Subject: 1.01 What is CFS?
(text from cfs-news.org. Text in bold is mine, as well as the comments.)
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an emerging illness characterized by debilitating fatigue (experienced as exhaustion and extremely poor stamina), neurological problems, and a variety of flu-like symptoms. The illness is also known as chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), and outside of the USA is usually known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). In the past the syndrome has been known as chronic Epstein-Barr virus (CEBV). (Stef: Well, damn, they make it sound much worse with that name!)
The core symptoms include excessive fatigue, general pain, mental fogginess, and often gastro-intestinal problems. Many other symptoms will also be present, however they will typically be different among different patients. These include: fatigue following stressful activities; headaches; sore throat; sleep disorder; abnormal temperature; and others.
The degree of severity can differ widely among patients, and will also vary over time for the same patient. Severity can vary between getting unusually fatigued following stressful events, to being totally bedridden and completely disabled. The symptoms will tend to wax and wane over time. This variation, in addition to the fact that the cause of the disease is not yet known, makes this illness difficult to diagnose.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hello Tank's Girl. Nice to meet you. Thank you for blogrolling me (at your other site). So sorry to read you suffer fibromyalgia. Sometimes its hard to distinguish between it and M.E., although I believe there are certain areas of ones back that doctors can pinpoint FMS. Since Oct 1999 I have suffered a severe form of M.E. and it has become progressively worse. I felt awfully ill and had mobility in the first 1-2 years but steadily worsened to 22 hrs a day horizontal. I have a problem sitting or standing up for longer than 10 mins - for the past 1.5 years I've been horizontal 23.5 hrs a day and have not been past my front gate since March 2003. I now have two home helps for the cooking, cleaning, shopping and errands etc. which has helped to reduce pain levels and keep my brain clear for longer each day. They say M.S. is taken more seriously than M.E. because of its progression and life threatening end stage symptoms - and that it is possible to improve with M.E. but not with M.S. I believe M.E. is just as serious. Severely affected sufferers are totally invisible and not included in research or seen much by medical staff. If anyone reading this needs help or info please look in the bottom of my sidebar where there are links to blogs of other sufferers and info on 25% Group (a quarter of ME sufferers are severe - hence the name) and more information on ME/CFS and where to get help. Any sufferer can email me anytime - I am always here :-) I have book marked your blog and will visit again to catch up on your posts. Hope you are pacing yourself well. With best wishes to you. Ingrid and Ophelia (my wonderful cat who is perfect company because she is like a real live teddy bear, is no trouble at all, speaks sweetly and does not make any loud noise!)
Post a Comment