In the modern world, many diseases have appeared that our ancestors could not have imagined. This is due to the quality of the food on our table, the pollution of the air we all breathe, the crazy rhythm in which we live. At the end of the 20th century, another ailment, called chronic fatigue syndrome, added to the list of human diseases. Symptoms of the disease are not yet well understood. Therefore, many people who show signs of increased fatigue are mistaken for malingerers.
Due to the “youth” of the syndrome, because officially it is no more than ten years old, scientists cannot yet accurately name the causes of its occurrence. This issue is currently under study. There is even an opinion that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is caused by a certain virus, the activation of which is precisely facilitated by the way we live in our age of inexorable technological progress and new technologies.
What do we know about CFS
Statistics of the emergence and development of this human condition has been conducted for only a couple of decades. During this time, scientists have determined that signs of chronic fatigue syndrome are more often manifested in residents of megacities than in those who permanently live in small towns and villages. This is due to the fact that in small settlements there is a special atmosphere in which there is no rush, fuss, high emotional stress.
Two categories of people predominate among CFS patients: knowledge workers, especially those who have irregular hours, and employees whose activities are associated with high responsibility. These include:
- Physicians in some subspeci alties, such as surgeons, hospice workers, traumatologists.
- Teachers.
- Office workers.
- Businessmen.
- Pilots.
- Air traffic controllers.
- Rescuers.
- All people with two or sometimes three jobs.
Well, among these patients there are many more women than men. The explanation for this, one might say, is banal: our beautiful ladies set the same high standards for themselves as strong, courageous men, without making allowances for the physiological characteristics of the female body and the fact that almost every lady has a family that also requires dedication and energy. In many families, especially where husbands withdraw from doing household chores, women, as they say, "fall down" from high fatigue, because they have to bear the burden of production, andtake care of the children, and keep the house in order.
Related to age, CFS is more often diagnosed in young people and middle-aged people (under 45), just when many of us are making every effort to create our well-being, strive for career growth, master new professions, raise small children, equip their life.
You are mistaken if you think that CFS is nonsense, that you just have to have a good rest, for example, leave everything for a week and go somewhere to a resort, and everything will immediately fall into place. Scientists have recognized chronic fatigue syndrome as a disease. So she needs to be treated. Rest is only a part of complex therapeutic measures. Why is CFS dangerous? How is it diagnosed? How is his treatment going? How to distinguish a simulator from a really sick person? What causes CFS? Let's figure it out.
A little historical background
Officially, the "biography" of CFS began in 1984 in the small American town of Incline Village. Then the local doctor Paul Cheney registered about 200 cases of an incomprehensible disease. Patients complained of high fatigue, depression, muscle weakness. All of these people had some type of herpes virus in their blood. Similar cases were registered before, but they were not given wide publicity.
In 2009, US scientists hypothesized that the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are caused by a hitherto unknown virus. The experiments were carried out on mice, which theyeasily infected. Later, additional studies were conducted, which showed that there was no CFS virus, because it was not found in a single person with similar symptoms.
Several years of scientific research has passed. In 2016, a group of British scientists presented to the world community the results of their work, proving that the CFS virus exists. It was found that it is present in the human body in a latent state. It is activated by many reasons, the main of which is a decrease in immunity. Scientists have argued that the CFS virus most infects adolescents. After entering the human body, it remains there forever.
Nevertheless, the pathology and etiogenesis of the disease remain unknown so far. Yes, there is a theory that viruses can provoke chronic fatigue syndrome - it is often diagnosed in patients with early detected herpes, cytomegalovirus, enterovirus. But this is just a theory, so when identifying these and similar pathologies, you should not tune in to the indispensable development of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Common characteristics of CFS
At the moment, it is believed that although CFS is a pathology that is quite similar in its clinic and nature to immune disorders, however, there are no sufficient grounds for distinguishing it as an independent nosological form. For this reason, there is currently no chronic fatigue syndrome in the ICD-10. But the disease is sometimes assigned the codes R50 "Fever of unknown origin" and R53 "malaise and fatigue", whichdepends on symptoms. Its other names that can be found in diagnoses are immune dysfunction and post-viral asthenia syndrome.
