The Institute of Medicine, an influential non-profit organization, has issued a new report that suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome is an actual disease that badly damages the lives of patients. The report has a new name for it: systemic exertion intolerance disease.
The group also said that it not only leaves the patients bed-bound, but also affects their thinking ability. The group stated that the disease may affect up to 2.5 million Americans, and it set five main symptoms as the criteria. They urged doctors for serious treatment and speedy diagnosis of the same.
Dr. Jose Montoya, an infectious disease specialist, said “The Institute of Medicine was able to come out and say this is real, it’s chronic and it devastates many lives.”
Those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome undergo a lot of real trouble because the medical establishment did not acknowledge it as a disease in the first place. The report added that the long-standing doubts regarding the validity of the disease have also affected the research and made life more difficult for thousands of patients.
The most pronounced sign of the disease is persistent and profound fatigue. A person who suffers from it may get extremely tired with a simple activity like grocery shopping, if it is a particularly bad day. There might be additional issues like memory problems or other symptoms.
The Institute of Medicine is a part of the National Academies. The group was commissioned to prepare the report by federal agencies like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. The institute prepared the report with the help of a panel of 15 scientists and physicians, some of whom have experience about treating chronic fatigue patients.
