CFS seems to affect mostly women. Usually these women are hard-working, achievement-oriented, and perfectionistic; and most have been through several years of chronic stress. They deserve the best treatment that the medical profession can give them.
CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines for diagnosing CFS are that the person must: 1) have secure chronic fatigue, which is not due to medical or psychiatric illness, which has lasted for at least 6 months; and 2) also have four or more of the following symptoms: substantial trouble with concentration or short-term memory; 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 discomfort for at least 24 hours after physical exertion (for example, hiking or cleaning house.
Other symptoms of CFS include: dizziness, clumsiness or problems with balance, bloating, nausea, confusion, and weight loss.
CFS tends to have a rapid onset, often times following a cold, flu, or other viral infection.
Unlike CFS, depression tends to creep up slowly on its victims.
Depressive symptoms that are similar to CFS symptoms are: change in weight, nonrestful sleep; sleeping more than usual, fatigue and low energy; and difficulty with thinking, concentration, and making decisions.
Unlike people with CFS, depressed people have lost almost all interest and pleasure in the things they used to enjoy. People with CFS still have the interest in doing things, even if their bodies don't have the energy. Depressed people often have insomnia, while those with CFS usually don't. People with depression often suffer from low self-esteem; unreasonable guilt; and feelings of hopeless and helplessness. These factors can lead to suicidal thoughts or even suicide attempts. People with CFS don't usually suffer from low self-esteem, guilt, hopelessness, and helplessness - unless depression has begun to set in.
See my June 2003 article, "Introduction: Identifying Depression" (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1403... for more detail.
It's not uncommon to see both depression and CFS in the same person. Sometimes the depression came first, though it probably did not cause the CFS. Often the person has CFS first, and then becomes depressed as a result of having a chronic illness.
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