Fatigue syndrome test: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) – Diagnosis and treatment
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) – Exams, Tests, Diagnosis, Related Conditions
Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors
- See Your Doctor
- What Else Could It Be?
- Checking the Symptoms
There’s no simple blood test or X-ray to diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome – also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). And many of the symptoms of the illness — deep tiredness, unrelieved by rest or sleep, feeling worse after physical or mental exertion, trouble concentrating, feeling worse after standing and remaining on one’s feet and other symptoms– are also seen in other conditions, too, making the diagnosis of ME/CFS more difficult.
If you think you might have ME/CFS, make an appointment to see your doctor. Research shows that getting treatment sooner might bring better results.
Your doctor will ask for a lot of information about your health. Unfortunately, there is not yet a diagnostic test that is sufficiently accurate to be useful.
Your doctor will need to rule out other conditions or causes before they can diagnose ME/CFS.
They might order other tests like blood and urine tests and scans. They will need the names of all the prescription and over-the-counter medicine you take, in case one of them is causing your symptoms. Also, tell your doctor if you take any supplements. Even so-called “natural” or “herbal” remedies can have side effects, and they might cause problems if used with other medications you’re taking.
Your doctor will give you a complete physical exam and ask you questions about your emotions. This will give them a better idea of what your needs are. It’s important to make sure you don’t have another disorder, which could be serious and could get better with treatment.
Many people who have ME/CFS have other conditions, too. If you get treated for those, it might also improve your chronic fatigue.
ME/CFS can look a lot like “mono” (mononucleosis), Lyme disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, sleep disorders, or depression.
It affects about 2.5 million Americans, but experts believe only about 20% are diagnosed.
Your doctor will review your medical history and test results. They will check to see if you have several key symptoms, beginning with extreme tiredness, or fatigue, that doesn’t improve with bed rest for 6 months or longer.
Then, your doctor will check to see if you have three of these “core” symptoms of CFS:
- Reduced ability to do usual activities for six months or more because of fatigue
- Worsening of symptoms (difficulty thinking, problems sleeping, sore throat, headaches, feeling dizzy, or severe tiredness). after physical or mental exertion
- Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, and awakening unrested
Along with the three symptoms, you must have one of these for a diagnosis of ME/CFS:
- Problems with thinking and memory
- Worsening of symptoms while standing or sitting upright; you might feel lightheaded, dizzy or weak, and you may have blurred vision or see spots.
It could take a while to get your diagnosis. It’s OK to ask how you can relieve your symptoms while you wait. Your doctor or health professional will schedule follow-up appointments to see how your treatment is working.
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Biomarker for chronic fatigue syndrome identified | News Center
Stanford scientists devised a blood-based test that accurately identified people with chronic fatigue syndrome, a new study reports.
April 29, 2019
– By Hanae Armitage
People suffering from a debilitating and often discounted disease known as chronic fatigue syndrome may soon have something they’ve been seeking for decades: scientific proof of their ailment.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have created a blood test that can flag the disease, which currently lacks a standard, reliable diagnostic test.
“Too often, this disease is categorized as imaginary,” said Ron Davis, PhD, professor of biochemistry and of genetics. When individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome seek help from a doctor, they may undergo a series of tests that check liver, kidney and heart function, as well as blood and immune cell counts, Davis said. “All these different tests would normally guide the doctor toward one illness or another, but for chronic fatigue syndrome patients, the results all come back normal,” he said.
The problem, he said, is that they’re not looking deep enough.
Now, Davis; Rahim Esfandyarpour, PhD, a former Stanford research associate; and their colleagues have devised a blood-based test that successfully identified participants in a study with chronic fatigue syndrome. The test, which is still in a pilot phase, is based on how a person’s immune cells respond to stress. With blood samples from 40 people — 20 with chronic fatigue syndrome and 20 without — the test yielded precise results, accurately flagging all chronic fatigue syndrome patients and none of the healthy individuals.