As for the causes of CFS, scientists, as mentioned above, still cannot come to a consensus. Numerous data indicate that both quantitative and functional immunological disorders are observed in CFS. In addition, as is known, in the development of the body's responses to stressful situations, especially if the impact is intense and prolonged, the leading role belongs to the nervous, immune and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal systems, the stable functioning of which determines the body's resistance as a whole to psycho-emotional overload and action. various environmental factors. For this reason, according to scientists, disruption of the interaction between the nervous, immune and endocrine systems plays a crucial role in the development of CFS.
Symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome can manifest themselves clearly after a person has been subjected to psychological trauma, a serious operation, some viral and bacterial diseases, and prolonged physical and / or emotional stress. After some time, all the signs of CFS can significantly weaken, but under repeated circumstances that cause stress and disrupt the functioning of the body's systems, they again manifest with the same force. Very rarely, but there are cases when the patient is completely cured of CFS.
Now a lot of people suffer from this syndrome on the planet. In the United States, 10 cases per 100,000 people are registered, inAustralia - 37 cases per 100,000. In the UK, this disease occurs in 2% of adolescents. In Russia, such statistics have not yet been carried out.
Etiology
As already mentioned, it is not known for certain what causes CFS. Only spheres of human activity and several options for the development of events that can serve as its “trigger” are singled out:
- Intoxication.
- Endocrine.
- Infectious.
Let's take a closer look at them.
The first option for the development of CFS involves the impact on the individual of the factors of the environment in which he lives. These could be:
- The constant noise that occurs in large metropolitan areas.
- Oxygen starvation caused by smoke, gas pollution in big cities and industrial centers.
- Chlorinated water used for drinking, cooking, bathing.
- Modified and/or nitrate-rich foods.
Endocrine variant implies hormonal disorders that can be triggered by many reasons:
- Climax.
- Critical days.
- Pregnancy.
- Hormonal drugs.
- Diseases of the thyroid gland, hypothalamus, liver, pituitary gland, adrenal glands.
- Hypoxia caused by various reasons. Oxygen starvation leads to irreversible consequences in the central nervous system, liver, and other organs, which leads to malfunctions in their work.
Infectious variant implies infectioncertain viruses that for a long time (or forever) settle in the human body. These include:
- Cytamegalovirus.
- Hepatitis C.
- Herpes virus group (Epstein-Barr, herpes simplex, varicella-zoster).
- Coxsackievirus.
- Enteroviruses.
CFS can also begin to manifest after the flu, SARS, other viral and bacterial diseases.
Other factors affecting the development of the syndrome
In addition to the above reasons, the following factors can give impetus to the development of CFS:
- Psychological stress.
- Alcoholism.
- Too busy work schedule.
- Night shifts (not all people can adapt to this lifestyle).
- Constant high emotional and psychological stress.
- Difficult living conditions.
- Lack of vitamins. The first "swallow" of poor-quality food is not only pain in the stomach, but also constant weakness. Thinness, as such, is not a sign of poor nutrition. A person can be obese, eat a lot. At the same time, his daily menu is not balanced, rich in carbohydrates and poor in vitamins.
- Depression.
- Many conflict situations (at work, with neighbors, in the family).
- The race to increase income in any way, the desire to quickly climb the career ladder.
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Columbia researchers determined this).
- Decrease in blood levels of L-carnitine.
- Impaired metabolism in cells.
Pathogenesis
Because the disease in question is caused by a virus, it requires specific treatment. Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by the fact that it strikes at the immune system. As a result, the quantitative value of LgG antibodies decreases. Also, the number of other antibodies and the number of killer cells decreases or their activity is weakened.
