Re: Beautiful CFS Documentary Kickstarter needs our support!

You know I'm an artist and am very right brained, so I've never been much of an advocate of labels and diagnosises. I prefer to think about the body as a whole and the complexity of it and its interactions doesn't make putting these broad labels on anyone's unique combination of causes and symptoms feel like an answer to me. But humans like to categorize things to simplify, understand and feel like they aren't alone so, I guess I will give you the CDC's definition of CFS:


CFS Case Definition
Overview
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating and complex disorder characterized by intense fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical activity or mental exertion. People with Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome often function at a substantially lower level of activity than they were capable of before they became ill. The cause or causes of Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome have not been identified, and no specific diagnostic tests are available. Therefore, a Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome diagnosis requires three criteria:

1.The individual has had severe chronic fatigue for 6 or more consecutive months that is not due to ongoing exertion or other medical conditions associated with fatigue (these other conditions need to be ruled out by a doctor after diagnostic tests have been conducted)

2.The fatigue significantly interferes with daily activities and work

3. The individual concurrently has 4 or more of the following 8 symptoms:
post-exertion malaise lasting more than 24 hours
unrefreshing sleep
significant impairment of short-term memory or concentration
muscle pain
pain in the joints without swelling or redness
headaches of a new type, pattern, or severity
tender lymph nodes in the neck or armpit
a sore throat that is frequent or recurring
These symptoms should have persisted or recurred during 6 or more consecutive months of illness and they cannot have first appeared before the fatigue.

Other Symptoms Accompanying CFS
While the following symptoms are not part of the CFS case definition and do not contribute to the diagnosis of CFS, some patients may also have these additional symptoms:

abdominal pain
alcohol intolerance
bloating
chest pain
chronic cough
diarrhea
dizziness
dry eyes or mouth
earaches
irregular heartbeat
jaw pain
morning stiffness
nausea
night sweats
psychological problems (depression, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks)
shortness of breath
skin sensations, such as tingling
weight loss


Based on that definition, it seems to me like anyone who has low cortisol, but not low enough to have Addison's would fit into the category of CFS. And I'm saying that only because western medicine does not consider sub clinical Addison's (ie. low cortisol AF) as a diagnosis and thus would fit into 1.

I had pretty much all of those symptoms when I was bedridden. What helped me was a chiropractor realigning my skeletal structure. I watch videos of others with CFS who are bedridden and wonder if many of them would benefit from applied kinesiology chiropractic like I did. I had what looked like seizures, throbbing all over my body, paralysis, throat pain, felt like I couldn't breathe.... In some of the videos that I have seen, these people look just like how I looked.

I don't know, I definitely agree with tpno2005. We have a multitude of causes for the condition, with a similar set of symptoms as the result.

It seems like adrenal fatigue is a subset of CFS in that "adrenal fatigue" is speaking of the adrenals specifically and "CFS" is speaking of everyone with a set of symptoms.

But I wrote that CFS often begins virally because that's how some people experience it's onset. Nevertheless, I've read "Recovery From CFS: 50 stories" from cover to cover many times and every person in the book had a unique set of solutions for their return to health. This is true for all illnesses though. Everything is so interconnected and as they say, "there is more than one way to skin a cat."
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