The diagnostic platform could even help identify possible drugs to treat chronic fatigue syndrome. By exposing the participants’ blood samples to drug candidates and rerunning the diagnostic test, the scientists could potentially see whether the drug improved the immune cells’ response. Already, the team is using the platform to screen for potential drugs they hope can help people with chronic fatigue syndrome down the line.
A paper describing the research findings was published online April 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Davis is the senior author. Esfandyarpour, who is now on the faculty of the University of California-Irvine, is the lead author.
Providing the proof
The diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, when it actually is diagnosed, is based on symptoms — exhaustion, sensitivity to light and unexplained pain, among other things — and it comes only after other disease possibilities have been eliminated. It is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and designated by the acronym ME/CFS. It’s estimated that 2 million people in the United States have chronic fatigue syndrome, but that’s a rough guess, Davis said, and it’s likely much higher.
For Davis, the quest to find scientific evidence of the malady is personal. It comes from a desire to help his son, who has suffered from ME/CFS for about a decade. In fact, it was a biological clue that Davis first spotted in his son that led him and Esfandyarpour to develop the new diagnostic tool.
We clearly see a difference in the way healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.
The approach, of which Esfandyarpour led the development, employs a “nanoelectronic assay,” which is a test that measures changes in miniscule amounts of energy as a proxy for the health of immune cells and blood plasma. The diagnostic technology contains thousands of electrodes that create an electrical current, as well as chambers to hold simplified blood samples composed of immune cells and plasma. Inside the chambers, the immune cells and plasma interfere with the current, changing its flow from one end to another. The change in electrical activity is directly correlated with the health of the sample.
The idea is to stress the samples from both healthy and ill patients using salt, and then compare how each sample affects the flow of the electrical current. Changes in the current indicate changes in the cell: the bigger the change in current, the bigger the change on a cellular level. A big change is not a good thing; it’s a sign that the cells and plasma are flailing under stress and incapable of processing it properly.
All of the blood samples from ME/CFS patients created a clear spike in the test, whereas those from healthy controls returned data that was on a relatively even keel.
“We don’t know exactly why the cells and plasma are acting this way, or even what they’re doing,” Davis said. “But there is scientific evidence that this disease is not a fabrication of a patient’s mind. We clearly see a difference in the way healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.” Now, Esfandyarpour and Davis are expanding their work to confirm the findings in a larger cohort of participants. Recruitment for the larger project, which aims to further confirm the success of the diagnostic test, is being done on a rolling basis. Those who are interested in participating should contact clinical research coordinator Anna Okumu.
Doubling up
In addition to diagnosing ME/CFS, the researchers are also harnessing the platform to screen for drug-based treatments, since currently the options are slim.
“Using the nanoelectronics assay, we can add controlled doses of many different potentially therapeutic drugs to the patient’s blood samples and run the diagnostic test again,” Esfandyarpour said.
If the blood samples taken from those with ME/CFS still respond poorly to stress and generate a spike in electrical current, then the drug likely didn’t work. If, however, a drug seems to mitigate the jump in electrical activity, that could mean it is helping the immune cells and plasma better process stress. So far, the team has already found a candidate drug that seems to restore healthy function to immune cells and plasma when tested in the assay. The drug, while successful in the assay, is not currently being used in people with ME/CFS, but Davis and Esfandyarpour are hopeful that they can test their finding in a clinical trial in the future.
All of the drugs being tested are either already approved by the Food and Drug Administration or will soon be broadly accessible to the public, which is key to fast access and dissemination should any of these compounds pan out.
Davis is a member of Stanford Bio-X, the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute.
Other Stanford authors of the study are research scientists Mohsen Nemat-Gorgani and Julie Wilhelmy and research assistant, Alex Kashi.
The study was funded by the Open Medicine Foundation. Davis is the director of the foundation’s scientific advisory board.
Stanford’s departments of Genetics and of Biochemistry also supported the work.
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About Stanford Medicine
Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu.
