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Query: UMLS:C0015674 (chronic fatigue syndrome)
 2,978 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A differentiation between the normal sensation of tiredness and the symptom "fatigue" is often difficult. Both are influenced by cultural, social, psychological and biological factors, which can lead--interactively--to symptom formation. Psychiatric disorders frequently associated with fatigue are all forms of depression, somatization and anxiety disorders, chronic pain states and drug abuse among many others. In at least 2/3 of patients with the fashionable chronic fatigue syndrome--formerly called neurasthenia--a psychiatric diagnosis can be made, most of them also suffer from many symptoms attributes to the autonomous nervous system. The clinical approach should be cautious avoiding diagnostic and therapeutic overaction and therapy should emerge from a diagnosis properly assessed.
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PMID:[Intense fatigue in humans. Psychosocial and cultural aspects]. 175 73

This chapter outlines the recorded epidemiological history of PVFS (including the early epidemics of myalgic encephalomyelitis) and the development of the concept, including the realisation that endemic cases also occur. Cases of PVFS are still not recorded by the Surveillance Centre for Communicable Diseases, so it is very difficult to detect and monitor any outbreak in the community, since each GP may only have two or three such patients and would, therefore, not be aware of an epidemic in the community as a whole if it occurred. Epidemiological issues raised by the early epidemics, including the delineation of the syndrome, the question of bias, the role of hysteria and the role of depression; the issue of symptom distribution, and its implications for aetiology; and a multiaxial framework for understanding the association with psychological symptoms are discussed. The value of a future multidisciplinary research programme designed to disentangle direct and predisposing causes of PVFS is emphasised.
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PMID:Post-viral fatigue syndrome. Epidemiology: lessons from the past. 179 93

There is ample evidence that some forms of depression can be caused or aggravated by work. The relationship of work and chronic fatigue syndrome is questionable, but elements at work can aggravate the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. The role of physicians who can support or discourage beliefs about physical illness is all important, both by what they say and how they treat. In the process of interaction, they can promote or discourage disability. The role of the physician in the workplace is to determine if an illness is work related, if it is disabling, if it requires treatment, and what treatment. The physician must advise if the worker can continue in his or her usual and customary employment and, if not, if he or she can be vocationally rehabilitated from a medical standpoint. Conditions in which physical symptoms are unsupported by physical findings and have diagnostic labels that describe the disorder without indicating either cause or pathology are especially troubling for the physician who must decide if the patient's job caused the symptoms.
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PMID:Depression and chronic fatigue in the workplace. Workers' compensation and occupational issues. 183 58

Studies have shown that a proportion of patients with severe chronic infection due to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lack antibody to a component of EBV nuclear antigen. However, it is not clear whether this circumstance is one of cause or effect in regard to the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS); it is clearly not pathognomonic since it also occurs in persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus and--rarely--in those with other EBV-related conditions. Stress and depression may be other pathogenetic mechanisms that could reactivate EBV and lead to CFS; examples of this phenomenon are given. The syndrome might also follow certain other viral infections as part of a process that has been called postinfectious neurasthenia. Currently, the cause(s) and cure of CFS, a common and distressing syndrome, are enigmatic and require multidisciplinary study.
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PMID:Chronic fatigue syndrome: thoughts on pathogenesis. 185 May 44

To summarize, CFS and depression present very real problems for adolescent patients, their families, and their physicians. The wealth of symptoms presented may signal the presence of any number of psychiatric or physiologic disorders. As part of the evaluation to rule out other maladies, the physician must identify the developmental issues and life stress events with which patients or their families are struggling. Helping patients to accept psychiatric referral to address these issues is indicated if it is thought that they may be contributing to the onset or maintenance of the symptoms. Referral is also indicated if a protracted clinical course evolves and the patient's normal course of growth and development appears to be in jeopardy.
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PMID:Depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and the adolescent. 187 12

Chronic benign pain is commonly associated with chronic fatigue and depression. Depression and chronic fatigue syndrome are also associated with each other and often include pain. Psychologic factors are prominent in these conditions, and they may share neurobiologic factors as well. Management requires separately addressing each component of patients' distress and usually includes physical rehabilitation, education, administration of nonhabituating medications and often counseling. Depression may be a favorable prognostic sign, as it suggests a treatable condition and provides incentive for recovery.
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PMID:Depression and chronic fatigue in the patient with chronic pain. 187 18

