What It's like to Suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

As anyone who has suffered with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) can attest to, it is one of the most debilitating and mysterious disorders to affect a person when at its peak. Because there is no clear cause and no way to test for it, chronic fatigue syndrome is difficult to diagnose, and sometimes patients are even labeled hypochondriacs by their doctors.

CFS sufferer Kim Covert described the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome best when she told a newspaper reporter for the Mankato Free Press: "Fatigue is such a small word for this. I say it's like wearing a suit of armor and the floor is a magnet." Ms. Covert has had CFS since 1984. Although she now feels like she is in remission, she tells of a time when she was so afflicted that she would go hungry because she didn't have enough energy to even reach to the coffee table for an orange, let alone peel it.

Ms. Covert told Mankato Free Press reporter Amanda Dyslin: "Many doctors don't even believe in it still. I went to a doctor here who told me to exercise more."

Dr. Caroline Baerg, a Mankato, Minn. family doctor, told reporter Dyslin that she isn't comfortable diagnosing a patient with CFS because that means the hunt is over for whatever treatable disease the patient might actually have. "It's a chronic label and something they live with their entire lives," said Baerg. "I better make sure there's nothing that can be treated" in that there are so many disorders and illnesses that can present with or cause extreme fatigue.

In 1988, after suffering mysterious symptoms and debilitating fatigue, Ms. Covert learned about CFS and determined that was what she had. "From then on, for the next 20 years, it became something I just learned to deal with and manage," she said.

According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, there are eight possible primary signs and symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, in addition to the fatigue itself: loss of memory or ability to concentrate, sore throat, painful and mildly enlarged lymph nodes in the patient's neck or armpits, unexplained muscle soreness, transitory joint pain without swelling or redness, headaches unlike ones the patient typically experiences, sleep disturbance, and extreme exhaustion after normal exercise or exertion.

According to the International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group, a patient meets the diagnostic criteria of CFS when unexplained persistent fatigue occurs six months or more and the patient also presents with at least four of the eight primary signs and symptoms.

It's estimated there are approximately 1 millions CFS sufferers in the U.S. Studies also found that women are two to four times as likely as men to have chronic fatigue syndrome, although some researchers believe these figures may be misleading because women are typically more likely than men to see a doctor and report symptoms.

There is not yet a cure for chronic fatigue syndrome and few treatment options. Getting plenty of rest and minimizing stress seem to help keep the disorder in remission. Kim Covert sees a positive side to having the disorder; she said it makes her live a healthier lifestyle. She exercises within reason and eats healthy foods. She's learned to accept her limitations and celebrate her accomplishments, according to reporter Dyslin.

If you have chronic fatigue syndrome, your symptoms may peak and become stable early on, and then come and go over time. Some people go on to recover completely, while others grow progressively worse.