If you have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), there may be times when your symptoms improve and you'll be able to do many normal, everyday activities.
However, at other times your symptoms may flare up and get worse, affecting your daily life.
And people with severe and very severe CFS will normally find carrying out everyday activities too challenging.
Fatigue
The main symptom of CFS is severe fatigue (exhaustion) following mental or physical activity. This does not go away with sleep or rest, and limits your usual activities.
Fatigue is mental as well as physical. Some people describe it as overwhelming. You may feel that:
- It is a different type of tiredness from what you have experienced before.
- After sleeping you do not feel refreshed.
- It is not due to exhaustion.
- It is not simply a loss of motivation, which people with depression often experience.
Exercising can make symptoms worse. This is called post-exertional malaise, or "payback". The effect of this is sometimes delayed. For example, if you were to play a game of sport, the resulting fatigue may not develop for a few hours afterwards, or even the next day.
Other symptoms
There are other common symptoms as well as fatigue, although most people do not have all of them. They include:
- muscular pain, joint pain and severe headaches
- poor short-term memory and concentration, and difficulty organising your thoughts and finding the right words ("brain fog")
- painful lymph nodes (small glands of the immune system)
- stomach pain and other problems similar to irritable bowel syndrome, such as bloating, constipation, diarrhoea and nausea
- sore throat
- sleeping problems, such as insomnia and feeling that sleep is not refreshing
- sensitivity or intolerance to light, loud noise, alcohol and certain foods
- psychological difficulties, such as depression, irritability and panic attacks
- less common symptoms, such as dizziness, excess sweating, balance problems and difficulty controlling body temperature
