CFS/ME or myalgic encephalomyelitis is a multi-systemic neuroimmune disease that often begins after a viral or other infection. A hallmark symptom is what is known as post-exertional malaise, or PEM, which is also sometimes called neuroimmune exhaustion. PEM involves a worsening of symptoms and/or extreme fatigue (a flare) after physical and/or mental exertion. Other symptoms are too numerous to list, but can include swollen lymph nodes, muscle fatigue and weakness, sore throats, body pain, & autonomic dysfunction including orthostatic intolerance or POTS.
There are 4081 people in the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / M.E. map
ME/CFS is underfunded and poorly researched and has yet to be divided into official subgroups, although researchers believe they exist.
SYSTEMS AFECTED
Circulatory system
Digestive system
Endocrine system
Immune system
Lymphatic system
Muscular system
Nervous system
Respiratory system
Symptoms
post-exertional malaise or neuroimmune exhaustion
fatigue
headaches or migraines
unrefreshing sleep or other sleep disturbances
autonomic dysfunction including orthostatic intolerance (POTS)
fevers or inability to get a fever
swollen lymph nodes
sore throats
body pain and/or flu-like pain
muscle weakness or even paralysis
sensitivities to light, sound, chemicals, drugs, foods, etc.
Treatments
There are no officially-approved treatments for this disease yet, as much more research is desperately needed. Patients manage symptoms through rest and pacing their activity/exertion extremely carefully (not overdoing it and resting as much as needed). Sometimes supplements or antivirals or drugs to help w/ POTS can help mitigate symptoms, but there is no cure yet or FDA-approved drugs to treat the disease.
Mine is a story of gradual onset MECFS. I was in my late twenties when my life began to 'not make sense'. This was in 1976.
I had always been active in sports and was fully engaged in being a wife and mother of two young preschool chi...
Mold Warriors by Dr Ritchie Shoemaker Gateway Press 2005 Chapt. 23 Mold at Ground Zero for CFS The history of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) begins in Incline Village, Nevada in 1985. In the medical history of CFS, each of the concepts ...
I wish that more MDs thought more carefully about CVID, PANS/PANDAS and EDS/MCAS. If I had been diagnosed and treated earlier in life with Igs (instead of being called a hypochondriac and shuffled off to conventional psychiatry), I may not have...
I was your typical average teenage girl always out running around. always out scaring my parents because yet again i was doing something crazy like climbing a really high tree, or riding my bike to close to the duck pond, or going fishing and forgeti...
Hi all
Here is my story....
I started having problems with my knees when I was about 11yrs old, docs just thought it was growing pains and all they did was give me antiinflammatories. As I approached my mid teens I started sleeping in class althoug...
any supplement/homepathic med for adrenal fatigue insomnia (sudden awakening at night after 3-4 hours of sleep and then inability to fall asleep again)?
LBL did study of CO2 in air on thought and finds quite surprisingly, thought gets much worse if CO2 in outside air of 400ppmv, goes up from exhaled breath at 40,000 ppm, to raise room ambient to 1000ppmv or greater.
Free reference: http://...
684 people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / M.E. have taken the SF36 survey. Mean of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / M.E. is 967 points (27 %). Total score ranges from 0 to 3,600 being 0 the worst and 3,600 the best. Take the SF36 Survey
Symptoms
Treatments
Open Medicine Foundation
Irish ME/CFS Association
Dave Galvin
