The mystery of chronic fatigue syndrome
For more than 100 years, medical literature has contained reports of a debilitating illness that causes prolonged fatigue, memory loss, headaches, cognitive problems and issues with digestion and sleep. Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir and Thomas Eakins all suffered from what was then known as neurasthenia.
At that time, the recommended treatment for women was bed rest; men were advised to head to the Wild West. But neither treatment could be counted on to cure the disease.
Toward the end of the 20th century, doctors came up with the term chronic fatigue syndrome (or, in Europe, myalgic encephalomyelitis) to describe the set of symptoms that used to be called neurasthenia.… Seguir leyendo »