Fatigue, pain, and emotional upset remain the most common problems affecting humanity and for which we still know so very little. Chronic fatigue syndrome is most likely a number of as yet unproven various undifferentiated illnesses that are exceedingly difficult to distinguish from depression. There probably is a subset of patients with CFS who do have true immune dysfunction and persistent viral infection, and this particular group of patients should be further investigated. This group is the minority of patients who present with chronic fatigue. Although chronic fatigue syndrome may be the result of an organic illness in psychologically susceptible individuals, it remains most important to assess underlying psychologic factors that then need to be addressed. These factors may very likely have a profound effect on immune function, but more research is needed in this area. The diagnostic evaluation of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome should initially focus on causes for fatigue other than Epstein-Barr viral infection. Significant underlying medical conditions should be ruled out, and extensive inquiry into symptoms suggestive of depression and anxiety should be aggressively pursued. Treatment should include psychiatric support and counseling, good nutrition, adequate rest, and a gradual increase in activity. Anti-inflammatory agents and serotonin-replenishing antidepressants are helpful when muscle pain and tenderness are a major part of the patient's symptoms. Psychoactive drugs are useful when indicated. Low doses of antidepressants such as doxepin (10-25 mg at night) are generally well tolerated and have shown efficacy in numerous patients, although there are no reports of controlled trials.
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PMID:Chronic fatigue and depression in the ambulatory patient. 187 21

This study aimed to investigate the psychological characteristics of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS: Holmes et al. 1988). A battery of psychometric instruments comprising the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Lazarus Ways of Coping (WoC) inventory, was administered to a sample of clinically-defined CFS sufferers (N = 58), to a comparison group of chronic pain (CP) patients (N = 81) and to a group of healthy controls matched for sex and age with the CFS sample (N = 104). Considerable overlap was found between CFS and CP patients at the level of both physical and psychological symptoms. This raises the possibility that CFS sufferers are a sub-population of CP patients. However, while there was some commonality between CFS and CP patients in terms of personality traits, particularly the MMPI 'neurotic triad' (hypochondriasis, depression and hysteria), CFS patients showed more deviant personality traits reflecting raised levels on the first MMPI factor, emotionality. Moreover, results were not consistent with the raised emotionality being a reaction to the illness, but rather were consistent with the hypothesis that emotionality is a predisposing factor for CFS. The majority of CFS patients fell within four personality types, each characterized by the two highest MMPI scale scores. One type (N = 20) reported a lack of psychological symptoms or emotional disturbance contrary to the overall trend for the CFS sample. This group conformed to the ICD-10 classification of neurasthenia.
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PMID:Psychiatric symptoms, personality and ways of coping in chronic fatigue syndrome. 187 40

Any patient who has a Bell's palsy (unilateral or bilateral), aseptic meningitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, atypical radiculoneuropathy, presenile dementia, atypical myopathy, or symptoms of atypical rheumatoid arthritis should be asked specifically about the following: visits to highly endemic areas, any known tick bites, any skin lesion suggestive of erythema migrans, any history of palpitations or of prior Bell's palsy, aching in joints (especially the knees), paresthesias, chronic fatigue and depression, forgetfulness, and eye problems. Any patient showing a chronic iritis with posterior synechiae, vitritis in one or both eyes, an atypical pars planitis-like syndrome, big blind spot syndrome, and swollen or hyperemic optic discs should be asked the same questions. The physician should send one red-top tube of blood containing 2 to 3 ml serum to Microbiology Reference Laboratory, 10703 Progress Way, Cypress, CA 90630-4714, requesting a Lyme/treponemal panel. For $90 the patient will receive an RPR test with titer, serum FTA-ABS test, serum Lyme IFA IgG and IgM, and a serum Lyme ELISA test. If these tests are within normal limits and the physician is still suspicious, a Western blot can be ordered on serum. A green top tube with fresh white blood cells sent out by overnight express on a Monday or Tuesday will produce a Lyme PCR and a lymphocyte stimulation test. Finally, R.K. Porschen, director of MRL Laboratory, will provide information on the urine antigen test on an investigational basis. A careful history with emphasis on the specific questions noted above, a complete neuro-ophthalmological and physical examination ruling out other causative problems, and the laboratory studies here discussed will usually provide sufficient data to choose therapy. Much further active research into Lyme borreliosis is an important priority in medicine.
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PMID:Neuro-ocular Lyme borreliosis. 201 Nov 11

Assessment of the relationship of depression to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complicated but important topic. This relationship may range from the misdiagnostic (i.e., depression misidentified as CFS) to the etiologic (i.e., CFS causes an organic affective syndrome). Assessment should focus on the symptoms and syndromes of depressive disorder, utilization of a single rating scale to assess presumed depression is discouraged, and alternate approaches to classification that allow for symptomatic overlap of a major depressive disorder and CFS are suggested. Careful attention needs to be given to the use of external validating criteria in empiric studies, such as natural history, clinical course (including treatment response), and family history.
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PMID:Assessment of depression in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. 202 Jul 97


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