Coming soon a blood test to detect chronic fatigue syndrome
I confirm
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June 18
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a debilitating condition that raises more questions than it answers. The causes of this syndrome are poorly understood, the disease is difficult to diagnose, and at the moment there is no generally accepted effective method for its treatment.
However, scientists say they have taken an important step in developing a laboratory test to diagnose this convoluted and complex disorder, whose symptoms vary widely: exhaustion, chronic pain, confusion and more.
In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , scientists say they have created a blood test that can accurately diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome.
Not only does the test help determine the biological basis for this mysterious condition, but it may also prove useful in developing effective treatments.
Cellular stress
During the study, the scientists took blood samples from 40 people, half of whom suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome. The researchers say they were able to identify patients with the disease simply by observing how their blood cells behave under stress.
The study is based on so-called “nanoelectronic analysis”, an approach that measures the electrical response of a cell to a chemical stimulus.
As a result of chemical stress, the blood cells of people with chronic fatigue showed large jumps in electrical activity, while the blood cells of healthy people remained stable. These changes in electrical activity indicate the difficulty of coping with cellular stressors.
It is not yet known why the cells in people with chronic fatigue syndrome react this way to a stress test (in this case, a salt bath), but the results of the study bring scientists one step closer to understanding this painful condition, which only affects in the United States of America about two million people.
Unraveling the mystery
In recent years, several theories of chronic fatigue syndrome have emerged, ranging from overactive B cells to viral infections. There is no cure yet, but the researchers say the new test should help identify effective treatments by monitoring how blood cells respond to stress when given therapies. The next step is blood testing on a much larger population sample.
Source: The Discover Mag, 04/30/2019
IMPORTANT!
The information in this section should not be used for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. In case of pain or other exacerbation of the disease, only the attending physician should prescribe diagnostic tests. For diagnosis and proper treatment, you should contact your doctor.
For a correct assessment of the results of your analyzes over time, it is preferable to do studies in the same laboratory, since different laboratories may use different research methods and units of measurement to perform the same analyzes.
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Fatigue Test Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms, treatment online
Do you feel unrested even after sleeping, or do you have insomnia, headaches, depressed mood, apathy and irritability? Perhaps you have chronic fatigue syndrome, the symptoms of which are on the face.
Take the fatigue test online and free of charge and find out if you have a psychological disorder chronic fatigue syndrome – treatment is needed then – or if you are just tired and need to relax and unwind.
The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome can be different: from the herpes virus to emotional and mental burnout from work, lack of sleep and rest, neuropsychic exhaustion, poor nutrition, unhealthy lifestyle and lack of vitamins and antioxidants in the body, oxygen starvation of muscles and brain.
Also, the cause of chronic fatigue, as a neurotic reaction of the body, may be mental disorders, personality disorders, frequent emotional experiences.
In most cases, chronic fatigue syndrome occurs due to the disproportion of intellectual, mental, psychological activity and physical activity and movements.
Chronic fatigue symptom test
Answer the questions on the fatigue test truthfully and calmly reflect on the question.
After testing, you will understand – you have a vegetative, neurotic disorder – chronic fatigue syndrome that needs to be treated, or you are just very tired and you just need a good rest and restore vital energy.
Take the chronic fatigue test online and free
1. Do headaches happen without obvious causes?
Constantly
Sometimes
Rarely
No
2. Is there any virus (herpes, for example)?
Yes
No
Don’t know
3. Do you ever feel like you haven’t rested after a night’s sleep?
Constantly
Periodically
Rarely
No
4. Do you observe increased daytime sleepiness?
Constantly
Periodically
Rarely
No
5. Is there irritation without obvious motives?
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
No
6. Is it difficult to fall asleep in the evening?
Constantly
Often
Rarely
No
7. Depressed, bad mood for no particular reason?
Constantly
Periodically
Rarely
No
8. Do you often have any infectious diseases?
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
No
9.
Are there any allergic reactions?
