Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Do You Have These Symptoms?

• Overwhelming fatigue

• Exhaustion after minimal exertion

• ‘Brain fog’ - difficulties with short-term memory, concentration, word finding, word substitution, and orientation

• Increased thirst

• Poor sleep 

• Anxiety and depression 

• Decreased libido

• Bowel disorders

• Frequent infections

• Aches in muscles and joints

• Allergies

• Weight gain

People with CFS are as sick and as functionally impaired as someone with AIDS, with breast cancer, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease"

_{- William Reeves, the lead expert on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the US Centre for Disease Control}

If you recognized yourself above, you are not alone. You are part of a large group of over 50 million people worldwide.

New research is continually providing important clues on how to improve treatment. For the vast majority of sufferers, effective treatment is now available.

What Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Exactly?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a group of symptoms associated with severe, almost unrelenting fatigue. The predominant symptom is fatigue that causes a persistent and substantial reduction in activity level.

It is also known as Myalgic Encephamylitis (ME), Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME), Tapanui Flu, Yuppie Flu, Chronic Epstein-Barr Virus, Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS), and Chronic Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS).

 

What Types of People Get It and What Are the Risk Factors?

• People of every age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic group can have CFS

• CFS affects women at four times the rate of men

• Research indicates that CFS is most common in people in their 40s and 50s

• Although CFS is much less common in children than in adults, children can develop the illness, particularly during the teen years

 
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) affects more than one million people in the United States. There are tens of millions of people with similar fatiguing illnesses who do not fully meet the strict research definition of CFS.

_{- Department of Health and Human Services Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, USA}

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How Does It Start and Develop?

The most notorious pattern seen in severe Chronic Fatigue states is where a person who is feeling fine suddenly comes down with a brutal flu-like illness that never goes away. The sudden onset of the illness after an infection is a mark of this classic pattern. In most of these CFS sufferers, an underlying viral or other infection is likely. These infections can suppress the hypothalamus, located in the brain, which is the body’s master gland that controls most of the other glands, including the adrenal, ovarian, testicular and thyroid glands.

Another pattern seen in CFS is that of poor sleep. This is a problem especially for those who have the achiness of muscles and joints as a predominant symptom. Trying to sleep on painful tight muscles is difficult. The day/ night sleep cycle becomes confused, leading to trouble staying in the deep restorative stages of sleep that recharges the batteries. Poor sleep can suppress the hypothalamus, which can then cause immune suppression with secondary bowel infections. These bowel infections can cause decreased absorption of nutrients, leading to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Auto-immunity and hormone deficiencies are another pattern that is seen in CFS. In auto-immune disorders, the body mistakes parts of itself for outside invaders. The auto-immune triad involves the thyroid and adrenal glands, as well as the cells in the body that assist in the absorption of vitamin B12. When the body attacks its ‘invaders’, the results are low levels of thyroid and adrenal hormones and vitamin B12. This can then trigger pain and poor sleep, which suppresses the hypothalamus gland, setting the stage for fatigue. Multiple other hormonal problems can also trigger CFS.

People who suffer from CFS usually have a combination of several different problems. The exact combination varies from individual to individual. There are dozens of major underlying factors, with individual people displaying an average of five to six factors each. It is important to look for and treat all of the factors simultaneously. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is unusual in that each separate problem can trigger other problems. Because of this, it is rare to have only one single underlying problem.

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How Can You Get Over It?

Understanding the syndrome is the most important part of the journey. Every person with symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is different, although the individual parts of the illness may be the same. This is a journey that you are on, so embrace it as a learning experience. Find out what ‘makes you tick’. The more you find out about yourself, the quicker the healing process will be.

Dietary Considerations

• Eat a diet rich in whole grains and fresh fruit and vegetables. Fruit and vegetables should make up the bulk of your diet.

• If it suits you to eat meat, fish and chicken, ensure that it is fresh.

• Eat organics wherever possible. This will give your liver more energy to detoxify the things that you cannot manage, such as environmental toxins. The chemicals that are in food are just adding to the burden of an already over-burdened detoxification system.

• Ensure you eat quality dietary oils - not hydrogenated or poor quality oils.

• Drink lots of high quality water - Invest in a good quality water purifier if you can afford to.

• Make large batches of soup and freeze them in portion-sizes. When you are not up to preparing anything for yourself to eat, you have something ready- prepared that is easily digestible.

Supplements

There are too many helpful supplements to possibly list here. As everyone is different, it is difficult to say whether all of the nutrients that follow will be helpful. My view is that for a lot of CFS sufferers, the following list is a good start.

 

To Help with Deep Restorative Sleep

Magnesium

Required by the muscles for relaxation, therefore it can be helpful to encourage sleep, help reduce pain, and it is an anti-inflammatory agent. It also helps improve the functioning of the adrenal glands, therefore reducing stress. Magnesium is important to the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, immune system, digestive system, blood sugar metabolism, energy and fat metabolism, healthy bones and muscles, reproduction and water balance. It is imperative for nerve transmission, therefore may also be helpful for depression, anxiety and other mood disorders.

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To Help Increase Energy Levels

 

To Boost the Immune System

 

To Help Balance Hormone Function