Saturday, May 30, 2009

My CFIDS/CFS Symptoms...

...That Resulted in my CFIDS Diagnosis

I was diagnosed with CFIDS in 2005; however, many of my symptoms began in the early 2000's and possibly earlier. The symptoms listed below are in addition to the ones that accompany the conditions/illness I listed in my Health Timeline post:
  • incapacitating fatigue only made worse by exercise/physical activity
  • sleeping 16-20 hours per day
  • too ill to work full time
  • frequent sore throats
  • frequent low-grade fevers
  • swollen lymph nodes in neck and armpits
  • weakened immune system (I would catch countless viral and bacterial infections)
  • mental fog (feeling like all my thought processes were slower)
  • impaired memory, difficulty concentrating
  • sensitivity to light and sound
  • sensitivity to temperature (I am often too hot and sweating or too cold and shivering)
  • random bouts of dizziness
  • random bouts of nausea (not necessarily related to the dizziness)
  • random bouts of muscle twitching
  • low Natural Killer Cell levels (assessed through blood tests)
  • low ATP levels (assessed through blood tests by measuring cyclic AMP levels )
  • low glutatione levels (assessed through blood tests)
...Today

Today some of my CFIDS symptoms have improved thanks to some unconventional treatment prescribed by my current doctor (the same one that diagnosed me). I'll discuss my medications/treatments in a future post.

My immune system has improved quite a bit. My NK cell levels had reached near-normal levels at the time of my last NK cell blood test a couple years ago (my insurance company, Aetna, will no longer cover tests for NK cells). The number of bacterial and viral infections I get every year has decreased significantly. My chronic sore throats and low-grade fevers are not so chronic. My lymph nodes do not bother me nearly as often. My quality of life has greatly improved now that my immune system is not quite as insane.

Though fatigue still controls much of my life, it has eased up a bit since I was first diagnosed in 2005. My ATP and glutathione levels have improved somewhat, but their levels remain below normal...which probably explains the continued fatigue.

Despite the improvements, I still grapple with the following symptoms (in addition to all my other symptoms that accompany the chronic illnesses/conditions mentioned in my Health Timeline post):
  • constant fatigue only made worse by exercise/physical activity (the fatigue can become incapacitating)
  • sleep 12-14 hours per night on weekends and days I don't have to go to work
  • mental fog (feeling like all my thought processes are slower)
  • impaired memory, difficulty concentrating
  • sensitivity to temperature (I am often too hot and sweating or too cold and shivering)
  • sensitivity to light and sound
  • sexual dysfunction
  • random bouts of dizziness
  • random bouts of nausea (not necessarily related to the dizziness)
  • random bouts of muscle twitching
  • low ATP levels (assessed through blood tests by measuring cyclic AMP levels )
  • low glutatione levels (assessed through blood tests)

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