If you or a friend or relative suffers from this severe and often debilitating disease, you may have wondered, as I have, why the word "syndrome?" Check out the word "syndrome" in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and you will find this definition: "1 : a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality 2 : a set of concurrent things (as emotions or actions) that usually form an identifiable pattern" The important part of this is not the first definition, but the second which refers to concurrent things such as "emotions that usually form an identifiable pattern." And the reason that this is important is because Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) was first thought of as a psychological problem (thus an emotional syndrome) and not a disease at all. In other words, when people complained of the symptoms of CFS, doctors thought it was "all in their heads." Over the years, most doctors and researchers came to recognize that Chronic Fatigue was, in fact, a disease, and, in 1988, the term "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" was coined to describe it. This term is now used increasingly over other such terms as Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), which was introduced in an attempt to reduce the psychiatric stigma attached to the term "chronic fatigue." Even today, CFS remains a controversial diagnosis. This is because some physicians believe that it represents the physical manifestation of depression. However, there is no hard evidence to support this theory and while anti-depressants may help with the sleep disorder symptom of CFS but do not cure it. In 1994, the CDC determined that a diagnosis of CFS requires that the patient show incapacitating fatigue, unexplained by any medical cause, that has lasted for at least six months and that is not improved by rest. In addition, the patient must show at least four of the following eight symptoms. - Impairment of short-term memory and concentration
- Sore throat
- Tender lymph nodes
- Muscle pain
- Multi-joint pain
- Headaches of a new type, pattern or severity
- Unrefreshing sleep
- Post-exertional malaise (fatigue lasting more than 24 hours after exertion
If you or a friend or relative who shows these symptoms. make sure that he or she is seen by a doctor qualified to treat CFS. If you do not know such a doctor, you might contact your local CFS support group for a recommendation. CFS may not be curable, but there are things that patients can do minimize its effect on their lives. |
