Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or CFS, is another hard-to-diagnose disorder
because many of its signs and symptoms can also be
associated with all sorts of other disorders. It has much in
common with fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity,
some forms of allergies, mononucleosis, thyroid disorders,
and a prolonged bout of the flu.
In fact, that can be the main thing bothering CFS sufferers:
they feel as if they had a long, drawn out case of the flu
that just doesn’t go away. They have a slow, draggy, aching
feeling all over. They have sore throats and swollen lymph
nodes. They have dry, scaly skin, brittle nails and hair,
and are susceptible to infestations of candida albicans.
Most of all, they’re completely out of energy. They drag
around all day, every day. On bad days, getting from the bed
to the couch can be the extent of their energy. They feel
drained, exhausted, and usually pretty desperate. Depression
is common, and while depression can certainly exist without
CFS, it’s rare for anyone to have CFS for any length of time
without some amount of depression. This is not because of a
biochemical reaction so much as because the sufferer feels
so terrible and is unable to engage in normal activities --
and has no idea whether there’s light at the end of a very
long, exhausting tunnel.
CFS is often associated with the Epstein Barr virus -- but
not always. It was once thought that the Epstein-Barr virus
was *the* cause of CFS, but this is no longer thought to be
true. There is not yet any one known cause for all cases of
CFS, so its diagnosis, like fibromyalgia’s, is one of
elimination of other causes coupled with a grouping of
symptoms. Many people, in fact, believe that CFS,
fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivity are the same
condition, differentiated only by the varying intensity of
the different symptoms.
And if you decide to treat CFS with alternative medicine,
you will find that since there is no one cause of the
illness, there is no one treatment that works for everyone,
either. A good alternative practitioner will spend time to
get to know you and treat you as an individual rather than
using a "one size fits all" approach.
It may take some time to go through tests for other disorders before
concluding that CFS is at the root of the problem. At the
moment, lacking lab tests, CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion.
If you have CFS and not fibromyalgia, for instance, you
won’t have fibromyalgia tender points. Hypothyroidism is
another one to check for, as the fatigue and other symptoms
of hypothyroidism have a lot on common with CFS.
Remember, though, that it’s possible to have CFS in
conjunction with any of these other disorders. You can have
fibromyalgia, as diagnosed by a tender point test, and also
CFS. And it’s not uncommon for the trio of CFS, fibromyalgia,
and MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity, see below) to be
diagnosed all together. When that happens, there is almost
certainly a serious underlying stressor that needs
attention.
The lines between CFS and fibromyalgia are especially blurry. They both
make you tired, and they both make you ache all over. Some
people get around the confusion by simply saying they have
both, which may well be the case. In general, the aches and
pains associated with fibromyalgia are its main symptom,
with fatigue a close second; in CFS the fatigue is the main
symptom. People with fibromyalgia can usually benefit from a
moderate amount of exercise; a person with CFS may be unable
to get out of bed. CFS sufferers usually feel like they have
or are coming down with a cold or flu, with sore throat and
swollen lymph nodes. People with fibromyalgia may or may not
feel like that.
One clue has to do with the onset of the condition.
Fibromyalgia may come on suddenly, but it is usually a more
gradual process. When you look back, you can often identify
triggers in the months prior to the onset of symptoms: a
serious illness, injury or physical or emotional trauma, or
several of these in a short space of time. CFS, on the other
hand, sometimes starts with a bad bout of the flu and no
other triggers you can identify.
If you are diagnosed and treated for another disorder and don’t get
better, or don’t get better as thoroughly as you would hope,
you may have CFS as well. Remember that very often, there is
a physical or emotional problem or problems, environmental
factors, a trauma or lifestyle factor that is causing your
health problems, and can cause more than one condition to
flare up at the same time. Treating CFS, like treating its
sister conditions fibromyalgia and MCS, is not a quick
process, nor is it one after which you can go on with life
as usual. True healing usually requires major lifestyle
changes, but people who make it through the tunnel say it’s
worth every minute.
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