What is fatigue ?. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is one of the most widespread, and yet misunderstood, chronic health disorders of our modern culture. Although it has been suggested that the origins of CFS may date back to the early Victorian period, CFS was not formally recognized in the U.S. until the late 1980’s. Often mistakenly accused of suffering from a less-than-serious "psycho-somatic" illness, individuals with CFS have long been frustrated with the conventional medical approach and attitude toward their treatment.
What we more formally understand today to be CFS is generally defined as a period of debilitating fatigue, lasting six months or more, accompanied by a consortium of symptoms with their roots in both the physical and the psychic realms. Whilst muscle weakness, depression, head-aches, joint pain, anxiety, insomnia or hypersomnia, fever, and signs of lymphatic congestion are often amongst the key secondary indicators of CFS, many other symptoms or sustaining imbalances may also be present. It is this collection of diverse and seemingly unrelated symptoms that can obscure any clear sense of what the practitioner’s most influential course of therapeutic action should be. Successful treatment tends to be individualized as a result.
Clearly, some known disorders are associated with CFS. Yet, once again, a clear causative relationship with any particular condition remains elusive and frustrating for the clinician and patient alike. Viral factors, metabolic and endocrine disorders, immune deficiency, circulatory insufficiency, and GI microflora imbalances are helpful to consider with any case of CFS.
Herbal medicine certainly has a lot to offer in the treatment of CFS. As a non-specific disorder, sufferers of CFS can benefit from the use of herbal tonics. In fact, this will often be the herbalist’s chief corrective path where clear solutions are otherwise nowhere to be seen.
One interesting practice by Eclectic physicians during the early 1900’s was to give patients with chronic fatigue a compound consisting of 2 parts Hawthorn Extract (Crataegus spp.) to 1 part Cactus Extract (Selenicereus grandiflorus) for about 30 days. This was done primarily to rule out circulatory insufficiency and cardiovascular-related fatigue.
This practice of giving circulatory tonics is certainly a simpler and far less invasive approach to fatigue than attempting to modify complex endocrine function or any of the other factors mentioned above, for that matter. It is also interesting that, according to at least one report, 100% of CFS patients exhibit abnormal ECG readings. This is particularly relevant as it has been suggested that Cactus influences cardiovascular function specifically via its tonifying effect upon the autonomic nervous system, the branch of the peripheral nervous system that modulates a number of key cardiac processes.
It’s also worth remembering that stress is a potential contributor to a number of the primary symptoms of CFS. Sensitivity to viral infection, disruption of feedback pathways along the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, disturbed immunity, depression, and anxiety may all have stress as a dominant underlying factor. As such, nervous system tonics may well prove to be beneficial for a good number of people with CFS. Unfortunately, our culture tends to turn easily to strong stimulants to counter fatigue, forgetting the ferryman gets paid when the stimulant wears off. With fatigue, it helps to remove the strong stimulants, eat a healthy diet, get moderate, low-impact exercise, and take nourishing nervous system tonics (see table below).
Adaptogens, immune system tonics, and circulatory tonics should also be used where appropriate. Antiviral herbs like Thuja, Lomatium, and St. John’s Wort might be valuable if Epstein-Bar Virus (EBV) or Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) are an issue at all.
Finally, antioxidants and essential fatty acids (EFAs) can also be helpful, particularly to reduce the inflammation that can be associated with CFS.
Footnote:http://www.herbaled.org/Education/Articles/cfs.html
What we more formally understand today to be CFS is generally defined as a period of debilitating fatigue, lasting six months or more, accompanied by a consortium of symptoms with their roots in both the physical and the psychic realms. Whilst muscle weakness, depression, head-aches, joint pain, anxiety, insomnia or hypersomnia, fever, and signs of lymphatic congestion are often amongst the key secondary indicators of CFS, many other symptoms or sustaining imbalances may also be present. It is this collection of diverse and seemingly unrelated symptoms that can obscure any clear sense of what the practitioner’s most influential course of therapeutic action should be. Successful treatment tends to be individualized as a result.
Clearly, some known disorders are associated with CFS. Yet, once again, a clear causative relationship with any particular condition remains elusive and frustrating for the clinician and patient alike. Viral factors, metabolic and endocrine disorders, immune deficiency, circulatory insufficiency, and GI microflora imbalances are helpful to consider with any case of CFS.
Herbal medicine certainly has a lot to offer in the treatment of CFS. As a non-specific disorder, sufferers of CFS can benefit from the use of herbal tonics. In fact, this will often be the herbalist’s chief corrective path where clear solutions are otherwise nowhere to be seen.
One interesting practice by Eclectic physicians during the early 1900’s was to give patients with chronic fatigue a compound consisting of 2 parts Hawthorn Extract (Crataegus spp.) to 1 part Cactus Extract (Selenicereus grandiflorus) for about 30 days. This was done primarily to rule out circulatory insufficiency and cardiovascular-related fatigue.
This practice of giving circulatory tonics is certainly a simpler and far less invasive approach to fatigue than attempting to modify complex endocrine function or any of the other factors mentioned above, for that matter. It is also interesting that, according to at least one report, 100% of CFS patients exhibit abnormal ECG readings. This is particularly relevant as it has been suggested that Cactus influences cardiovascular function specifically via its tonifying effect upon the autonomic nervous system, the branch of the peripheral nervous system that modulates a number of key cardiac processes.
It’s also worth remembering that stress is a potential contributor to a number of the primary symptoms of CFS. Sensitivity to viral infection, disruption of feedback pathways along the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, disturbed immunity, depression, and anxiety may all have stress as a dominant underlying factor. As such, nervous system tonics may well prove to be beneficial for a good number of people with CFS. Unfortunately, our culture tends to turn easily to strong stimulants to counter fatigue, forgetting the ferryman gets paid when the stimulant wears off. With fatigue, it helps to remove the strong stimulants, eat a healthy diet, get moderate, low-impact exercise, and take nourishing nervous system tonics (see table below).
Adaptogens, immune system tonics, and circulatory tonics should also be used where appropriate. Antiviral herbs like Thuja, Lomatium, and St. John’s Wort might be valuable if Epstein-Bar Virus (EBV) or Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) are an issue at all.
Finally, antioxidants and essential fatty acids (EFAs) can also be helpful, particularly to reduce the inflammation that can be associated with CFS.
Footnote:http://www.herbaled.org/Education/Articles/cfs.html
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Great post.Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
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