Chronic fatigue syndrome is estimated to affect one million people in the United States with 17 to 24 million affected worldwide. Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as CFS, is an extreme fatigue or tiredness that does not go away with rest. This long-term illness can affect the body in numerous different ways and can make a person unable to perform regular day to day activities.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is most common in adults between the ages of 40 to 60 years old with women having a higher rate of being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Although it is most common between those ages, anyone no matter their age could get chronic fatigue syndrome.
Why does Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Affect my Health?
Chronic fatigue syndrome affects your health tremendously because of rest not being able to reset or fully relax your body – which affects both your body and mind functions. The extreme fatigue causes the body to react slower to your surroundings and to infections. For those who have low blood pressure (hypotension), chronic fatigue syndrome can worsen or prolong its effects such as dizziness and lightheadedness.
There has also been a link between disruptions of the immune system and chronic fatigue syndrome. Because of this link, your body can become more susceptible to infection.
What is the Most Common Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptom?
Some of the symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome are the following:
- Fatigue
- Slower body reactions
- Difficulty sleeping
- Sore throat
- Enlarged lymph nodes (swollen glands) in the neck or underarm area
- Muscle pain
- Poor memory
- Pain in several joints with no redness or swelling
- Feeling sick after exercise or strenuous activity (this usually starts the day after)
- Inability to concentrate
- Headaches
- Depression
The most common chronic fatigue syndrome symptom out of the ones listed the above would be fatigue as it is this extreme fatigue that gives the illness its name.
Difference Between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Depression
Depression can leave one feeling fatigued as well. Depression can cause your muscles to ache and make the body weak if severe enough. Although depression and chronic fatigue syndrome share some similar symptoms, you can still distinguish between the two.
- Depressing mood – Those who have chronic fatigue syndrome report feeling depressed and discouraged due to the lack of energy. Depression, on the other hand, is when a person reports feeling depressed most of the time without being able to pinpoint a reason for their mood.
- Decrease in appetite and weight loss – Those who suffer from depression may lose the interest to eat or end up overeating while chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers are still interested in eating or sustaining their food habits but find shopping and preparing meals to be tiring.
- Insomnia – Chronic fatigue syndrome does not let you feel refreshed after sleeping no matter how long you sleep. Those who have depression will either have poor sleep (insomnia) or excessive sleep (hypersomnia).
- Loss of interest in activities – With depression, patients report losing interest or lacking interest in activities they would or used to enjoy. Chronic fatigue syndrome patients still say they would take part in these activities more if they had the energy for them.
- Unable to think or concentrate – This symptom can be helped with antidepressant therapy for patients who have depression while patients with chronic fatigue syndrome do not see any improvement on their concentration or memory.
- Fatigue or loss of energy – Depression can make a person feel fatigued regardless of the task at hand with a view that all tasks are equally difficult for them. For chronic fatigue syndrome, patients feel an overwhelming amount of fatigue and express an interest in doing more but are not able.
- Suicidal thoughts or thoughts of death – It is common for patients who suffer from depression to believe life is hopeless while patients with chronic fatigue syndrome may have thoughts of death or suicide because of their condition’s symptoms and become depressed or suicidal from thinking they may have to live that way for the rest of their life.
Can Chronic Fatigue Syndrome be Treated by a Neck Adjustment?
Above we mentioned how there has been a link between disruptions of the immune system and chronic fatigue syndrome. Our upper cervical spine, located in the neck area under the base of your skull, protects your brain stem.
When there is an upper cervical misalignment, this compresses the brain stem and disrupts the functions of your brain to body communication. Without proper brain to body communication, your immune system suffers.
Because the brain stem helps control so many bodily functions, a misalignment in the upper cervical spine can cause various issues to occur. If left untreated, these problems can worsen over time developing conditions and causing the body to be unable to fight successfully against disease.
What is the Best Chiropractic Technique for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
The best chiropractic technique for chronic fatigue syndrome is an upper cervical adjustment. Upper cervical chiropractors study how the brain stem is harmed by upper cervical misalignments, what problems to the body it can cause, and ways of handling the patient’s misalignment appropriately.
Unlike general chiropractic, upper cervical chiropractic is very gentle, using small subtle movements to correct the misalignment.
Can Chiropractic offer a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Treatment?
Upper cervical chiropractic can help you with chronic fatigue syndrome. As soon as the misalignment is corrected, the pressure is taken off the brain stem allowing your body to begin properly communicating with the brain again. Because of this, the body begins to heal and repair itself almost immediately and patients have reported positive results after as little as one adjustment.
Our brain stem is the most significant part of our body. It controls our blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and much more. Any harm or pressure that disrupts our brain stem can do some serious harm to the body – including leading up to the development of many conditions.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Specialist Near Me
If you have chronic fatigue syndrome and want a completely safe, gentle, and an all-natural treatment to help, upper cervical can do a lot for you.
We can see if you have a misalignment and can let you know how it is affecting your body with scans that shows us how the misalignment is pressing up against your brain and how severe it is. You do not have to rely on temporary fixes that target your symptoms.
Upper cervical chiropractic allows the body to heal and repair the cause properly thanks to the power of our brain stem.