Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) describes a sense of exhaustion and post-exertion malaise, even when you have gotten enough rest and sleep. The disease is characterized by six months of incapacitating fatigue experienced as profound exhaustion and extremely poor stamina, and problems with concentration and short-term memory. The cause is unknown, but it is a...

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Could I have CFS?

dragan3
dragan3
I am exhausted all the time, I sleep 11 or more hours a night plus as many hours as I can manage during the day. I nod off doing almost anything, reading, driving, playing with my kids, watching tv, sitting in class (college) and no matter how much I sleep I never feel rested, this has been going on for quite a while, I was just put on an increased dose of concerts to hopefully help. Could I have CFS?
deleted_user
deleted_user
ME/CFS involves a constellation of symptoms, one of which is debilitating fatigue that does not improve with bedrest. Its diagnosed by a process of exclusion. This means that they need to rule everything else out first.

If fatigue is your only symptom, then my guess is probably no.
Be thankful, you sure don't want this thing!
Nina1959
Nina1959
Have you had thyroid testing? That would be my first stop, along with basic blood work, of course.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Do you have any other symptoms? I know before I was diagnosed with ME/CFS I had a bunch of little "things" wrong with my health and had no idea they were all connected pieces to one big puzzle (and a couple symptoms took years to present themselves even after diagnosis).

I'd check this page out and see if the rest of it seems familiar:

http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/ccpc.html
skinnybinny
skinnybinny
Unfortunately, the name chronic fatigue syndrome implies that we're just tired all the time and nothing could be further from the truth. We are all very sick.

There has been a movement to change the name of our illness to ME so people don't confuse our illness with people who are just tired or fatigued due to some other imbalance/illness in their bodies.
dragan3
dragan3
Thanks so much for the info and getting back to me right away, I will do some reading and try and get at least some basic bloodwork done
2DanceAgain
2DanceAgain
Is sleep apnea anything you have considered? For me, fatigue is different than sleepiness. I have CFS and can't sleep well even when I feel tired. Fatigue isn't the only symptom associated with CFS (the name of the syndrome is deceiving). There are emotional ups and downs, there are memory or brain fog issues, there may be dizziness, there may be flu like symptoms (slight fever, feeling achy), and on and on. I hope you figure out what is causing your sleepiness. Come back to this site and keep asking those specific questions.