Many of us are ready to diagnose signs of chronic fatigue syndrome by overworking at work, experiencing constant stress and feeling a permanent breakdown. Let's find out how justified the parallels between this disease and ordinary malaise are justified.
Chronic fatigue syndrome: symptoms, treatment
A sense of powerlessness and regularly occurring apathy often accompany residents of megacities. Especially those who work in the office and do not adhere to a healthy lifestyle. However, in recent years, these symptoms have taken on the character of a real epidemic. In the CIS countries it is not customary to often turn to doctors with such complaints. They are often credited with a psychogenic nature and are believed that rest should cause constant fatigue to recede. In America, the problem of chronic overwork was treated with great attention: at the end of the twentieth century, studies were conducted there, the etiology of the above symptoms was carefully analyzed. As a result, a new disease was identified. All these signs were considered symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.
In 1984,
Nevada doctors recorded more than two hundred cases of this disease.
Signs of chronic fatigue syndrome began to be considered weakness, depression, sudden mood swings. In the blood of all patients, a new virus was identified, which was called the Epstein-Barr virus. It has a herpetic origin - this can partly explain its ability to proceed secretly and not manifest for a long time. This feature of chronic fatigue syndrome explains the difficulties that arise in the diagnosis. Moreover, a breakdown may indicate many other diseases. The syndrome can also be triggered by colds of a viral nature or an exacerbation of chronic inflammatory processes. This disease affects mainly women from twenty to forty years - they account for up to eighty percent of all cases.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Test and Manifestations
The signs of this disease allow with a careful approach to distinguish it from ordinary fatigue and constitutionally-caused weakness of nervous processes. The feeling that a person lives at the limit of his strength and can not cope with those things that were previously given easily, arises suddenly. Rest does not help. A prolonged sleep does not bring relief. And for a long time there are no improvements. In order to diagnose the syndrome, firstly, it is necessary to exclude any systemic and chronic diseases. Secondly, in addition to the permanent sensation of extreme fatigue, other symptoms should also be present - pain in the back, joints and head, unpleasant sensations when touching the lymph nodes. Also often there is forgetfulness and confusion of thinking, anxiety, some symptoms resembling dystonia (dizziness, numbness of the extremities).