MEDLINEplus Health Information: Return to home page   A service of the National Library of Medicine: Go to NLM home page
Search     Advanced Search    Site Map    About MEDLINEplus    Home
Health Topics: conditions, diseases and wellness Drug Information: generic and brand name drugs Dictionaries: spellings and definitions of medical terms Directories: doctors, dentists and hospitals Other Resources: organizations, libraries, publications, MEDLINE

Medical Encyclopedia

Disease     Injury     Nutrition     Poison     Special     Surgery     Symptoms     Tests

 
Overview   Symptoms   Treatment   

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Alternative names:

C.F.I.D.S.; C.F.S.; chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome; fatigue - chronic; yuppie flu

Symptoms:

Main symptoms:

  • fatigue or tiredness, never experienced to this extent before (new onset), lasting at least 6 months and not relieved by bed rest
  • fatigue that is severe enough to restrict activity (serous fatigue develops with less than one-half of the exertion compared to before the illness)

Other symptoms:

Signs and tests:

Physical examination may confirm the fever, lymph node tenderness, lymph node swelling, or other symptoms. The throat may appear red without drainage or pus.

The health care provider can presume a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (or C.F.S.) only after ruling out all other known possible causes, such as:

A diagnosis of C.F.S. must include:

  • extreme, prolonged fatigue
  • absence of other causes of chronic fatigue
    • at least 6 of the other symptoms listed plus two confirming physical examination findings (or)
    • at least 8 of the other symptoms listed

There are no specific tests to confirm the diagnosis of C.F.S., though a variety of tests are usually done to exclude other possible causes of the symptoms.

There are some "typical" findings on tests that, while not specific enough to diagnose C.F.S., are seen consistently in people who are eventually diagnosed with the disorder. These include:

  • higher levels of specific white blood cells (CD4 T cells) compared to other types of white blood cells (CD8 T cells)
  • brain MRI shows swelling in the brain or destruction of part of the nerve cells (demyelination)
  • specific white blood cells (lymphocytes) frequently show active forms of herpes virus-6 on lymphocyte cell cultures


Adam

The information provided herein should not be used for diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Copyright 2000 adam.com, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

Health Topics | Drug Information | Dictionaries | Directories | Other Resources