Pain, Depression, and Reflux

Ray Said:

Are these symptoms consistant with Chronic fatigue syndrome?

We Answered:

Stress can do so many strange things to the body! As for your sleeping, there are 3 new medications available that are not habit-forming. Ambien CR not only puts you to sleep, but KEEPS you asleep. The other two are Lunesta and Rozerem.
I think it's time for you to see a doctor and tell him/her exactly what you wrote in your question. I really think there IS help for you. Good luck! :)

Dwayne Said:

How can a person with chronic fatigue syndrome get more energy?

We Answered:

I would have 2 things checked.....your iron level and your thyroid. Both can cause severe fatigue.

Other ideas include eating fruit for natural sugar as apposed to sugary foods. 10 minutes, 2 times a day of exercise can also help. It doesn't have to be a lot and you can work up to doing more than that if you want to.

If you are not sleeping well at night, I would also ask your doctor about starting a low dose of Trazadone. It helped me greatly and I felt much better during the day.

The biggest thing that helped me was regular chiropractic adjustments. I have Fibromyalgia (although you'd never know it now), spinal stenosis, High Blood Pressure, hypothyroidism and IBS. I also get chronic migraines. Chiropractic has improved my life 100%. I see my chiropractor 1 time a week and I virtually have no symtoms! I have been seeing a chiropractor for 15 months now.

Hope all of this helps!

Chester Said:

What kind of doctor can diagnose Chronic fatigue syndrome?

We Answered:

Any physician who knows a lot about chronic fatigue syndrome can diagnose it...no specialty in particular; the trick is finding one who really knows about it. Some don't "believe" in it (as if it was a matter of "belief"), some don't want to deal with it, some act like they know about it (or really think they do, but don't), and a relatively small number actually do. To diagnose it the doctor has to rule out many conditions that can cause similar symptoms (MS, lupus, Addison's disease, HIV, hepatitis, etc etc), and also confirm the presence of certain prerequisites in the medical history and general symptoms. There are a lot of things that can cause "chronic fatigue" that have nothing to do with chronic fatigue syndrome. It is VERY important to be accurately diagnosed; I suggest you ask the doctor to follow the Canadian consensus definition (see below). You definitely don't want to be misdiagnosed with CFS if you actually have something that is much more treatable!

Despite many, many biological findings over decades that establish CFS (or ME, or CFIDS, as it is also called) as a real physical disease, including the recent finding that a number of CFS patients have a rare retrovirus called XMRV, too many people are ignorant about this disease, including many who suffer from it (like one of your previous respondents!) Luckily there is a lot of information available about it on the web, from many different groups. Before you see a doctor about it, I would recommend you check out at least some of those websites; here's just a couple:

The Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM Association website has some solid basic introductory info, including an abridged version of the Canadian Consensus Definition:
http://www.masscfids.org/about-cfidsme
I recommend you read their section on "Diagnosis" too (listed in a menu on the left of the web page).

The CFIDS Association of America site is more confusing, but you can try them, too (though they use a very vague definition of CFS):
http://www.cfids.org/about-cfids/default…
You may have a local support group near you that can direct you to physicians knowledgeable about CFS.. you can ask the CFIDS Association of America to give you a list of support groups in your general area at: (704)-365-2343

If you do get a diagnosis of CFS, you may well want a doctor who treats many CFS patients; there's a "good doctor's list" (many self-recommended, though), arranged by region, at Co-Cure's website here: http://www.co-cure.org/Good-Doc.htm

Be careful; there are a quite a few snake oil salesmen out there.. The more research you do, the better. Most CFS patients wind up knowing more about the disease than the average physician.

[By the way, the term "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" IS a lousy one, and has been so poorly defined by the CDC (who invented the term) that it does indeed serve as an umbrella term for more than one condition, including, possibly, psychological ones. Before being re-named, the stricter term was myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which despite being a controversial term itself at least IS well-defined by the Ramsay and Hyde criteria as a neurological disease (usually caused by an infection). Unfortunately there has been a strong push by a psychiatric lobby (especially in the UK) to dismiss it as a purely psychological disease, which is why there is any disagreement at all about whether the disease is "real" or not....though to say it is not is completely unscientific.]

Good luck!

Kristina Said:

How does a person know if they have chronic fatigue syndrome?

We Answered:

I too found out that I had sleep apnea. When I started the CPAP machine I thought all the symptoms would magically disappear, however, they did not. One dr. explained to me that these symptoms were there for a long time and would take a long time to overcome. This helped me put it in perspective and I found it was much closer to 2 - 3 months before I felt any recovery from the interrupted sleep caused by the untreated sleep apnea. Try to use your CPAP even when you take a nap during the day. The sypmptoms of Chronic Fatigue are very much like those of untreated sleep apnea. So give the CPAP treatment much longer to take affect before delving into another diagnosis. You have enough on your hands right now - I know because I've been there.

Diana Said:

Where can I be apart of a study for chronic fatigue syndrome?

We Answered:

If you type the original question into the google bar, you will find many sites that can assist you in your quest to understand what is going on. Are you sure it's chronic fatigue? Search for clues.