Friday, December 25, 2009

How To Conquer Chronic Fatigue Syndrome And Fibromyalgia

By Anju Mathur, MD

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a flu-like condition that can drain your energy and sometimes last for years. People previously healthy and full of energy make experience a variety of symptoms.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that doesn't improve with bed rest and may worsen with physical or mental activity. Unlike influenza symptoms, which usually subside in a few days or weeks, the signs and symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) can last much longer. They may come and go frequently with no identifiable pattern.

People who have this disease are often prevented from working and wind up on welfare. It is however, a treatable illness, although formerly not recognized as a medical condition. The Center for Disease Control studies have determines between one and four million Americans have this condition.

Chronic fatigue syndrome may precipitate after an infection, such as a cold or viral illness or after a time of great stress. It can also come on gradually without a clear starting point or obvious cause. Women are diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome far more often than men are.

The conventional approach to handling CFS is psychological counseling (It's all in your head type approach), rehabilitation with physical therapy and exercise. Other professionals like a sleep therapist or dietitian can also be called in. The patient usually has to learn to just live with it once all else has failed to relieve the misery of CFS.

But you don't have to learn to live with it. The symptoms are not just something you thought up in your mind. A medical doctor trained to work with alternative medicine can find the cause and help you treat CFS. The disease can be reversed and you will get back your vitality and energy. There are ways to produce results - not experimental procedures, but proven therapies.

Diet plays a key role in making a difference. If you have fibromyalgia or CFS, what you eat will make a huge difference in how you feel. A diet high in saturated fats and refined vegetable oils will exacerbate pain, while omege-3 fatty acids found in fish and flaxseed oil will help alleviate it. Likewise, eating lots of refined carbohydrates will worsen the condition, whereas slow-burning carbs (foods rich in fiber) give your body the sustained source of energy it needs.

Get an evaluation from a doctor for food allergies. These are often overlooked but are a frequent cause of fatigue and pain.

Natural supplements can also restore the dwindling amounts of seratonin in the brain. Serotonin regulates mood, and a lack of it causes depression. A deficiency can also increase pain sensation. Remedies such as St. John's wort, SAMe and 5-HTP are much safer and effective at treating depression than Prozac or other anti-depressants, and the natural remedies do not have the harmful side effects as does Prozac. Much solid research has been done to back this up, not to mention the happy patients who applaud the doctors who use them. So if you are suffering from depression, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, or any combination of those, there is help for you that really works.

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