If you are tired, so tired and add the "sick all over" complaint to the laundry list of your health problems, it's likely you've been from doctor to doctor with no real help and probably one or more of those doctors has suggested, "It's all in your head."
It may be in your head, but it's probably also in your reproductive tract, your digestive tract, your joints and muscles, and just about everywhere in your body.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism, disorders that have received a great deal of attention in recent years, are each typified by a huge list of symptoms for which there are few real remedies.
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| Yeast Overgrowth Symptoms |
And while they are three different diseases, they are often spoken in the same breath and may be connected. I'm lumping them together in this blog because they are so similar; however, I'll talk about each of them separately for clarity.
I suggest to you that some cases of chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) may be connected to yeast overgrowth for the simple reason that a significant number of patients find relief when they follow the anti-yeast diet, probiotics and antifungal medication regimen.
I developed an interest in food-related chronic fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, irritability and other symptoms when I was still in pediatric practice more than 10 years ago.
At that time, an alert mother convinced me (against my will) that her 12-year-old son, Tom's, fatigue, weakness, inability to get out of bed in the morning and other symptoms vanished when he stopped drinking milk.
A short time later, I read several articles in the medical literature that described food-related fatigue and other symptoms. After reading these articles, I put a number of my patients on five- to 10-day elimination diets, followed by challenge (re-introducing certain foods one at a time to the diet to determine if they sparked the symptoms anew).
Although I didn't help all of these tired, irritable, unhappy patients, I was excited when I received reports from mothers who said, "Susie's like a different child. But when I give her chocolate milk, corn chips, wheat or eggs, her symptoms return"
During the 1970s, I began to see more adult patients, especially women, who complained of fatigue and other symptoms that made them feel "sick all over." Some of these patients were helped by focusing on allergy treatment, changing their diets and cleaning up the pollutants in their homes. Yet, many remained ill.
Then in the late 1970s and on through the 1980s, I found that many of my patients with chronic fatigue and other symptoms improved, often dramatically, when they changed their diets and took nystatin or Nizoral.
During the mid-1980s, a small but growing number of physicians found that a special diet and nystatin, Nizoral or Diflucan, helped many of their patients, including some with chronic fatigue syndrome.
CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME - AN ENIGMA
Sometimes this mishmash of symptoms is called CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), while others call it CFIDS (chrome fatigue and immune dysfunction). The two terms are interchangeable.
The Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America says 800,000 Americans have the disease, but no more than 16% have been diagnosed. "The myth that CFIDS is the 'yuppie flu' and is most prevalent in young, well-to-do professional, white females has not been supported by research. Recent community studies show that, in reality, persons of color and lower income are at greater risk for CFS."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines CFIDS as "unexplained fatigue of greater than or equal to six months' duration."
Symptoms
For an affirmative diagnosis of CFIDS, the CDC says four or more of the following symptoms must occur at the same time:
- debilitating fatigue
- post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours
- 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
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| Yeast Overgrowth Symptoms |
Treatment
There are no diagnostic tests for CFIDS, and no cure has been found, although there are a number of treatments outside the yeast treatments that may or may not help, including:
- medications for the digestive problems and nausea that often accompany CFIDS
- medications for depression and anxiety
- counseling to help develop coping skills necessary to live with a debilitating chronic disease
- gentle exercise
- changes in diet
- sleep and rest management