| Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, CFIDS, ME) is an | | | | when all vocabulary disappears leads people to |
| insidious, frightening illness that causes profound | | | | question the unfortunate sufferer's sanity. |
| disruptions to life. It drains energy, intelligence, | | | | An aspect that always seems to puzzle people is |
| memory and personality. It is absolute exhaustion. | | | | that sufferers often look well. This is the invisibility |
| CFS brings great difficulties. It has no known | | | | of CFS - just because the outside looks fine, it is |
| cause, is effectively incurable and there is not | | | | not always an accurate indication of what is/is not |
| even an established approach to treatment. It is | | | | going on inside! |
| maddeningly unpredictable in its daily severity, its | | | | At times when energy levels may be a little |
| set of symptoms as well as their manifestation. | | | | higher, sufferers can 'perform' much better and |
| This illness also generally deeply affects the lives | | | | therefore may be judged as being 'better'. This is |
| of those closest to the sufferer as it steals that | | | | another totally exasperating facet of CFS - the |
| someone away from them - the person they | | | | illness constantly fluctuates, both in severity and |
| knew either disappears or is, at the least, quite | | | | characteristics. One day may represent total |
| changed. Physical and emotional burdens are | | | | physical collapse, the next with a little more |
| placed upon them as well as the sufferer. | | | | energy but afflicted with 'brain fog', the following |
| CFS is not terminal or directly life threatening, but | | | | unable to get up due to pain, intestinal upset or a |
| this does not diminish its devastating effects. It is | | | | night of very little sleep, then a day when there is |
| usually not visible, but this does not mean it is | | | | sufficient energy to take a short walk. It never |
| trivial. It can be difficult to determine, but this | | | | leaves, though. |
| does not make it any less sinister. It is regarded | | | | Chronic in its name helps to describe the |
| as a serious illness because it is an impediment to | | | | relentlessness of CFS - as yet there is no cure |
| leading a 'normal' life. | | | | and it can continue forever. This sounds bleak and |
| This is no over-dramatisation of a condition. The | | | | for some their lives remain exceedingly bleak. The |
| fact is, CFS is characterised by a lack of | | | | more fortunate are able to manage the illness and |
| appreciation of its devastating effects and is | | | | gain some gradual improvement so they are able |
| therefore often trivialised. | | | | to lead a viable life. Some actually achieve a level |
| CFS is typically misunderstood as just 'tiredness', | | | | of recovery, but live with the threat of any or all |
| however CFS is very, very different to tiredness | | | | symptoms returning if they do not maintain a |
| or fatigue experienced at some time by most | | | | carefully controlled lifestyle. |
| people. It is more accurately described as an | | | | Some emotional instability is not surprising once |
| energy issue - no energy, extreme exhaustion. | | | | the depths of this illness are realised. Learning to |
| However, fatigue and exhaustion are not the sum | | | | accept CFS and deal with any resultant emotions |
| of CFS - it encompasses a whole range of other | | | | is difficult enough, without having thought and |
| ailments or conditions. It amounts to experiencing | | | | reasoning functions not working. It's like waging |
| several illnesses either all at once or progressively, | | | | war on a number of fronts without any prior |
| with no apparent pattern or enough meaning to | | | | knowledge of how to approach a conflict, without |
| enable accurate prognosis by those qualified to | | | | any intelligence (literally!), no idea of acquiring |
| reach some conclusions. That the illness varies | | | | weapons and no troops. Little wonder sufferers |
| with each individual complicates matters further. | | | | become agitated or depressed - or both. |
| Possibly the most frustrating, and lesser known, | | | | Imagine waking up each day with flu...every day, |
| feature of CFS is the fatigue of the mind often | | | | every week, every month... year after year... |
| referred to as 'brain fog'. Cognitive malfunction | | | | Then, on top of the flu, you are sleep deprived... |
| and memory loss are the most prevalent signs | | | | Remember how it feels after partying hard or |
| that something is terribly amiss with the brain. | | | | studying for a couple of days and nights without |
| The powers of comprehension, deduction and | | | | sleeping,or when a baby or something else has |
| reasoning vanish - then the sufferer cannot | | | | kept you awake for nights on end... |
| remember anything anyway! Being rendered mute | | | | |