Comments on: What are the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. (apart from the obvious one being fatigued all the time)?

By: ms wheel

ms wheel — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:27:59 +0000

try http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=102 for general info.
There are also a number of organisations that aim to help those with CFS (also sometimes called ME) - http://www.meassociation.org.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
http://www.afme.org.uk/
References :

By: Ms Mat Urity

Ms Mat Urity — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:09:59 +0000

I hopefully am now over CFS after many, many years. Most of the answers you have here are accurate but symptoms can and do vary from person to person. At one point I was unable to leave my bed, had to be carried to a chair or whatever, toileted, fed. I couldn’t be left alone as I could soil myself as I just was totally incapacitated and could not reach a toilet. At one point I had to be catheterised. From holding an important position and being totally ‘on the ball’ when in a bad way with CFS I could not have told you how much was left if you deducted 50p from a £. I believe I was a worse case senario and thought my life was over, yet here I am as okay as I possibly could be. I haven’t returned to work but drive, go out, keep a house etc. I would say I still get fatigued a bit more than most, this can come on suddenly and not just feeling sleepy but literally unable to carry on for a moment longer. I now go with my body, even if it means letting someone down. I was told to do this at the beginning of the illness but I think because it was an ‘invisable illness’ I felt a fraud. If you are having signs of CFS do as your doctor says. If I wouldn’t have pushed myself so far I don’t think the illness would have got a grip the way it had. Good luck.
References :

By: jaceloise2002

jaceloise2002 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:54:59 +0000

The illness has an individual element - your particular version is probably not the same as anyone else’s in all its respects. As a result, you may find that a treatment that relieves particular symptom(s) for someone else may not do the same for you - indeed it could even make you feel worse. On the other hand, something which someone else found to be of little use could be useful for you. Both mainstream and complementary medicine practitioners have some ideas which you could consider.

Some Symptoms

Muscle symptoms include exercise intolerance and post-exertional malaise (i.e. feeling shattered the day after undue physical activity), pain/myalgia (present in around 75% of people) and fasciculations (visible twitching of the muscles which sometimes includes blepharospasm/eyelid twitching).
Brain and Central Nervous System symptoms include cognitive dysfunction (problems with short-term memory, concentration and maintaining attention), clumsiness, disequilibrium likened to ‘walking on rubber’, and word finding abilities. Problems with control of the autonomic nervous system results in palpitations, sweating episodes and symptoms associated with low blood pressure/postural hypotension (e.g. fainting).
Symptoms which suggest on-going abnormalities in immune system function include sore throats, enlarged glands, joint pains, headaches, problems with temperature control and intermittent flu-like feelings.
Other symptoms which frequently occur in ME/CFS include sleep disturbances (often increased requirements at the onset followed by an inability to maintain a full night’s sleep), alcohol intolerance (a very characteristic feature, particularly in the early period of illness) and irritable bowel symptomatology.
Some people also develop emotional lability or mood swings and features of clinical depression as time goes on.
Besides these more obvious and wide-spread symptoms there are also myriad "minor" ones. Not everyone experiences all of them and often they are not mentioned when patients describe their illness; however there is often very visible relief when they find others, too, have similar experiences.

ME/CFS symptoms tend to fluctuate in severity throughout the course of a day and people often report that they have both ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’, although the term ‘good’ is often used in a relative sense. The illness nearly always results in a severe reduction in a person’s ability to cope with all aspects of normal daily living (i.e. social and sporting activities, employment, household tasks). Relapses or exacerbations are often precipitated by infections, excessive physical or mental stress, general anaesthetics and surgical operations, and extremes of temperature.

JUST REMEMBER IT IS A RECOGNISED ILLNESS AND FIND A GOOD DOCTOR,

I have a great doctor and that helps. check out the ME/CFS website link below and good luck.
References :
http://www.meassociation.org.uk

By: Gary H

Gary H — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:44:59 +0000

Forgetting things or having a hard time focusing, feeling tired even after sleeping, muscle pain or aches, pain or aches in joints without swelling or redness, feeling discomfort or "out-of-sorts" for more than 24 hours after being active, headaches of a new type, pattern, or strength, tender lymph nodes in the neck or under the arm, and sore throat.
References :
http://www.4women.gov/faq/cfs.htm

By: K R

K R — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:15:59 +0000

forgetting things or having a hard time focusing,feeling tired even after sleeping,muscle pain or aches,pain or aches in joints without swelling or redness, feeling discomfort or "out-of-sorts" for more than 24 hours after being active,
headaches of a new type, pattern, or strength, tender lymph nodes in the neck or under the arm, sore throat, being Exausted (not just fatigued, the name can fool you!) and extreme weakness. You can sleep for over 12 hours and still feel tired.

Hope you or no one you know has it, I do, and its miserable.
References :
http://www.4women.gov/faq/cfs.htm#c

By: mysticduder

mysticduder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:48:59 +0000

You don’t have it….axiety, ocd, maybe.
References :