About 1/5 of people with CFS have a blood test that shows leukocytosis and lymphocytosis or leukopenia and lymphopenia. These essentially opposite phenomena indicate immune dysfunction. The same blood test reveals in patients with CFS a decrease or increase in the level of immunoglobulins (both one and the other in 30% of cases), a decrease in the level of immune complexes (50%), or a decrease in compliment activity (25%). Recall that the latter term refers to specific proteins that carry out humoral protection against pathogenic agents that have entered the body.
All this makes a person defenseless against the thousands of microbes present in the environment. As a result, CFS sufferers are at increased risk of contracting any infection.
Signs of disease
The symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are extremely diverse, which is connected, firstly, with the individual characteristics of people, and secondly, with the fact that the disease is still at the initial stage of study. The following phenomena and conditions should alert and cause a desire to conduct an examination:
- In the morning after sleep, the feeling that the body did not rest at all.
- Regular headaches.
- Insomnia despite being late and tired.
- Allergic reactions.
- Apathy, weakness, the state when nothing interests.
- Muscle pain.
- Enlarged lymph nodes.
- Weakness and drowsiness experienced constantly. Some patients note that during the day there are situations when the body involuntarily turns off - a person falls into darkness for several minutes, and when he wakes up, he cannot understand how this could happen.
The fact that you suddenly began to get sick often should also cause a reasonable alarm. Previously, this was not the case, but now it is worth being in a draft or getting wet in the rain, and an acute respiratory infection immediately begins, the temperature rises, itchy in the throat, and the appetite disappears.
Symptoms in mental and central nervous system disorders
Experienced with CFS almost all the time, weakness and drowsiness, significantly affect a person's performance. Many complain that they cannot concentrate their attention on something important, clearly and quickly answer questions related to a well-known topic. Some people note that they cannot quickly read difficult words (for this they need to make a mental effort). It was also noted that in patients with CFS memory worsens (visual, sound).
From the side of psychological changes are observed:
- Depression.
- Anxiety and fears.
- Anger, irritability for no reason (nerves everyone - passers-by, family members, the noise of passing cars, the clatter of a spoon on a glass while stirring sugar,dripping water and so on).
- Bad mood even when everything is good.
- Obsessive pessimistic thoughts about their uselessness, the futility of their efforts.
- Night terrors, anxiety, imaginary dangers (e.g. fear that criminals will break the lock and break into the house).
Diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Determining that a person has CFS is very difficult. All symptoms mentioned above are taken into account. They are divided into two groups: large criteria and small ones. The second includes:
- Temperature increase.
- Swollen lymph nodes.
- Tremor and muscle pain, constant weakness.
- Joint ache.
- Headaches.
To the first - all other symptoms.
If a patient has several major and minor criteria at the same time, there is a high probability that he will be diagnosed with CFS. However, the doctor will first refer the patient for a complete examination to rule out classic somatic diseases.
Having decided on the diagnosis, the doctor sends the patient for a consultation with narrow specialists - a psychotherapist, a neuropathologist, an oncologist, a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, an infectious disease specialist. The patient is also invited to donate urine, blood from a finger and from a vein, and other biomaterials.
There are many tests for chronic fatigue syndrome now offered on the Internet. They are free, consist of many questions that need to be answered with the utmost honesty. Positive test result -reason to see a doctor.
Treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome
Therapy of this disease is carried out in a complex manner. It is divided into two types - non-drug and drug.
The first includes the following activities:
- Normalization of the daily routine.
- Diet.
- Massage.
- Therapeutic hydro procedures.
- Physiotherapy.
- Psychotherapy.
- Non-traditional methods (manual therapy, acupuncture, autogenic training).
- Change in lifestyle (if possible).
- Organization of outdoor activities.
Drug treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome is primarily aimed at restoring immunity. For this purpose, drugs of choice are prescribed:
- Gepon.
- Timogen.
- Imunofan.
- Timalin.
- Taktivin.
