Your Chronic Fatigue Isn’t All in Your Head
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iStock/Thinkstock(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Tired of people telling you that feeling constantly tired is all in your head?
You’ve got some ammunition now after Vanderbilt University researchers have verified that “systemic exertion intolerance disease” does really exist and that it affects as many as 2.5 million Americans.
This is the new name for what was previously called chronic fatigue syndrome, which sufferers claim seems to just downplay the condition of feeling tired all the time.
Lead researcher Ellen Wright Clayton says the disease is serious and should be treated as such by health care providers, who often contend patients are just imagining their fatigue.
The main symptoms are fatigue and a reduction in activity lasting over half a year; the condition growing worse, not better; sleep that does not provide relief from exhaustion; and cognitive impairment.
Although there is no cure at the moment for systemic exertion intolerance disease, doctors can treat individuals on a case-by-case basis depending on their symptoms.
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