About twelve years ago I experienced a debilitating illness that lasted about nine months, the main feature of which was profound fatigue. One doctor diagnosed it as postviral fatigue, and I came to think of it as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). I also experienced depression and anxiety in conjunction with the illness.

Fortunately, I gradually recovered, and I’ve lived a healthy life since then. I haven’t read about the illness very much since then, apart from reading Elaine Showalter’s book Hystories: Modern Epidemics and Modern Media, which has a chapter that looks at the cultural and psychological origins of the illness.

I remain very curious about chronic fatigue, and I look forward to what science, culture, and scholarship will reveal about it. I recently came across a July 24 Star Tribune article that mentioned the disease - in particular a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study that discusses a bioligical basis for the illness.

According to an April 2006 press release, the study shows that “[p]eople who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a genetic make up that affects the body’s ability to adapt to change.” Dr. William C. Reeves, “the physiology of people with CFS is not able to adapt to the many challenges and stresses encountered throughout life, such as infection, injury and other adverse events during life.”

I’ll likely share more in a future post, particularly some of the detailed information in a briefing transcript from the authors of the CDC study.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Autobiography, Science.