These drugs increase the activity of T-cells. To restore the activity of NK-cells drugs of choice:
- "Immunomax".
- Polyoxidonium.
- Likopid.
To restore the functioning of the immune system, "Viferon", "Myelopid" may be prescribed.
Vitamins play a big role in restoring strength. With chronic fatigue syndrome, any complexes that include essential vitamins and macro and microelements are suitable.
Also, drugs that affect the central nervous system are prescribed for CFS:
- Antidepressants.
- Antibiotics.
- Antiviral.
- Antifungal (by indication).
- Antihistamines.
- Enterosorbents.
- Tranquilizers.
According to the indications, "Isoprinazine", "Zadaksin", "Galavit" or their analogues can be prescribed if the immunodeficiency has a lymphocytic form.
Diet plays an important role in the treatment of CFS. It is designed not for weight correction, but for the normalization of metabolic processes. However, she also helps to lose extra pounds, since her menu is only products that are useful for the body. Nutritionists advise people with CFS to include in their diet:
- Rabbit, veal.
- Fish (sea, river).
- Seafood, seaweed.
- Vegetables (especially broccoli, celery, onions).
- Greens (parsley, spinach, leek).
- Fruits and berries (bananas, pomegranate, lemon, feijoa, shadberry are very useful).
- Dark chocolate.
- Nuts.
- Med.
It is advisable to give up coffee, smoking, large doses of alcohol.
Folk methods
Healers in their arsenal have many recipes for relieving fatigue and normalizing the central nervous system (if this is not associated with serious brain diseases).
A relaxing bath with essential oils can be ideal. This method of therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome has the most favorable reviews. The water should be at a temperature that is pleasant for your body. Plants, essential oils that can be used:
- Ylang-ylang.
- Geranium.
- Lavender.
- Orange.
- Incense.
- Bergamot.
- Mint.
- Rose.
- Marjoram.
Herbal teas are recognized as an excellent relaxing remedy. Choose the proportions for their preparation yourself, because for some a richer taste and aroma will suit, while for others it is only slightly perceptible. Teas are prepared from thyme, tea rose petals, chamomile, valerian, mint, lemon balm, clover, wild strawberry, blackcurrant (leaf and/or berries), willow-herb. You can take plants one at a time or make different variations of fees. Such drinks get a very good effect if honey is added to them.
Another recipe involves the use of ginger. This plant is famous for many useful properties. Among them is an increase in immunity and a positive effect on the psycho-emotional background. Ginger can be used to make tea and spirit tincture.
In the first case, a small piece of the root should be cut into small fragments, pour boiling water over it and let it cool to an acceptable temperature. Add a slice of lemon and a little honey to the drink.
For tincture, you need to grind 200 g of the root (can be grated), pour 1 liter of vodka and leave for a week. Take a spoon several times a day. The product can not be filtered, but preferably stored in the refrigerator.
Prevention
The question of how to cope with chronic fatigue syndrome arises after the disease has begun. It is advisable to know ways to prevent it so that there is no need for treatment.
Advice is so elementary that not all peoplepay attention to them, so they do not want to follow them. But let's not forget the famous expression "Everything ingenious is simple!" Prevention of chronic fatigue syndrome is as follows:
- Don't get carried away with diets for weight correction. There are no ideal ones among them. Every such diet has negative he alth consequences.
- Even if you only like meat, include fruits and vegetables in your diet.
- Don't give up vitamin complexes.
- Don't neglect physical activities. If you don’t have time to visit the pool or fitness room, make it a rule to take walks every day. They are especially useful after work.
- Make time for trips out of town. A day out in nature is considered the ideal healing method for both body and soul.
- Even if your career is the main goal of life, remember that there are other values in the world. Paying attention only to labor achievements, you put your own he alth at risk. Ultimately, this may prevent you from achieving what you want.
If you start noticing the symptoms listed in this article, try to take a few days off from all worries. If after this the condition does not improve, consult a doctor.
