal discomfort; anxieties; depression; mood swings; loss of concentration; allergies and hypersensitivities; hot and cold flashes; muscle spasms and numbness; over sensitivity to noise, light or temperature changes; sleep disturbance; and extreme, often disabling fatigue.
Major criteria used to distinguish Chronic Fatigue are:
- Persistent fatigue that does not resolve with bed
rest and that is severe enough to reduce average daily activity by
at least 50% for at least 6 months
- The presence of other chronic clinical conditions,
including psychiatric disorders can be ruled out.
- Antibodies to certain viruses may be present (e.g.
EBV, CMV, BFV, etc.). A virus may or may not be active by the time
the symptoms develop. The virus tends to hype up the immune system
and deregulates other body systems and the effect is similar to symptoms
of various autoimmune diseases.
My approach is not to help, treat, or improve Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,
but to get rid of it! Although results may vary, a typical CFS sufferer
recovers 75% within 3 months; 90-100% within 6 months; and 99-100% within
9 months. Most clients can see some positive differences in as little
as 7 days on the program. At least half of the patients don’t
need more than 6 months to recover.
History of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic Fatigue is a condition of being exhausted most of the time, to the point where it interferes with daily activities. Chronic fatigue syndrome is a syndrome that describes combinations of symptoms, the most prominent of which is chronic fatigue. Other symptoms are mild fever, a sore throat that comes and goes, pain and swelling in the lymph nodes, weakness, pain in the muscles, a recurrent headache, joint pain that comes and goes all over the body, depression and disturbances in sleep. These disturbances can be insomnia or sleeping too much.
Chronic fatigue seems to many people to be a new disease, but it’s not. In the Victorian era it was known as neurasthenia. Then, as now, its causes were not clearly understood.
Centers for Disease Control have diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome, which include the above mentioned symptoms as well as fatigue that causes the person’s normal activity level to drop by at least 50 percent over a period of at least six months, and the exclusion of other illnesses that might cause fatigue. However, illnesses that can cause chronic fatigue are as varied as diabetes, heart and lung diseases, chronic inflammation, chronic pain, cancer, some drugs like blood pressure drugs, antihistamines or birth control pills, depression, food allergies and hypoglycemia. An ongoing candida infection can also cause chronic fatigue.
Some clinicians have pointed to the Epstein-Barr virus as a cause of chronic fatigue. The Epstein-Barr virus is a member of the herpes family of viruses, which means that it can maintain a latent infection in the patient for the rest of the patient’s life. The infection is usually controlled by a normal and healthy immune system, but when the immune system is weakened in some way, the virus becomes active. Nearly all humans have been infected by the Epstein-Barr virus. When the patient is infected as a child there are usually no symptoms, but when they’re infected as a teenager or an adult it sometimes manifests itself as mononucleosis. Other suspected causes of chronic fatigue are the human herpes virus 6, brucella, enterovirus and retrovirus.
Most sufferers from chronic fatigue have a low level of natural killer cells, which the body uses to destroy cancer cells or cells infected by viruses. They also have a lower than normal level of white blood cells call lymphocytes, which also destroy viruses.
Often, the patient can be helped by a Chronic Fatigue Specialist who recommends a healthy diet program which eliminates excess sugar and caffeine. Vitamin and mineral supplements like magnesium and vitamin C can also be helpful, as can exercise and counseling.
