Chronic
fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS or CFS) is a group of symptoms
associated with severe, almost unrelenting fatigue. The main symptom is fatigue
that results in constant and substantial reduction in your activity level.
Oddly, despite their constant exhaustion, people with CFS typically find that
they can't sleep.
CFS can
begin gradually, usually following a period of severe physical or emotional
stress. It can also begin suddenly, feeling like a "drop dead flu"
that you can't fully recover from. Other common symptoms may include:
§ Insomnia
§ Achiness
§ Forgetfulness
§ Brain
fog
§ Increased
thirst
§ Bowel
disorders
§ Recurring
infections
§ Easily
exhausted
§ Weight
gain
§ Low
libido
CFS's
sister illness, fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS or FM), is characterized by muscle
pain — sometimes all over the body, or sometimes only in specific areas. These
painful areas can be transient or persistent. FM pain is caused by a
shortening, or tightening of the muscles. These muscles need sleep and
nutrition, among other things, in order to heal. Since CFS/FM sufferers rarely
sleep well, these muscles stay knotted and painful. For most sufferers, CFS and
FM are the same illness. However, some people have fatigue without pain,
whereas others have pain without fatigue.
What
Causes These Illnesses?
There
is no one specific lab test to confirm that you have CFS or fibromyalgia.
Because of this and other limitations in lab testing, diagnosis is often made
by a practitioner and patient after medical evaluation and lab testing have
eliminated other possible causes. An experienced practitioner can see subtle
nuances in traditional blood testing that indicate CFS/FMS. Because of the need
to exclude other disorders with similar symptoms, such as Lyme’s Disease, MS or
depression, it can often take months of evaluation before a person realizes
they have CFS/FMS.
CFS/FMS
acts as a "circuit breaker," with the hypothalamus decreasing its
function to protect the individual in the face of what is perceived to be an
overwhelming stress (just like blowing a fuse/circuit breaker in a house). This
center controls sleep, hormones, temperature, and blood flow/blood
pressure/sweating. When you don't sleep deeply, your immune system also stops
working properly and you'll be in pain. In addition, if your muscles do not
have enough energy, they will get stuck in the shortened position and you will
be in pain (think rigor mortis). This "energy crisis" can be caused
by any of a number of infections, stresses, or injuries.
Some of
you had your illness caused by any of a number of infections. In this
situation, you can often give the time that your illness began almost to the
day. This is also the case in those of you who had an injury (sometimes very
mild) that was enough to disrupt your sleep and trigger this process. In others
the illness had a more gradual onset. This may have been associated with
hormonal deficiencies (e.g., low thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, cortisone,
etc.) despite normal blood tests. In others, it may be associated with chronic
stress, antibiotic use with secondary yeast overgrowth, and/or nutritional
deficiencies. Indeed, we have found well over 100 common causes of, and factors
that contribute to, these syndromes.
Understanding
this helps us understand the symptom complex seen in CFS/fibromyalgia.
Restoring energy production so that your hypothalamic circuit breaker turns
back on and eliminating what blew your fuse in the first place also gives us a
way to effectively treat you!
