Health Prose: A One-Minute Update for Your Health

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: What is it?

There is no definitive test for chronic fatigue syndrome like there is for diabetes or many other diseases. "Chronic fatigue syndrome is not one disease" says Arthur Hartz, M.D., University of Iowa Health Care. "It may be caused by many factors, and these factors vary from one person to the next."

The hallmark of the condition is six months or more of frequent, profound exhaustion that is not relieved by rest. The patients also have at least four of the following symptoms: impairment of short-term memory or concentration, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, muscle pain, multi-joint pain without swelling or redness, headaches, unrefreshing sleep, or post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours. "The fatigue and associated symptoms interfere with quality of life more than many debilitating diseases such as congestive heart failure," says Hartz.

The diagnosis process is lengthy and frustrating. Chronic fatigue is often misdiagnosed because it resembles other disorders such as fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, mononucleosis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and candida albicans. In most cases, chronic fatigue is diagnosed when other medical illnesses that cause fatigue have been ruled out and no other cause for the fatigue and accompanying symptoms can be found.

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See related Patient Topics Bones, Joints and Muscles, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Infections.

See related Provider Topics Bones, Joints and Muscles, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Infections.

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