Do You Have CFS?

If I asked you to Google “CFS” all you would see pop in your search would be articles about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.   This is a very frustrating and often debilitating syndrome for those that experience this syndrome.  The major symptom is significant fatigue that will not go away.  When diagnostic tests are run for anemia, chemical imbalances, Lyme disease, other infections and other “identifiable” causes of fatigue, nothing specific shows up.  The cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is still unknown although some researchers believe a virus may be responsible.  Others feel the major reason is psychological stress on the neurotransmitter system.

I am going to steal the acronym “CFS” and bring this to a syndrome impacting many more people than Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  I am referring to an entity I am seeing in the majority of my patients:  Covid Fatigue Syndrome.  This “CFS” is not referring to people that have fatigue after experiencing Covid.  I am using the CFS to describe the “fatigue” we are all experiencing from:

• Not traveling in the ways we like
• Wearing masks all of the time 
• Constantly reading about the pandemic
• Seeing all the strife and division in our country about vaccine mandates, mask mandates, lockdowns etc.
• Believing we may have Covid everytime we sneeze or have a sniffle
• Worrying about our elderly, “at risk” family and friends

Lots more bullet points may be added to this list.  Feel free to add your “fatigue” aspects of the pandemic.

Concerning weight control:  When we experience “fatigue”, stress and other negative sensations, we are often compelled to offset the negative feelings by doing something that produces an immediate “feel good”.  Unfortunately, for many of us, including me, reaching for a high-caloric snack/food/drink is that “something” we reach for. 

This behavior, of course, will derail weight loss efforts.

Take a step back and see if any of your derailing eating/drinking acts are attributed to CFS (Covid Fatigue Syndrome, not Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).  If so, take the necessary steps to s improve the CFS.   Perhaps schedule some drive trips to get out of the house/area, stop reading/watching the very depressing news and convert this to exercise time while watching a movie/show and explore other methods of breaking the CFS.  By doing so, you will help your weight control efforts.