Avi Medical helps you with chronic fatigue
About 250,000 people in this country suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The very rare neurological disease is characterised by persistent severe physical and mental weakness. This leads to incapacity in up to 75 percent of those affected, and up to 25 percent are even bedridden. CFS is often equated with fatigue, but the terms are not synonymous. A holistic therapy can alleviate the symptoms of the disease. Our experienced doctors will accompany you at all our locations.
What is chronic fatigue?
There is still no uniform definition of chronic fatigue syndrome. However, most attempts at medical description mention the following factors:
- the symptomatology has a defined onset and does not already exist throughout life
- The symptoms are so severe that they result in a significant reduction of the individual's physical, mental and social abilities and thus massively impair the quality of life.
- the symptoms are aggravated by mental or physical stress
- the symptoms cannot be explained by other physical or psychological diseases
At what point is it chronic fatigue?
For a definite diagnosis of chronic fatigue, the following three symptoms must be present at the same time and have been present for at least half the duration of the illness. These are:
- a substantial restriction of the ability to perform professional, educational, social or personal activities compared to the time before the illness. This must exist for longer than six months and be accompanied by fatigue.
- Fatigue after physical exertion (post-exertional malaise)
- non-restorative sleep
Inaddition to this trio, at least one of the following two symptoms must be present:
- Cognitive impairment (lack of concentration, slowed thinking, memory problems)
- Orthostatic intolerance (inability to maintain an upright body position for prolonged periods).
What are the triggers of chronic fatigue?
The triggers of chronic fatigue are still largely unknown. However, the disease often occurs in connection with the following factors:
- Previous viral diseases (infectious mononucleosis, enterovirus, dengue virus infection, Q fever, Lyme disease and coronavirus infection).
- Stress and severe mental strain
- Previous accident or operation
- unexplained autoimmune processes in the body
What are possible symptoms of chronic fatigue?
Typical symptoms of chronic fatigue include:
- Persistent fatigue/exhaustion after and without previous physical exertion
- cognitive impairment
- orthostatic intolerance
Treatment of chronic fatigue at Avi Medical
A comprehensive exclusion diagnosis with extensive laboratory diagnostics is the first step in the treatment of your chronic fatigue. In case of uncertainty, this includes a referral to a specialist or hospital for a cranial MRI.
This is followed by therapy of the symptoms, which includes the following measures :
- Help to positively accept and understand the impairment caused by the disease
- Integrated psychosocial and somatic care
- Physical activity while avoiding overload
- cognitive-behavioural methods
- Treatment of other symptoms (e.g. sleep disorders and pain)
- In rare cases: drug treatment (e.g. supplementation in the case of concomitant iron deficiency).
