What Is It Like To Suffer With
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
What Is It Like To Suffer With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
A common complaint from people who have been diagnosed with having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is an
overwhelming and extreme fatigue.
A fatigue that is not associated with a busy day at the office or from running a 10-mile marathon. This is a
fatigue that can be felt upon waking; a fatigue that has nothing to do with physical activity.
The fatigue can keep you from living a normal, active life. It can even interfere with normal activities like
getting dressed, making meals, or being able to function at work or school.
It is difficult for those who suffer from symptoms like depression and pain and who have CFS because a so often
they can not tolerate medications due to experiencing side effects from taking them. T
his increases the anger over the disease because you so badly want to get rid of the symptoms and often times
the very medications that could alleviate your symptoms cannot be taken due to experiencing side effects.
This anger can lead to more depression and a vicious cycle can begin that just aggravates some of the symptoms
of CFS like anxiety, depression just being tired of the whole situation. A
nother common symptom of CFS is memory loss. This can be especially devastating for young college aged students
who rely on remembering what they have read or heard in class in order to do well on tests and receive good
grades.
Think of all the things you do each day that require your ability to remember things like where you put your car
keys, heck how about where you parked your car?
Every day we rely on our memory to complete tasks like picking up kids from after school activities, making
purchases, completing assignments at the office. Most of us take for granted having the ability to remember to do
these things that require memory.
A person with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome who is suffering from short term memory loss cannot do even simple tasks
that require the ability to remember instructions, events, assignments or things they have heard or read. Often
times the ability to concentrate is also decreased adding to the problem of short term memory loss.
Chronic Fatigue Fast Facts
Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
There is little physicians know about what causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), so treating CFS can be difficult due to the unknown origin. There is also no known "cure" that will alleviate the symptoms altogether. Physicians can treat the symptoms each patient presents with and therefore give the sufferer some measure of relief. The known symptoms of CFS vary widely but include extreme fatigue, painful joints, headaches, cough, sore throat, just to name a few of the many symptoms. Because...
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Those patients who have had brain scans have often been told that they have lowered blood flow to the brain; which
could explain the concentration problems and memory issues.
A lot of CFS patients seem to agree that they experience weight gain, perhaps as a result of not
being able to be as active as those without CFS. Some have found it helpful to decrease sugars and carbohydrates
from their diets and to be sure to eat balanced nutritious meals.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients deal with chronic pain. The pain is felt in their muscles and in
multiple joints in their bodies. Chronic pain can easily lead to a person becoming depressed.
Most of us who have suffered an injury can relate to not being able to wait to feel some relief
from the pain. Those who suffer from CFS do not receive that relief. They live every day with pain as a constant
companion.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Facts
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It has been believed for a long time that it was a virus which caused Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Research indicates now that it might be a combination of different things like, environmental
toxins combined with one or more viruses, stress and possibly a genetic connection
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The pain can vary in intensity and can even change from mild to more severe. Sometimes knowing what
others go through can help us to be more compassionate to them when we come in contact with them.
It must be a difficult disease to deal with whether you are the patient or someone who cares about
the person with CFS. Those who suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome deserve our support and our empathy.
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