Health & Medicine
What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? How to treat CFS effectively?
MUMBAI: There are many misconceptions regarding chronic fatigue syndrome or CFS. According to medical experts, CFS is a physical disorder and not a psychological illness, as sometimes mentioned in health and fitness literature.
Secondly, there’s no simple blood test or X-ray or any other test to diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome – also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS).
Thirdly chronic pain and fatigue are common symptoms of both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
The difference is that, in fibromyalgia, fatigue often takes a backseat to debilitating muscle pain. In chronic fatigue syndrome, people have an overwhelming lack of energy and experience tiredness, but also can experience some pain and discomfort.
People with ME/CFS may be lightheaded, dizzy, weak, or faint while standing or sitting up. They may have vision changes like blurring or seeing spots.
Most of the time fatigue can be traced to one or more of your habits or routines, particularly lack of exercise.
It’s also commonly related to depression and other psychological conditions like lack of motivation and drive.
On occasion, fatigue is a symptom of other underlying conditions that require medical treatment.
“Symptoms of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) may appear similar to many other illnesses and there is no test to confirm ME/CFS. This makes ME/CFS very difficult to properly diagnose,” opines Dr Pranav Kabra of the Raksha Multispeciality Hospital at Malad, in suburban Mumbai.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that lasts for at least six months and that can’t be fully explained by an underlying medical condition.
The fatigue worsens with physical or mental activity and doesn’t improve with rest.
Other characteristic symptoms include:
- Sleep that isn’t refreshing
- Difficulties with memory, focus and concentration
- Dizziness that worsens with moving from lying down or sitting to standing
- This condition is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Sometimes it’s abbreviated as ME/CFS. The most recent term proposed is systemic exertional intolerance disease (SEID).
The cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is unknown, although there are many theories — ranging from viral infections to psychological stress, air pollution, lack of proper nutrition and vitamin and mineral deficiency in the body.
Some experts believe chronic fatigue syndrome might be triggered by a combination of factors, including stress, air pollution, depression, loss of a loved one, loneliness, substance abuse, alcoholism, obesity and other lifestyle diseases like diabetes and more.
There’s no single test to confirm a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. You may need a variety of medical tests to rule out other health problems that have similar symptoms. Treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome focuses on improving symptoms one at a time.
EECP to the rescue
Several doctors and experts vouch for EECP or Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) therapy as an effective treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome and and studies and experiments worldwide have proved beyond doubt that EECP definitely helps relieve symptoms of CFS.
What is EECP therapy?
Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) treatment is an approved outpatient therapy for chronic stable angina and other related issues like weight loss, fat reduction, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, etc. It uses pressure on the lower limbs to improve blood flow in people with long-term symptoms of heart disease, such as chest pain and pressure.
Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) therapy is a safe and effective alternative therapy to surgery when treating angina (chest pain) in people with coronary artery disease. It may have uses for other conditions that remain under study, including heart failure, diabetes, weight loss and long COVID.