Did you know?

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) can cause you to feel so tired that you can’t complete normal, daily activities. While chronic fatigue syndrome has no known cause and is difficult to diagnose, its major symptoms can be treated.

There are no tests for it, and other illnesses can cause similar symptoms, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Diagnosis often is a process of elimination, with a person's doctor ruling out a number of other possible illnesses before suspecting CFS.

In a report released in February this year by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), CFS was called a "legitimate" disease with five main symptoms. IOM posits that CFS affects patients so seriously that it should be renamed "Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease." An independent panel of experts put together by the U.S. government is working with the institute to standardize a set of diagnostic criteria.

The report is a breakthrough for many sufferers of CFS who have had to fight to convince physicians for decades that there is something truly wrong with them. "In its most severe form, this disease can consume the lives of those whom it afflicts," the IOM panel said in a news release. "It is real. It is not appropriate to dismiss these patients by saying, 'I am chronically fatigued, too.'"

Until now, doctors have had to rely on a case definition of CFS that was created in 1994 to help researchers before it was conclusively determined to be an actual illness. The new IOM report lays out new diagnostic criteria to help streamline the process. According to the new report, people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome suffer three core symptoms:

• Impaired ability to engage in pre-illness levels of activity due to often-profound fatigue that persists for more than six months
• A worsening of these symptoms after any type of exertion, including physical or mental exercises or emotional stress
• Sleep that does not alleviate fatigue

Two additional problems that are part of the new diagnostic criteria are:

• Impaired ability to think, persisting for at least six months and present at least half the time with moderate to severe intensity
• The inability to remain upright, with symptoms that improve when lying down, also persisting for at least six months

CFS symptoms usually start suddenly. But for some people, they develop gradually over weeks or months. Symptoms can change in a day, and from day to day. They tend to stop (remission) and then start again (relapse).

In addition to the newly found diagnostic criteria, people suffering from CFS also present with the following symptoms that are not centered on fatigue:

• Sleep problems
• Pain, which can be widespread or in one place—CFS pain can be in one area, then move to another. You may have:
  
  • Muscle pain
  • Joint pain
  • Headache
• Problems with concentration, short-term memory, or thinking of the right word
• Being very sensitive to light, noise, or emotions
• Confusion, slow thinking, or feeling disoriented
• Muscle weakness or muscle coordination problems

Different people with CFS have varying combinations of:

• Dizziness and/or lightheadedness and very fast heartbeat, or shortness of breath when active
• Urinating often, nausea or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Low body temperature, cold hands and feet or trouble with heat or cold
• Feeling worse when under stress
• Fluctuation in weight or change in appetite

Between 836,000 and 2.5 million Americans suffer from CFS, and an estimated 84 to 91 percent of people with the disorder are not diagnosed, according to the IOM. CFS tends to strike people in their 40s and 50s, and occurs four times more often in women than men. In 2014, doctors linked CSF to inflammation of the nerve cells of the brain, and some now believe people with the syndrome are fatigued because something has gone wrong with their immune response.

Awareness of the disease is still lacking, experts say. Less than one-third of medical schools include CFS-specific information in their curriculum, the IOM committee found, and 67 to 77 percent of patients said it took more than a year to receive a diagnosis. About 29 percent of these patients said it took more than five years.

The direct and indirect economic costs of CFS to society have been estimated at $17 billion to $24 billion annually, $9.1 billion of which has been attributed to lost household and job productivity, the IOM reported.

March is National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness month. If you or someone close to you is experiencing the symptoms described here, talk to your doctor and ask for help in creating a health regimen, adapted for CFS. The disease's symptoms can be treated, even though a cure does not exist and its cause remains unknown.

As an LPGN IBO, you have access to a quartet of nutritional supplements that are formulated to keep the body’s systems working smoothly together. Why not help everyone you know to maintain health by bolstering their circulatory, immune and digestive systems while regulating stress levels?