Question:
Ive suffered since childhood, allergies, postnasal drip, constant throat
clearing and constant stuffed up nose. Ive realized that most of my life has
been spent being exhausted, even though I never had trouble sleeping.
Does anyone suffer from Chronic fatigue along with these other symptoms?
Is there any connection found between the two problems?
Answer:
For the past 1.5 yrs the fatigue and utter exhaustion has been one of the most distressing
symptoms of this sinusitis/allergy disease.
There are many others also who complain of this fatigue and I have read
a physician state that the fatigue that sinusitis patients experience
is one of the most distressing yet least acknowledged symptoms of it.
Even this websites FAQ says that it is often misdiagnosed as
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. My own doctor told me with Chronic Fatigue Symptoms and I argued his
diagnosis based on the criteria that was established by the Center
for Disease Control :
1.Have severe chronic fatigue of six months or longer duration with
other known medical conditions excluded by clinical diagnosis
{allergies and sinusitis BOTH cause fatigue}, and
2.Concurrently have four or more of the following symptoms: substantial
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, and
post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours.
Now whats interesting is that some of the other symptoms can also
be a result of sinusitis.
For example, many of us have difficulty sleeping well because of it.
Therefore, unrefreshed sleep would occur.
Any disease or disorder which a patient finds distracting can also
cause difficulty concentrating.
Some doctors who are not very educated on Chronic Fatigue Symptoms will order a blood test
for Ebstein Barr virus titers. BE CAREFUL: Something like 90% of the
entire population has been exposed to this virus and thus come up as
positive. Its therefore worthless as this virus was once thought to
be the cause of CFS but later on it was shown that it is NOT related
to it.
If you ask different doctors about the fatgiue connection to sinusitis
and allergies, you seem to get different answers. Truth is, it seems,
that they just dont know and are full of theories.
When someone has an active sinus infection, its safe to assume that
the bodies fighting of this infection would cause fatigue.
When one is NOT infected but has chronic
sinusitis, then its possible that the body fighting what it thinks
is a threat on a constant basis is more likely the culprit.
Things I found that help are:
1) Getting rest
2) Avoid stress which exacerbates the fatigue
3) A co-enzyme supplement called Enada NADH -They did a study on this supplement
and found that in people with Chronic Fatigue Symptoms it showed an really good results. Its not even that expensive
and you take 2 a day...worth a try anyway.
4) Exercise
