Term – What is Fatigue?
Fatigue has been on everyone’s lips since the Coronavirus outbreak. The publications with the latest figures on the high proportion of fatigue symptoms (20-60% depending on the study) in the so-called LongCovid Syndrome. LongCovid stands for persistent symptoms beyond the actual period of illness, even in people with a mild course.
Here, the similarity to CFS becomes clear. A viral disease (usually EBV) is also observed in CFS as a trigger for fatigue symptoms.
Now, what is fatigue?
Colloquially, exhaustion is a physical or mental state described as tired, drained, or powerless.
However, a form of tiredness and exhaustion differs significantly from normal levels. This particularly pronounced form is referred to in medical jargon as fatigue. Such fatigue of medical disease value is characterized by extreme tiredness, lack of energy reserves, or a massively increased need for rest, which cannot be alleviated by sleep and is disproportionate to previous activities.
CFS patients have often completed an odyssey of doctor visits to understand this phenomenon of profound and unresponsive fatigue that goes beyond normal levels of fatigue. They immediately find themselves in a tautological vicious circle when they meet a doctor who does not know this clinical picture or who, prejudiced against it, „does not believe“ that it exists.
Unfortunately, due to ignorance of the disease, many colleagues in this country broadly equate the chronic fatigue syndrome with neurasthenia ICD10, F48.0, a depressive syndrome F 32.1, or a „somatization disorder“ or „somatoform pain disorder.“ I now have great expectations that with the realization that fatigue also occurs after Corona, the disease CFS will be taken more seriously. The first research funds have already been approved. With our biomarker research project, we have already taken the first steps towards developing diagnostics that help differentiate fatigue from purely psychological exhaustion ( CFS biomarker research project).
The renowned US institute „National Academy of Medicine“ also concludes with a group of experts specially set up for this topic, stating that misunderstandings and disbelief in the medical community mean that 84% to 91% of patients are undiagnosed. The patients then undergo treatment strategies that worsen their symptoms (National Institute of Medicine 2015).
It’s important to note that the clinical picture of CFS, with its historical misinterpretations, is similar to that of multiple sclerosis (MS). In the 1950s, these patients were often misclassified as hysterical or mentally ill. However, the development of computed tomography and laboratory findings from the liquor played a crucial role in identifying the characteristic disorders. This underscores the significant role of technology in medical advancements. Now, CFS is at a stage where investigative findings can identify an underlying somatic disorder.