Chronic Fatigue
Fibromyalgia and Social Security Disability
More than one million people will file for benefits from the Social Security Administration this year. The bad news is, 60% who apply for benefits will be denied. The good news is, help is available to improve your odds of getting benefits, should you or a loved one become disabled. All working Americans contribute 7.65 percent from every paycheck to FICA tax. Some of that payment goes toward disability insurance coverage by the Social Security Administration. However, bureaucratic problems plaguing SSA’s Disability Insurance program prevent fair and speedy distribution of benefits to people who are eligible.
My Life as a Parent of a Child with CFS
I am talking to all of you out there in the world of CFS who have children with this illness, or who wonder what life is like for the wee sufferers. It is so hard to watch your children suffer without a thing that you can do to ease their pain. I am feeling so very helpless these days, so very small in the realm of this thing called life.
The Emotions of Parenting a Child with CFS
I was sitting in the solitude of my quiet home longing for that peaceful time to never end. I knew that we soon would be faced with the inevitable problems that school forces upon us each year. In the summers my family is fortunate enough to get a “little” break from CFS. My daughter has learned that while she needs to still limit her activity, she can get through a day without her wheelchair, or the headaches that dominate the rest of the year.
How to Select a Support Group
Support groups are not appropriate for everyone, and some CFS patients may find that a support group actually adds to their stress rather than relieving it. Most support groups are free, collect voluntary donations, or charge modest membership dues to cover basic expenses (e.g. refreshments at meetings or photocopying costs).
Physical Therapy and CFS
Many of you may be sitting out there thinking “PT, not me! I tried that and it near killed me.” And I am here to say that if this was your experience I encourage you to continue looking. There are some wonderful physical therapists out there, just like there are some wonderful docs. But we need to learn to hunt and peck to find them.
Exercise for Chronic Fatigue
People who suffer from chronic disabling fatigue do need exercise, but not the type that our “researchers” teach us. They do not need exercise that further injures injured muscles. Exercises for patients with chronic fatigue must be slow, sustained and non-traumatic. In other words it must be limbic.
Treatment of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A variety of therapeutic approaches have been described as benefiting patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Since no cause for CFS has been identified and the pathophysiology remains unknown, treatment programs are directed at relief of symptoms, with the goal of the patient regaining some level of pre-existing function and well-being.
Steroid Medication No Help to CFS Patients Who Get that Faint Feeling
Besides suffering severe tiredness and a host of other symptoms, some patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) find standing for long periods makes them lightheaded or even faint; eventually their blood pressure drops so low they can’t remain upright, a condition known as neurally mediated hypotension (NMH).
What’s Causing My Depression and Fatigue?
Chronic Fatigue and Chronic Depression are absolutely systemic in our society today. Recent studies done by the AMA and CMA purport one in four people in North America are suffering from some form of chronic fatigue or depression and it’s expected eight out of ten of us will experience similar afflictions in our lifetime. But numbers like these don’t speak to the cause and only tell half the story.
Drepression and a Success Story
Last spring after my 10-year-old had weathered yet another harsh winter with CFS, I had 2 people tell me she was really depressed. One was a friend who had CFS and also suffered from bouts of severe depression, and the other our doctor. I knew she was down, maybe a bit blue, but who wouldn’t be? She was homebound and did not have the life that a normal child should be having. But depressed? When I asked my friend how she could tell, she answered simply, “I can see it in her eyes.”
Diagnosis of CFS
Because the cause of CFS has not been identified and its effect on the body is not well understood, periodically new unvalidated beliefs about cures and causes of CFS are widely circulated. These may be based on one or more recent reports from the peer-reviewed scientific literature, or they may evolve from the anecdotal remarks of clinicians or scientists at medical meetings.
