Prognosis

Prognosis

The physical severity of chronic fatigue syndrome varies. Most commonly, patients with CFS report that they have trouble fulfilling both home and work responsibilities.

CFS sufferers typically work part-time. In extreme cases, patients are severely disabled and even bedridden. Such patients can do virtually nothing, including even light housework.

In a 2003 study, patients with either CFS or fibromyalgia were more likely to suffer losses of jobs, possessions, and support from friends and family than people suffering from other conditions that caused fatigue.

Mental Incapacity

Most patients say that while fatigue is the most incapacitating symptom, those of mental impairment, such as an inability to concentrate or memory loss, are the most distressing. The effects of CFS on mental functioning are complex, however. Some experts believe that the impaired mental functioning is due to depression, which is common in CFS patients.

Some studies indicate that although general intelligence is not impaired, CFS patients test lower in certain mental functions, particularly speed and efficiency in processing complex information, and that 40 - 60% suffer memory impairments. In such studies, this impaired mental function occurs regardless of the presence or absence of depression or other psychiatric disorders. A comparison study of patients with depression, CFS, and multiple sclerosis helped support a physical basis for CFS by finding that problems in mental functioning were consistent among MS and CFS patients, no matter how depressed they were. Problems in mental functioning among depressed patients varied, however, depending on the severity of the depression.

One study found that the mental impairment in CFS patients parallels the degree of their physical impairment, indicating that the disease process itself may exert a neurologic effect. A 2005 study found that people with CFS have to work harder to process information they hear, and they use more extensive regions of the brain, than people without the disease.