Kundalini Yoga Meditation by David Shannahoff-Khalsa

Author:David Shannahoff-Khalsa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2006-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

SIX

Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A year 2000 State-of-the-Science Conference Report on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), published by the National Institutes of Health (Cassell, Demitrack, Engel, Mayberg, McCully, et al., 2000), opened with a 1994 statement to define the status and conundrum facing the CFS research and patient communities: “The CFS is a clinically defined condition characterized by severe disabling fatigue and a combination of symptoms that prominently features self-reported impairments in concentration and short-term memory, sleep disturbances, and musculoskeletal pain. Diagnosis of the CFS can be made only after alternative medical and psychiatric causes of chronic fatiguing illness have been excluded. No pathognomic signs or diagnostic tests for this condition have been validated in scientific studies; moreover, no definitive treatments exist.” Recent longitudinal studies suggest that some persons affected by the CFS improve with time but that most remain functionally impaired for several years (Fukuda, Straus, Hickie, Sharpe, Dobbins, et al., 1994). The NIH report added, “A key addition to the quote from the 1994 CFS definition is that the duration of symptoms is not limited to ‘several years,’ but for most patients remains a lifelong issue” (Cassell et al., 2000).

The NIH report further summarized efforts: “The U.S. and other countries have pursued several possible etiologies and markers for CFS. No pathogen nor consistent primary immunologic abnormality has emerged. A variety of treatments have been tried, with many studies involving small case series or anecdotal reports. Cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral stress management, graded exercise, and antidepressant medications have benefited some patients, but their overall efficacies remain to be established. Of the true clinical trials that have been undertaken, benefits have typically been limited to subsets of patients” (Cassell et al., 2000).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in 2005: “In order to receive a diagnosis of CFS, a patient must satisfy two criteria: (1) Have severe chronic fatigue of 6 months or longer duration with other known medical conditions excluded by clinical diagnosis, and (2) concurrently have four or more of the following symptoms: substantial impairment in short-term memory or concentration, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, muscle pain, multi-joint pain without swelling or redness, headaches of a new type, pattern or severity, unrefreshing sleep, and post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours. And the symptoms must have persisted or recurred during 6 or more consecutive months of illness and must not have predated the fatigue” (Wagner, Nisenbaum, Heim, Jones, Unger, et al., 2005). The CDC further added, “A variety of therapeutic approaches have been described as benefiting patients with CFS. Since no cause for CFS has been identified and the pathophysiology remains unknown, treatment programs are directed at relief of symptoms, with the goal of the patient regaining some level of pre-existing function and well-being. Although desirable, a rapid return to pre-illness health may not be realistic, and patients who expect this prompt recovery and do not experience it may exacerbate their symptoms because of overexertion, become frustrated, and may become more refractory to rehabilitation” (Wagner et al., 2005).

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