Quick Facts About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Did you know that chronic fatigue syndrome is sometimes referred to by other names and two of the most common are myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS)? Chronic fatigue syndrome most readily affects the immune system, the central nervous system (CNS) and a variety of other body systems and organs.

Did you know that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a sickness or illness that is defined by both "profound as well as prolonged exhaustion”? It is. As opposed to occasional feelings of tiredness, those suffering from CFS will not get better simply by getting an adequate amount of sleep and rest. When no other sicknesses or health conditions can be found to bring about extreme tiredness, CFS is often considered to be the culprit.

Did you know that it is estimated that approximately 800,000 plus individuals suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome but less than 10 percent of these people have been properly diagnosed and are therefore not receiving the care they need? Some researchers say that it is more accurately 20 percent but this is still a very low percentage.

Did you know that chronic fatigue syndrome is three times more prevalent in women than it is in men? Some researchers say it is actually four times more prevalent in females than in males. . Among women, chronic fatigue syndrome is a great deal common than are other diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS), lung cancer, ovarian cancer or HIV.

Did you know that the most common age for a person to develop chronic fatigue syndrome is middle age, which in this instance is roughly between the ages of 40 and 49 years of age?

Did you know that there has not been any one specific cause that has been isolated to explain why chronic fatigue syndrome occurs? Chronic fatigue syndrome often shows up after a person has gotten over a cold, the flu or any other type of viral infection. Often CFS begins when a person is suffering from a great deal of emotional stress or sometimes it is physical stress. Sometimes the disease appears all of the sudden and it is intense right away whereas other times it develops very gradually and gains in intensity slowly, with no obvious point of origin.

Did you know that bacterial infections are sometimes proposed as a possible cause to explain chronic fatigue syndrome? These include such infections as tick-borne bacterial diseases such as Lyme disease, Q fever and Rickets as well as other bacterial infections such as the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia, brucella and mycoplasma. Sometimes food-borne bacterial infections are believed to cause CFS and these include such conditions as E coli, Campylobacter jejuni, salmonella, Clostridium botulism, shigella, cholera and ciguatera. But that is not all. Other known food-borne bacterial infections include Listeria monocytogenes, toxoplasma, and Yersinia enterocolitica.

Did you know that parasitic infections such as tapeworms, flatworms, Giardia, cyclospora cayetanensis, E histolytica as well as trichinella spiralis and cryptosporidium parvum are theorized to cause CFS? This is also the case for fungal infections such as chronic yeast infections, which are related to the overgrowth of the yeast Candida albicans in the body.