How to Treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome, more commonly known as CFS, is a health condition without a known cause. CFS is a disease causes patients to become easily fatigued to the point that they cannot perform simple and normal daily activities. The major symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome is that the fatigue lasts for more than six months.

This condition affects more women than men. Chronic fatigue syndrome is likely to occur in adults aged 40 to 50, but can also occur in children and young adults. Diagnosis of this condition is a complicated process because it does not provide any clear cause or physical signs that could identify this disease. It also affects people slowly, which could sometimes last for years.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome experience months or years of fatigue. Other symptoms may include extreme tiredness for more than one day, sore throat, headaches and tender areas in armpits or neck, temporary memory loss, lack of concentration, unexplained muscle soreness, trouble sleeping and pain that moves from one joint to the next without inflammation. These symptoms usually occur for more than six months if left untreated.

Recovery From Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

While there are no known cure for this condition, doctors treat the disease by relieving symptoms and improving the daily functions of the patients. Doctors usually combine medication and non-drug therapies to help patients with CFS.

However, no one therapy could treat all CFS patients. For this reason, doctors may recommend different therapies and management options based on personal health history, lifestyle and symptoms.

Lifestyle change is an important part of reducing the symptoms of CFS. Patients are advised to prevent over-exertion, reduce emotional and physical stress, perform gentle stretching exercises and drink nutritional supplements. However, other medications can be prescribed to treat difficulty of sleeping, severe muscle pains and other symptoms that a patient specifically experience.

Physical therapies are sometimes a part of CFS treatments. However, since some physical activities could aggravate the symptoms, strict supervision of these therapies are necessary. This is important because patients may experience over-activity or de-conditioning.

CFS may affect each patient differently. While some patients remain unable to perform daily tasks, others can resume normal activities even if they still experience some of the symptoms. Be aware that full recovery from this condition is very rare, while most patients will have an improvement of their condition after drug and non-drug therapies as well as several check-ups.