Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ?
Q.What is the connection between depression and CFS, if any? How is CFS diagnosed? If other ailments must be eliminated, what are they? I've been treated for depression for years. Nothing much seems to help and I get tireder and tireder and sleepier and sleepier. I've had antidepressant meds changed/adjusted (e.g., adding Wellbutrin), but it really seems to make no difference.
A.When I first took my teenage daughter to a psychiatrist for depression, I asked whether there could be other physical ailments whose symptoms mimicked depression. She was tested for various things, including Lyme disease and mineral toxicity. Nothing showed up...other than a deficiency of B12. It has never even occurred to me to get such testing for MYSELF. That is so interesting, considering that my therapist has pointed out that I'm a nurturer, I have become invisible as a person, and I can't talk about myself.... Depression can be caused by chronic disease, but on the same hand there is a definate connection in that suppressed emotions bring on disease (thus, dis-ease). You need to find a doctor in your area that is willing to treat CFS. You can call the CFS Hotline (800) HELP-CFS, search the WWW, and/or go to the book store and get some books on the subject. The one I have is FROM FATIGUED TO FANTASTIC by Jacob Teitelbaum, MD. It turned out that I have Lyme Disease, but I know what you mean when you say that your MD does not believe in CFS. I was initially diagnosed with Myofascial Pain Syndrome (a disease related to CFS and Fibromyalgia) and was promptly given a referral to a phychiatrist even though I was already being treated for depression. Also you may press your MD to test you for Lyme Disease which has many overlapping symptoms to CFS, MPS, and FM. This is not a book about depression per se. It is, in many ways it seems to me, not even really about chronic fatigue syndrome. It is really something more about a woman who struggles to find meaning in her life after the sudden random senseless murder of her husband. She examines her loves throughout most of the book. These loves include her husband, other lovers before, during, and after his death, and of course her love affair with her bed, as her body sometimes suddenly becomes transformed into a "sack of sand". What I liked about this book was that it made me tired. As I read it I became her. I sunk into my bed, became physically attached to it. I had to finish the book in order to be released from it's spell. Just another metaphor for depression I guess.
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