Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a flu-like condition that can drain your energy and sometimes last for years.  People previously healthy and full of energy may experience extreme fatigue, weakness and headaches as well as painful joints, muscles and lymph nodes.  CFS is a disease characterized by pervasive, chronic, and incapacitating fatigue.  As a group, CFS patients have disturbed sleep with frequent arousals and the sense of not having slept upon awakening.

This is a weakening disorder accompanied by a number of symptoms like severe fatigue, physical and mental exhaustion.  Patients of CFS have a depleted glutathione level in their bodies.  This debilitating illness makes sufferers feel tired on a continual basis, which isn’t made any better by extended periods of rest and is made worse by increased physical and mental activity.

Chronic fatigue syndrome affects all racial and ethnic groups.  Most people experience this illness between the ages of 20 and 40, but the disorder also occurs in adolescents.  This syndrome is three times more prevalent in women than it is in men.   It is estimated that for every 100,000 people suffer from CFS, 522 of them are female while 291 of them are males. 

Chronic fatigue syndrome is treated primarily by medical doctors with prescriptions that help mediate symptoms.  Caution should be taken when treating symptoms as patients have a normal tendency to increase their activity level too much upon feeling better and thereby exacerbating the disease.  CFS is very hard to diagnose because of the many different symptoms.   Even with regular sleep schedule and after prolonged deep sleep, they wake up exhausted.

Similar disorders have been described for at least two centuries and have been variously named neurasthenia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, Akureyri disease, post-viral fatigue, and chronic mononucleosis.  The cause isn't known and there's no cure, but drugs, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and psychological counseling can ease distress.   Symptoms may wax and wane over time.  While some patients eventually recover completely, others seem to get progressively worse.