by Caroline Kaiser

Created on: August 04, 2008   Last Updated: September 18, 2008

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has become a familiar term since diagnostic criteria for the illness were first established in 1988, but the illness is still woefully misunderstood by many. Myths and misconceptions about CFS are harmful to those who live with it. Isn't it time to clear up the confusion surrounding this condition?

Consider the first and most infuriating myth: CFS isn't a real illness. When I was diagnosed with CFS in 1998, it became immediately clear to me that the people around me were divided into two camps: the believers and the doubters. The latter group - which included some medical professionals - suspected that I wasn't actually sick. To those who suffer from the debilitating, draining effects of CFS, the insinuation that the illness isn't real is insulting. Being written off as a hypochondriac doesn't exactly support the healing process.

My experience with doctors was typical of many CFS patients at that time. Before my eventual diagnosis by a naturopath, I was under the care of a particularly patronizing physician who was unable to find any physiological evidence of illness, so she dismissed my symptoms as "stress." At a time when I'd never felt sicker in my entire life, this arrogant young doctor heartily told me to just buck up and pull myself together. Apparently, she thought that if I simply lounged on the beach more often, I wouldn't be experiencing severe and prolonged fatigue after the slightest exertion, weak and aching muscles and joints, numbness, dizziness, unrefreshing sleep, an inability to concentrate, food allergies and a sudden weight loss of 30 pounds within three months. How much more real could an illness get?

Ten years ago, only naturopaths and other holistic practitioners seemed to acknowledge the existence of CFS, and the most effective treatments emerged from alternative medicine. However, in the 21st century, the CFS diagnosis has become increasingly acceptable within the medical establishment, and resistance to making it has been steadily declining over the years. But outside of the medical field, the attitude persists that those diagnosed with CFS aren't really ill at all.

There's also the misconception that while people diagnosed with CFS do suffer from something, it's really "just depression." It's been suggested that if CFS patients took fistfuls of antidepressants, they'd be bouncing around energetically in no time. But let's put the relationship of depression to chronic fatigue into its proper perspective.

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