For one thing, it is a real disease. This is not something that you have conjured up in your head. Don’t let anybody make you think that it is. Today, we can more accurately diagnose this disease even though we don’t know what causes it and, up until now, have no cure for it. Still, we know it exists and can tell you if you’re suffering from it.
While you or a loved one probably feel chronically tired, the disease itself has many more symptoms that usually go unnoticed for two reasons. The first reason is that the other symptoms are usually not as severe as the actual fatigue itself. In addition to that, the other symptoms are very common to other illnesses. Therefore, it is important to eliminate the other illnesses first before a diagnosis of CFS can be made.
As I said, there is no cure for this disease. Right now we only have common sense treatment and lifestyle changes. The lifestyle changes are strictly for your mind. Getting involved in an active social life and exercising will help with the mental and emotional part of the illness. To deal with the depression, which sometimes goes along with it, there are drugs that you can take but these have unpleasant side effects.
The prognosis for the disease is uncertain and depends a great deal on when symptoms started, how long they have been going on and how severe they are. Some patients recover in as little as 6 months to a year. Other patients take a lot longer. And some patients never return to how they were before being diagnosed with the illness.
There is still a lot we don’t now, but there is help. In my signature, you’ll find a resource that should help you a great deal in dealing with this very real illness.