Introduction
by Stacey Chillemi
A puzzling ailment afflicts millions of women and men. Patients complain of extreme tiredness or fatigue. “I’m always exhausted, no matter how much sleep I get,” they say.
Fatigue seems the main symptom. Yet, patients may report problems sleeping. “I wake up tired, even though I slept well,” they say. Patients may have difficulty thinking clearly, concentrating or remembering. They complain of frequent headaches, muscle and joint pain, a severe sore throat or tenderness in the neck or armpits. These symptoms may flare up after limited mental or physical effort.
Often unable to detect a known illness, doctors diagnose Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The diagnosis is mostly descriptive. Treatment is often a rebuke, “Pull up your socks and get back to work or school” or antidepressant medication.
As the pace of life gains speed, more doctors diagnose CFS. Social classes or ethnicity offer no shelter against the symptoms or diagnosis of CFS. Women are twice as likely as men to report CFS symptoms. Children are as likely as the elderly receive the CFS diagnosis.
The CFS diagnosis applies to about 4 million Americans. The number of such diagnoses goes up every year. One-in-four of those diagnosed, with CFS, can’t work or on disability. More and more, disability insurance companies find ways not to pay those diagnosed with CFS.
Byron M. Hyde, M. D., is Director of the Nightingale Research Foundation. He’s a leading authority on CFS and related illnesses. In this interview, Dr. Hyde talks about the essence of the ailment and problems of diagnosis. He offers new insight about the ailment and the diagnosis.
As Dr. Hyde notes, a psychiatric disorder haunts up to half of the women and men diagnosed as CFS. It’s not surprising many victims don’t seek medical advice; they want to avoid the baggage of mental illness. The misdiagnosis also leads to the wrong treatment.
Some patients present as CFS, but have serious, treatable illnesses. These illnesses include diabetes, thyroid disease or substance abuse. Undiagnosed, the patient gets worse when they could get better.
Looking behind the façade, of CFS, notes Dr. Hyde, calls for digging. All patients need a full work up before a doctor offers a valid prognosis. Thorough research is essential.
A former geophysicist, Dr. Hyde is a published poet. In his premedical days, his instinct for decisive action saved the lives of actors, Yoko Tani and Anthony Quinn. For more than 40 years, he’s practiced a learned form of common sense medicine. The Nightingale Foundation, which he founded, in 1988, provides hope, compassion and cures to new patients, every day.
If you’re living under a diagnosis of CFS, what Dr. Hyde says is what you need to know. Click here to read the complete interview, with Dr. Byron Hyde.
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