Anyone can have ME/Cfs. However, while most commonly found in elderly individuals aged between 40 and 60, the condition affects younger adults, children, teenagers, and even adults of all ages. Among elderly individuals, women are more frequently affected than men. White individuals are also diagnosed more frequently than other races and ethnicity.
ME is not a disease that last a long time, and can either be short lived or fatal. It can affect people in their forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, and even in their eighties. For some individuals it may be a short lived illness that flares up at times and goes away after a while. For others, it may take a very long time for any noticeable improvement to be noticed. For some, it is so severe that they must take very strong medications for it, and in many cases, multiple drugs for months or even years.
Many of those who are diagnosed with ME have had symptoms and signs of the illness for many years and are still suffering from them today. If someone in your family has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, you should make sure to get a physical and health check up as soon as possible, to find out if the symptoms you are experiencing are indeed caused by ME. Also, keep in mind that if the symptoms seem similar to those of ME, they probably are.
The most common symptoms of ME include persistent muscle pain or weakness, shortness of breath, increased tiredness, loss of appetite, muscle weakness or fatigue, headaches, irritability, depression, emotional upsets, memory problems, flu-like symptoms, feelings of hopelessness or unreasonable fear, numbness or tingling in the hands and feet, inability to concentrate, body aches or pain, feelings of extreme fatigue, and muscle weakness. Those who get sick with ME are also likely to experience frequent infections, as well as fevers, dizziness and sweating. Those who are more severely ill with ME often have difficulty breathing, which can lead to shortness of breath and eventually to death. Someone who is sick with ME may be prone to depression or have trouble functioning normally. Most significantly, people with ME can become depressed, which can prevent them from getting better or help them from getting better when they do get better.
If you have any of the symptoms of ME listed above, you need to discuss them with your doctor. In fact, it would be a good idea to discuss these symptoms with your physician even if you don’t think you have ME. He is an auto-immune disorder, and it has been linked to an array of illnesses including Fibromyalgia (FMS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). There are several theories as to why this happens, but there isn’t one specific cause. There are several different body systems that are affected by ME, but they can generally be grouped into three major categories.
When it comes to the way someone might deal with the symptoms of ME, those dealing with ME will often find themselves having problems with their emotions, mental health and relationships. People who have ME tend to be depressed and feel hopeless, and often have low self-esteem and problems with identifying and connecting with other people. Those with ME might also suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, which is characterized by symptoms such as severe muscle pain, headaches, fever, night sweats and malaise, depression, irritability, and memory loss.