Introduction
Introduction
| Introduction
| Introduction
| Day-to-Day Patterns
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Most symptoms of CFS fall into a few categories: fatigue, pain, cognitive and neurological problems, and sensitivities.
All people feel fatigue in some way after a long day of work or a poor night sleeping. The exhaustion in CFS is different. It is overwhelming, everpresent, and impossible to ignore. Sometimes it gets better with rest but often it doesn't, and it never leaves entirely. People have described the fatigue as "like moving through black Jello" or "flattening exhaustion."
The most distinctive aspect of CFS fatigue is that it gets worse after exertion. (This is also true of some other symptoms.) Exertion could be physical exercise, mental exercise, social interaction, or handling some stressor.
In addition to fatigue, many people with CFS have sleep disorders, especially insomnia.
Muscle pains tends to concentrate in the legs, arms, back, and sometimes the chest. Sometimes the pain is a general ache; sometimes it's sharp, specific, and triggered by touch. Muscle pain tends to get much worse the day after physical exercise.
Other common types of pain in CFS include joint pain, sore throats, lymph node pain, and several types of headaches.
Cognitive problems include forgetfulness, poor word retrieval, poor decision-making, difficulty reading, and problems with simple arithmetic. These symptoms, sometimes described collectively as "brain fog," get worse with fatigue, but cannot be explained entirely by the fatigue.
Neurological problems include dizziness, light-headedness, numbness, and ringing in the ears. A special problem called Neurally Mediated Hypotension (NMH) is commonly present. NMH is characterized by a drop in blood pressure causing dizziness or light-headedness when a person stands up quickly.
People with CFS tend to be sensitive to sound and light, especially flourescent light. Some people are sensitive to certain chemicals and some to certain foods. There are often new allergies and a very high rate of allergy to alcohol. People with CFS are also very sensitive to heat and cold; many of them have normal body temperatures which are very low.
In addition to these symptoms, there are other symptoms within each category and some symptoms in other categories, including: fevers, night sweats, indigestion, difficulty fighting off common colds, and poor blood flow, which results in difficulty standing for long periods of time.
People with CFS often become (understandably) discouraged and frustrated with their illness. This may be similar to, but not the same as, primary depression. Also, they may get so exhausted and overwhelmed that they withdraw from their friends and family. They forget birthdays and can't return phone calls; ordinary conversations are cut short. All of these problems, especially when combined with financial hardships due to inability to work, can put great strain on relationships between those who have CFS and their friends and family.
| Introduction
| Introduction
| Day-to-Day Patterns
|