What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, Chronic Fatigue and Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome, CFIDS) refers to severe, continued tiredness that is not relieved by rest and is not the direct result other medical conditions. It often presents as a hypothalamic, pituitary, and/or immune dysfunction.

How is CFS treated?

In most CFS patients, the pituitary dysfunction, thyroid resistance, and high reverse T3 produce hypothyroidism. When this occurs, supplementation with T4 alone is often unable to produce a favorable outcome. T3 or a combination of T3 and T4 are a preferred alternative. Unfortunately, the retail medication Cytomel, a short acting T3, and is very difficult to use, due to its tendency to spike blood levels and cause undesired adverse reactions, such as arrhythmias, MI, angina, hyper or hypo tension, and even heart failure. At AgeVital, we can compound sustained-release T3 that your practitioner can use to avoid spiking blood levels and help you to reach your goals for effective CFS or FM therapy.

While hypothyroidism is often manifested in CFS, it is not the only condition. Other treatments aside from thyroid hormone supplementation can be beneficial. Various nutritional supplements, proteins, amino acids, and hormones can complement and strengthen the immune system. Since the immune system is often degraded by free radical damage, antioxidants, such as ascorbic acid, may also prove advantageous. Low thyroid or adrenals gland can also inhibit the absorption of vitamin B-12. Since low B-12 has been associated with fatigue and depression, supplementation could be beneficial. Also, D-ribose supplementation has been known to reduce symptoms, with improvements in energy and well-being of over 30% on a visual analogue scale. Supplementation with NADH for one month has resulted in significant improvements in CFS, and magnesium has also produced some measurable improvements. Since most CFS patients tend to respond poorly to placebo treatments, favorable, measurable results in regard to supplementation is often interpreted as confirmation of successful treatment.