Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Ailments, illnesses, and syndromes of unknown etiologies.

Information about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

All the content you can see here is freely available, open-source information, so as long as you publish the copyleft license you can redistribute the content as you wish, please see the license at the bottom of each page for details.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a condition of excessive fatigue, cognitive impairment and other varied symptoms. Classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a disease of the nervous system , it is of unknown etiology and may last months or years, causing severe disability.

Definition

In strict medical terms, the name chronic fatigue syndrome refers only to a pattern of symptoms (see below), and may in fact reflect several different disorders causing similar symptoms. While it can certainly be classified as a disease , there are no investigations that can confirm or rule out the diagnosis. Certain scoring systems have been designed to classify symptoms.

Nomenclature

There are a number of different syndromes which have been at various times identified with CFS.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS); this name was introduced in 1988 by a group of researchers, given that most other names were inaccurate.
Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS); many people, especially patients in the United States, use the term CFIDS (pronouced [See-Fids] ), which was originally an acronym for " or "Chronic Fatigue & Immune Dysregulation Syndrome". These terms were based on the belief that the illness is caused by problems with the immune system. Although this view is less prevalent, the acronym CFIDS is still used.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Myalgic Encephalitis (ME); outside the United States, "ME" is in common use, meaning "infection and swelling of the brain with muscle pain" or "infection of the brain with muscle pain" respectively. Like CFIDS, the term ME is often used although its original meaning is inaccurate.
Post-viral (fatigue) syndrome (PVS or PVFS); this is a slightly more general and therefore more accurate equivalent of ME .
Chronic Epstein-Barr Virus (CEBV) or Chronic Mononucleosis ; this name was in common use before CFS became more prevalent. The Epstein-Barr virus , a virus that commonly causes mononucleosis , was thought to be the cause of CFS. This has proven not to be true (see etiology below) , although the symptoms develop in some people after contracting mononucleosis.
Low Natural Killer Cell Disease ; This name is used widely in Japan; it reflects the belief that CFS is related to the number of natural killer cells the patient has.
Yuppie Flu ; this was a nickname for CFS, especially in the 1980s . It reflects the belief that CFS mainly affects the affluent (" yuppies "), and implies that it is a form of malingering or burnout. CFS, however, affects people of all races, genders, and social standings, and this name is inaccurate.
Akureyri Disease
Iceland Disease : A name given in Iceland .
Raphe Nucleus Encephalopathy
Tapanui Flu ; this is after the New Zealand town Tapanui where a doctor who investigated the disease lived.
Da Costa syndrome ( The Netherlands )

Symptoms

Diagnosis

Etiology

Treatment

Back to Unknown medical ailments page

Can't find what you are looking for?
Use our site search facility...

Home I Search Site I Site map I Conditions I Symptoms I News Archive I Forum I Contact us I About us I Access Keys

All information published on this web site is for information purposes only. The content of this web site should not be used for a conclusive diagnosis or for choosing a treatment. The content on this site has been provided as a guideline and general information it is not intended to replace professional medical care. In all serious cases it is advisable to recieve attention from a qualified medical practitioner. All text is available under the terms of the GNU free documentation license.