In 2014, Terri Wilder became dreadfully ill. She did not know what happened to her. She was unable to do any physical activities. She used to fall asleep immediately each day after she reached home from the office.
Each morning, she felt too tired to open her eyes. “I could barely raise my hand to hail a cab,” she said.
Finally, she was diagnosed with a disease which is medically known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndromeME/CFS. She was shocked to discover that ME/CFS lacked a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administratio.
A chronic disease, ME/CFS can last for decades. It often takes root following some form of viral infection, for instance Epstein-Barr virus or Ross River virus. The novel coronavirus is just one more virus that can potentially trigger the onset of this debilitating condition.
Experts are saying that Chronic fatigue syndrome is a possible long-term effect of Covid-19. Hundreds of thousands of people with Covid-19 are feared to have develop the same illness that plagued Terri Wilder for a long time.
CFS/ME
CFS is also known as ME, which stands for myalgic encephalomyelitis. Many people refer to the condition as CFS/ME. CFS/ME can affect anyone, including children. It’s more common in women, and tends to develop between your mid-20s and mid-40s.
According to Harvard Health , the exact cause of chronic fatigue syndrome remains a mystery. The illness can follow a number of common infectious illnesses, such as Lyme disease or infectious mononucleosis, but not all cases are tied to infections. Testing has found that people with chronic fatigue syndrome have abnormalities in the brain, particularly in the hypothalamus (a part of the brain that regulates hormones and vital functions) and the pituitary gland.
Symptoms
According to the NHS , main symptom of CFS/ME is feeling extremely tired and generally unwell. In addition, people with CFS/ME may have other symptoms, including:
- sleep problems
- muscle or joint pain
- headaches
- a sore throat or sore glands that are not swollen
- problems thinking, remembering or concentrating
- flu-like symptoms
- feeling dizzy or sick
- fast or irregular heartbeats (heart palpitations)
Treatments of SFS/ME include:
- cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- a structured exercise programme called graded exercise therapy (GET)
- medicine to control pain, nausea and sleeping problems
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