Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

[MrMashburn]

Im a closet hypocondriac (I try to keep it to myself!) and have been through many of the stages, you know Testticular Cancer (still worried about that), bone cancer, loss of vision, heart attack, mennengitis, brain tumour e.t.c

But at the moment something that is really troubling me in the possibilty of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I dont know whether you;ve heard of it, but its quite common apparently. Its basically when your tired all the time, many sufferers are bedsit for the rest of their life with the disorder.

I did a wrong'un by googling it, and I have nearly every symptom of the early stages (except irregular bowel acitivity). However, some may be explained. For example Ive been getting bone pain but this could be down to me carrying a heavy bag everyday, Ive been getting headaches but that could be down to me not wearing my glasses, Im getting paranoid my STM is going, but that could just be in my head from the brain tumour stage. I also feel light headed and tired al the time of late and am not getting to sleep.

Does anyone knwo anything about the disease? I suppose I just need to put my mind at rest! (Im only 16, this is really bugging me)
Greetings from the UK btw.

[micah10]

Well, my cousin is actually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  There's a lot of questions surrounding the validity of that disorder, but I won't even get into that... She's quite a bit older than me and so we don't really have a close relationship where we openly discuss this, but I do know she was diagnosed about 20 years ago (early 20's).  From what my old psychologist told me, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome had its height about 20 years ago... In any case, I do know that my cousin complains about being tired all the time and she's taking various medication, but she is in no way bedridden!!  She's always at all the social functions and dancing away....  But, that ofcourse, is just what I see on the outside, I really don't know how she feels on the inside.  I do know that HER cousin is a doctor and being a doctor, she questions the validity of the disease.  Some doctors totally believe it and some don't and attribute the symptoms to anxiety or depression.  But, if it is real, I do know someone who was officially diagnosed and outwardly appears fine. 

[peach]

I second micah. MrMashburn, even if you do have CFS, it definitely doesn't mean you won't be able to live life the way you want to. My uncle was recently diagnosed, and there were some changes involved (namely the way he sleeps), but it didn't have a huge impact on his life. I suffer from unexplained fatigue, but I'm not sure it's CFS. I wish I DID know what it was, though. It is a huge pain at school.

[emy]

I have had so much fatigue like I have never felt before for the past 4 months.  CFS is a real disease, I think just not completely understood.  It is even recognized as such by the WHO (world health org) and CDC (US center for disease control).  Its kind of like having a constant flu I think, and my doctor says that its a diagnosis of exclusion meaning if they can find nothing else medically wrong, and the fatigue is unexplained and persistent.  I am still trying to get to the bottom of my fatigue- I think some of it is real, and some of it is the anxiety working.  But yes, I think CFS is only recently being acknowledged as a syndrome by the medical community.  I doubt you have it though at your tender age, but then again, I dont know whether there is a particular onset age or not.  And from stories of those who have it, it can ebb and flow and vary in intensity.