What it’s like to have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness that makes you feel exhausted all the time

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• Living with CFS feels like being tired all the time — but it’s so much more than being tired.
• The illness is thought to affect at least 17 million people worldwide, and four times as many women as men.
• It’s normally triggered by viral infections like glandular fever, and can last a lifetime.
• It can come along with headaches and a foggy brain, making simple tasks difficult.
• While a 2011 trial suggested CFS can be helped with exercise or psychological therapy, a new analysis of the study found that there are actually no longer-term benefits of either.

After months of struggling both mentally and physically to do simple tasks, dealing with a constantly foggy brain and serious exhaustion that wouldn’t go away no matter how much I slept, a doctor told me I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

Having never heard of it, my response was skeptical, and somewhat annoyed — similar to when you’re told “it’s only a virus” after having a miserable cold for weeks on end.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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