AS = CFS?

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Well, I can blame my usual daytime drowsiness due to my Sleep Apnea, but I do wonder if I have CFS, too....

Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Now I'm confused

If you're just drowsy or tired more than is reasonable, you probably do not have chronic fatigue syndrome.

I feel your pain. I have IBS too and although I do get it a lot some times it's just unbearable. There, hope that wasn't TMI.

I get told I'm a hypochondriac too. Well when you convulse, see things that aren't there, lose your peripheral vision, become paralyzed etc - it's understandable that you become quite fearful of catching any illness. I forgot to add the paranoia that temporal lobe epilepsy leaves me with. I hear stuff that's not there. Scary.

I was diagnosed with CFS when I was 13. I always thought it was a misdiagnoses but now I dunno. I eat healthy, exercise and though my medication gives me both mental and physical energy even on it I can feel drained. I always say this is because the pills are making me work to the best of my ability but I'm not sure. I'll have to ask other people with ADHD if they get so tired easily.

When I wake up I'll have to psyche myself to get the day started. This is usually with music, a shower and a hot Milo (because I don't do coffee). Even on ADHD medication I need to take breaks. Doing something like vacuuming my room will make me tired.

I've just always felt less fit than most people I know, even though they eat worse and barely exercise. People always commented on my level of inactivity. The P.E teachers were the worse. They's single me out because I was always trailing behind.

It's probably not severe but I get joint and muscle pain a lot and recently I've been getting really bad headaches, although they are around the eye so I either need to wear shades or ease the stress.

Found this in the news today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14326514

What is your view on whether there are phsycological causes which bring about pain or is CFS a handy name for the unexplained pain and tiredness and lack of ability to do all the things we used to enjoy without suffering from severe exhaustion?

It is understandable that those who suffer from it may be affected psychologically by the symptoms, because it really does get you down. This may possibly feed back into the condition as stress and depression which are well known to have real physical effects.

However, my own view is that the original root cause is not a mental disorder. My own experience getting CFS directly after shingles is compelling. Anyone who has suffered from this will tell you how bad the discomfort, pain and general wretchedness is so I find it very hard to believe this is all 'in my mind'. I understand the anger described in the article; people get very frustrated when the 'experts' don't listen to what they are being told by those who suffer from the condition - just like with AS.

I gave up seeing doctors with my CFS many years ago.
All I can do is pace myself and try not to overdo things.
The biggest help that I have discovered is.

1. eat small meals as overeating can have an extreme mental and physical draining effect.
2. buy yourself a bicycle; as well as improving the situation it's a lot of fun.
3. don't be temped to have an early night and NEVER EVER nap; that will make things worse.
4. try to keep mentally active even it it's only watching TV; day dreaming will cause a mental shutdown and vastly increase tiredness.

No, I'm not saying that physcological means imaginary, as in made up "all in the mind", and not real. CFS is very real, I am in very real pain as we speak. My head is killing me today and I hurt all round my eyes, my wrists hurt, my knees hurt, my feet hurt, my back hurts. It's like having toothache all over.

The therapy I underwent was along the lines of mind and body working as a whole, as in the mind is just another part of the body, as the brain is organic. As in something happens to the body, a serious flu for example, then the brain reacts to that, then the body reacts to the brain's reaction and it becomes a vicious circle.

Granted, I am ill again. I was ok for a while, but when stressful things come along I slip right back into that feeling like I have the flu, but with no head cold. I've been to the doctors before with sore throats, but they tell me there is nothing wrong that they can see. I can't afford therapy again. I have been working constantly full time for a while for the first time in my life, I'm not sure whether this is tiring me out excessively at the moment and my body can't catch up.

I wish someone could find a definate answer to what is wrong with me.

Sometimes I think that ME/CFS is an umbrealla term that doctors use when they don't know the answer. Possibly what ails me is completely different to what ails you and we have been put into the same category by doctors because they just don't know what's wrong with us.

Sorry I wasn't replying directly to you but rather addressing the general tone of the Doctors in the linked article.



You could well be right, but there are enough people with roughly similar symptoms to suggest that many of these people are indeed suffering from the same thing, or from the same cause.

To me there doesn't seem to be enough research into issues that while not life threatening have a major impact on peoples quality of life. Nobody questions money being sunk into cancer research and yet ultimately you can't stop people dying of something at some point. So little attention is given to people suffering truly debilitating conditions in what is supposedly the prime of their lives.