Why is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome such a Misunderstood Illness?

If you told the average person in the United States that you had Chronic Fatigue

Syndrome, they would most likely give you a funny look. For many, the words Chronic Fatigue Syndrome conjure up the idea of people that are lazy or hypochondrics. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that millions of Americans in the U.S. suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome. If so many people that are affected by this disease then why is it often ignored or dismissed as an illness that is "all in your head"?

Chronic fatigue syndrome or CFS was first described by doctors in the 1700s, it was first named in the 1980s. It remains a controversial diagnosis because it an illness that is diagnosed out of exclusion of other illnesses. Basically there is no test that can confirm that you have chronic fatigue. A doctor must see that your symptoms fit the profile and rule out all other diseases to diagnose you as having CFS.

More recently the CDC has found genetic consistancies among CFS patients. This may finally give the much needed credibility that patients need to prove to the medical community that CFS is a real illness. The CDC's Dr. Suzanne Vernon says that these genetics tests show that "there is a clear biologic basis for CFS, and knowing the molecular damage involved will help us devise effective therapeutic intervention and control strategies."

Right now the only treatments available to CFS patients are alternative treatments

that include vitamins and health supplements. These alternative treatments can often be very expensive and have little science to back up their use. It is estimated that most CFS patients spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year on vitamins, looking for relief from their symptoms. They also turn to chronic fatigue syndrome forums and the internet to find out what treatments other patients are currently trying. Having a test that can concretely diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome may lead to research and real medical treatments. A test would also help remove alot of the stigma that CFS patients face.

This disease is so mistunderstood because the science is not yet there to prove it is a real disease. This is not to say that it isnt real, but we do not yet have the medical research to prove that it is real. As the medical community catches up and more research is conducted, it will become an acceptable diagnoses to doctors and the community at large.