Constantly
Sometimes
Rarely
No
Constantly
Sometimes
Rarely
No
11. Do you feel memory loss?
Yes, noticeable
A little, like
Maybe just a little, sometimes
No
12. Do you notice a decrease in concentration?
Constantly
Periodically
Rarely
No
13. Do you have inflammation in the throat (pharyngitis, inflammation of the tonsils, “tonsillitis”…)?
Yes
Something like there
Don’t know
No
Yes, noticeably
Seemingly yes
Seemingly no
No
15. Do you devote much time to work?
“25” hours a day
most of the time
Half a day
As expected, 8 hours
Less than required
When as, irregular time
16. Do you spend a lot of time on rest?
I constantly rest, even at work
most of the time
Whenever
little
I almost never rest – I never.
..
17. Do you get enough sleep at night?
As “doctor prescribed” – 7-8 hours
Less than seven hours
I sleep little
I sleep a lot, but I often wake up or have nightmares but not I get enough sleep
When I do, but I wake up well-rested and well-rested
18. Do you take a vacation for good rest during the working year?
I haven’t taken it for a long time
I go on vacation once a year
I go on vacation more than once a year
I take a vacation, but it takes place at the dacha at work
I take a vacation, but it doesn’t bring the feeling of a rested person
9 0002 Always take and I rest, gaining new strength and energy
19. Do you have good nutrition?
Yes, varied and balanced
Yes, normal
Often at fast food and dry food
When like
No
20. Are there any mental or personality disorders, neuroses?
Yes
It seems to be
I don’t know
It seems not to be
No
50 by 50
60 by 40
80 by 20
Only mental, very little mobility
Only physical, very little mental
22.
Do you have two days full weekend in a row?
Always
Occasionally
Rarely
Never
23. Do you often experience stress and mental stress?
Constantly
Occasionally
Sometimes
Rarely, almost never
24. Do you have hepatitis C?
Yes
Don’t know
No
25. Do you have intestinal disorders, dysbacteriosis?
Yes, always
Periodically
Rarely
No
26. Do you have problems with your immune system?
Some… (or one specific)
Immune deficiency
Don’t know
No
27. Are there any problems with hemoglobin values?
Yes, decreased
Don’t know
Increased
normal
28. Do you have an endocrine disease?
Yes
Don’t know
No
29. Do you have tumors?
Yes, benign
Yes, malignant
Don’t know
No
30. Do you have chronic depression?
Yes, yes
Yes, but not very protracted
Seemingly no
No
31.
Do you often go outdoors?
Constantly
Periodically
Little
Almost never
Permanent
Periodically
Rarely
Almost never, or only in clothes
I visit a solarium
33. What is your main way of life?
Sedentary, indoors
Sedentary
Move moderately
Outdoors, mobile
34. Do you lead a healthy lifestyle?
Yes, all the time
Sometimes
Rarely
No
35. Are you a vegetarian?
Yes, for a long time
Yes, recently
Sometimes, in order to improve health
No
36. Do you diet?
Constantly
Periodically
Rarely
No
37. In what locality do you live?
Megacity
Large industrial city
Big city
Small town
Township
Village
38. Do you often overeat?
Permanent
Periodically
Rarely
No
39.
Do you have psychosomatic, vegetative disorders?
Many
Have one (two)
Don’t know
No
40. Do you take any medications: antidepressants, sedatives, sleeping pills, psychotropics, alcohol, drugs…? No0003
41. How responsible is your job?
Extremely
Severe
Moderate
So-so
42. If you already felt chronic fatigue, did your symptoms disappear after normal rest?
Yes
A little
No
I did nothing (did not rest)
Treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome
The treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome should be approached in a complex manner, based on the main symptoms and the identified cause of CFS.
The best way to restore vitality and energy is professional psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
Treatment of chronic fatigue at home — if there are no other psycho-emotional disorders and viruses that are the main cause of the syndrome, self-treatment begins with a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition; the use of psycho-training (breathing exercises and auto-training), relaxation and muscle relaxation exercises, the use of methods of body-oriented psychotherapy, physical and psychological massage to remove the “muscle shell”.