Can Chronic Fatigue Syndrome be caused by sleep disorders?
The chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms appear to be more severe, more dangerous and less likely to be alleviated than fatigue commonly experienced by healthy people.
Some persons confuse excessive fatigue symptoms with excessive daytime sleepiness.
They don't know exactly what are the difference between them, and they try to treat their fatigue with ineffective treatments.
What is the difference between Fatigue and Sleepiness?
This video is very interesting and I'm sure you will understand what is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:
If you scroll down, you will see another video about chronic fatigue syndrome in England.
Scientists know that if you have at least six months of persistent fatigue that substantially reduces your level of activity, then is very probably to have chronic fatigue syndrome.
Fatigue should be distinguished from sleepiness, which is a common symptom in certain circumstances such as relaxing after a meal in the early afternoon.
Fatigue is the inability to sustain an effort which may be emotional, mental or physical. And if you try to cure your fatigue with sleep you'll see that it doesn't necessarily work every time. However, sleep normally relieves sleepiness.
Causes of Chronic Fatigue
To discover the reasons of chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms, you'll need to find abnormalities or disorders that trigger fatigue.
Fatigue appears due to abnormalities within the central nervous system. The symptoms of chronic fatigue are involved not only with coordination and anticipation of movements, but also with understanding and processing the information from around you.
There are certain disorders that cause these abnormalities, such as:
head injuries
Parkinson
cancer
multiple sclerosis
HIV
depression
chronic fatigue syndrome
As you read these disorders, you may start to panic and wonder if you have cancer or something. Don't rush too far with your thoughts!
As I said earlier, people who complain of sleepiness use other words to describe their symptoms, like fatigue, excessive fatigue, or tiredness.
However, pure fatigue is not associated with daytime sleepiness. If you have fatigue, you will only lie down to rest, but you will stay awake. You will not feel an urge to sleep.
Here is another video, about chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms in England:
What are the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms?
People often describe chronic fatigue syndrome in different ways:
depression
limitation of functioning
frustration
loss of control
irritability
pain
discouraged
sad
physical weakness
permanent fatigue
These words clearly reflect the diminished quality of life of people with chronic fatigue syndrome. However, a person with a simple form of fatigue may have other words of complaints, such as:
sleepy
insomnia
amotivational
comfortable
temporary fatigue
Do you see the difference from the common fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms?
In addition to those words of complaints, there are at least four of the following symptoms that appear when you have chronic fatigue syndrome:
headache
aching or stiff muscles
impaired memory or concentration
nausea
multi-joint pain
sore throat
non-restorative sleep
tender glands
dizziness
night sweats
intolerance to alcohol
intense and long-lasting fatigue
sleep disturbance
The Link Between Sleep Apnea and Chronic Fatigue
Scientists have widely reports about the link between sleep disorders and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Moreover, they found that about sixty percent of the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have or had a primary sleep disorder such as sleep apnea or
hypopnea
syndrome.
Almost every person with chronic fatigue complained about restless sleep, insomnia, and difficulty to maintain the sleep.
If you have sleep apnea and chronic fatigue syndrome, you may be interested to know if treating sleep apnea can also treat chronic fatigue symptoms.
This is an interesting question that scientists tried to answer. They selected two groups of patients:
those with chronic fatigue syndrome and sleep apnea or hypopnea syndrome
and those with chronic fatigue who had no diagnosable sleep apnea.
The scientists compared these two groups, evaluating their behavior. There where no difference between them.
Next, the patients with chronic fatigue and sleep apnea were offered a three month treatment program with CPAP.
And now, let's find their answer: after their three month period, the patients who had CPAP treatment where compared with those who din not have any treatment. There was no difference between their chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms, besides treating sleep apnea.
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