Claire Williams
You may have detected that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome /M.E. /Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome is a precise misunderstood illness...
...and this is perhaps why there are so many myths about it.
Perhaps the most usual myth about degenerative Fatigue Syndrome is that it is effectively a psychological condition, and other name for depression.
But these cardinal conditions are precise different!
And when you label a condition incorrectly it can cause no end of problems when difficult to diagnose and treat it. So it's extremely influential to make the distinction between degenerative Fatigue Syndrome /M.E. /Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome and depression - because they are completely diametric illnesses.
Depression can be a **symptom** of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but there are many degenerative Fatigue Syndrome sufferers out there who do **not** suffer from depression at all.
I, for example, used to suffer from depression when I was first diagnosed with Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/M.E.), but now I (thankfully) don't have depression anymore.
--------SIDE NOTE--------
My recovery from depression (whilst I had PVFS) was down to having psychotherapy. And I can safely say that it's THE BEST thing I've ever done.
If you're depressed, past I urgently recommend that you try a talking therapy of some sort.
I'd personally describe the whole process of going finished psychotherapy as "reading a fascinating book" - where the topic is on 'yourself'.
To find out what it's like to go through psychotherapy /counselling, visit:
http://www.sleepydust.net/psychotherapy
If you're housebound, or just want to conserve your energy and don't want to travel to see a therapist, then why not try online counselling?
There are services out there that can give you counselling sessions via telephone, via email, or via 'Instant Messaging' (real-time chat sessions on your computer, where you type instead of talk).
--------SIDE NOTE--------
There are opposite differences between degenerative Fatigue Syndrome /Fibromyalgia and depression...
Research has shown that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers have an abnormality in their 'deep sleep' brainwave patterns. But, depression sufferers do not have this abnormality!
And in a recent study by scientists at the University of Alberta, it was saved that there were significant differences in skin temperature and electrical activity in the skin, which sets Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers unconnected from depression sufferers (Pazderka-Robinson, H. Int. Jrnl. Of Psychophysiology Aug 2004).
What's more, depression sufferers tend to feel tired **all** the time, whereas degenerative Fatigue Syndrome sufferers' exhaustion **increases** notably after mental or physical exertion.
There are also symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that are not shared by depression sufferers. grotty flu-like symptoms, headaches, painful muscles and joints, Restless Legs Syndrome, and an increase in colds and viruses, are all just a few symptoms that can play a part in degenerative Fatigue Syndrome.
There you go - just a hardly a of the differences between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and depression! So the close time someone mistakes your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ M.E. /Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome /Fibromyalgia for depression - you can set them right!
Copyright, Claire Williams, 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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Claire Williams is editor of sleepydust.net and has suffered from Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since 1995.
She created 'sleepydust.net' to help Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia sufferers to deal with the condition - from handling their money worries, to recovering from their illness....
http://www.sleepydust.net
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