Expert: Candy - 8/26/2010

Question
Hi, I've had fatigue, muscle stiffness, and trouble falling asleep, staying
asleep, and going back to sleep for about 3 years.  My blood tests are all
normal and I'm currently being treated for depression (which I don't believe I
have).  I've been seeing a psychiatrist since the beginning of the year and
been taking venlafaxine for about 5 months but I've seen no improvements.  
Just last week, my physician told me I tested positive for Epstein-Barr virus as
a past infection.  Since then, he has diagnosed my condition as chronic
fatigue syndrome, but I'm still not convinced that enough testing has been
done to come to that final conclusion.  I plan to ask my psychiatrist if I can
get tested for sleep disorders (he did say that he'd consider looking at sleep
apnea if the depression treatment wasn't working), but I also think getting a
MRI scan would be extremely beneficial.  Would you recommend I get a MRI
scan?  If the scan looks normal, should I accept the diagnosis of CFS?

Answer
If you have CFIDS an MRI won't show anything.  Physicians make the initial diagnosis of CFIDS from the patients list of symptoms (there is a specific criteria to follow).  The most "efficient" way of confirming their diagnosis is to run the Epstein Barr Virus blood test.  97% of CFIDS sufferers will test positive for the EBV virus.  (It's kind of like people with AIDS will test positive for HIV but people who have the HIV virus don't always have or get AIDS....(kind of the old chicken and egg theory).  

Weird sleeping problems tend to plague those of us with CFIDS.  When we have bad days....days when we are so mentally and physically exhausted it is a major undertaking just to crawl out of bed and go lie down on the couch in the living room...we might find ourselves sleeping practically straight through for 1...2...even 3 days at a time.  That will come to a stop when our body thinks it is finally rested and we find ourselves have a good day (more than one in a row if we're lucky).  Of course by sleeping trough the day our body's sleep schedule gets completely out of whack and we might find that we can't go to sleep at night.  All it takes is a couple of sleepless nights that result in us having to sleep during the day to keep up with our body's requirement for sleep and if you have ever worked a graveyard shift ( or know someone who has) you know that it is next to impossible to get ourselves back on a regular sleep schedule.  It is then that sleep aids like Benadryl, Ambien, Ambien CR and Lunesta help us to fall asleep on schedule.  I have used Benadryl and Ambien.  The Ambien...if taken for a week to two weeks straight can make the body become dependant on them (can't sleep without them).  I don't know about Lunesta.

I hope this answers your question.  If you have any more please feel free to ask.  I wish you the best of luck.  And remember one very important thing.  You are not alone in this.  There are a lot of CFIDS sufferers out there.