cfs or just a scapegoat? - Chronic Fatigue Message Board

bratshannon · 03-30-2005, 09:06 PM

I have been going round and round with my doctor for the last few months trying to get an answer as to why I am so exhausted all the time. I never truly understood the difference between exhaustion and sleepiness until 8 months ago or so. I've change my diet, changed exercise routines, changed stress management techniques, nothing has worked. I have had countless blood tests, all relatively normal, the abnormality being that my Ferritin levels are extremely low. I have had an ultra-sound and a cat scan done because I have weird abdominal pain that comes and goes. Everything was normal. I've noticed in the last few months, stairs are getting progressively harder to climb. Its not so much that I am out of breath, more like my legs don't have the strength to keep me going. On the weekends, if left to my own plans, I can easily sleep 12 hours straight and then in the afternoon I need to take a nap. The weekdays consistent of dragging myself through the work. I get home and am in bed by 8:30-9PM. I sleep straight through until the alarm goes off and 5 snoozes later I am up at 6. I'm only 28, I fall into the healthy weight category and my only vice is that I smoke cloves.

I am going to a Infectious Disease Dr. April 8 for another appointment. My dr today said he is looking that maybe it is CFS.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I'm so frustrated. I was actually hoping I had some sort of serious diagnosis today because at least that way I could get some form of treatment going.

Feedback, advice, opinions wanted.

Thanks

Shannon

Max127 · 03-31-2005, 02:02 AM

I am not an MD, but it seems likely that your fatigue is due to iron deficiency as indicated by your extremely low ferritin level. There is a paper in the British Medical Journal (2003, vol326: p1124) indicating that iron supplements are useful in treating fatigue in women with low ferritin levels. The paper is freely available on the web at http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7399/1124

You should continue to pursue the cause of your abdominal pain. Various gastrointestinal problems (ulcers, polyps, cancer, etc.) are possible causes of low serum ferritin, so your fatigue and your abdominal problems are possibly related. From your description it sounds like you should find another doctor; a gastroenterologist would probably be a better choice than an infectious disease specialist.

Good luck.

Max127

rIcHrD · 04-07-2005, 10:34 AM

If your doctor diagnoses CFS, it almost invariably means they can't be bothered with you anymore and don't know what treatment to give you. CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion and so you get no treatments, other than "yes you have a disease, if that's what makes you happy, now go away and don't come back". If you really want to understand what CFS is to most of the medical profession, ****** CFS and hypochondriasis, or somatization and CFS. It should make some interesting reading. CFS is the wastebasket for things the doctor can't deal with. I'd say you'd be best off dealing with each of your symptoms independently. Giving them as one big list, gets you fobbed off quicker than nothing else. For the person who's truly unwell and not just malingering, getting some symptomatic relief is preferred to getting a diagnosis such as CFS, which provides you with nothing more than a name or an excuse to miss work. Try going to your doctors with that. Ask them what they suggest for tiredness/fatigue. Get a wide range of things from diet to stimulants to sleep regimes, etc. Try their suggestions and then go to them for each other problem independently thanking them if their previous suggestions worked, etc.