Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Signs & Symptoms

Signs & Symptoms

One of the main symptoms of CFS is persistent fatigue, malaise and tiredness. Some of the general symptoms include:

Cognitive difficulties such as poor concentration, reduced attention, poor memory of recent events, difficulty to plan or organize and sometimes feeling disoriented.
Sleeping difficulties such as early waking, disrupted sleep or too much sleep.
Pains such as muscular pains, joint pains and headaches.
Recurring sore throat with tenderness of nearby lymph glands.
Intolerance and sensitivity to food, alcohol, noise and bright lights.
Stomach symptoms such as alternating diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pains and nausea.
Certain other symptoms such as dizziness, excess sweating and disordered temperature control of the body are also noticed.

The severity of cases can be subdivided into four levels based on certain symptoms:

Mild Cases: The patients can care for themselves and can do light domestic tasks but with some difficulty.
Moderate Cases: The patient has reduced and restricted mobility in most of the daily activities. The may require rest periods often sleeping in the afternoon for one or two hours. The patient may experience disturbed sleep during the night.
Severe Cases: The patient can do minimal daily tasks such as face washing and brushing heir teeth. The patient may depend on wheel chair for mobility.
Very Severe: The patient will not be able to carry out his normal daily tasks and will not be able to move out of bed. The patient cannot tolerate noise and is very sensitive to bright light (6).

Article by Kona Vishnu, MS
Medical Writer,
OmniMedicalSearch.com