Clues to a better understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome emerge from a major study ( www.kpbs.org )
Long before the world had heard of long COVID, Sanna Stella experienced firsthand how a simple respiratory infection can shape-shift into a chronic illness.
In 2014, a case of bronchitis left Stella, a therapist who lives in the Chicago area, with debilitating fatigue.
Within a month, she was barely able to walk from the couch to her kitchen table. Eventually, Stella learned she had chronic fatigue syndrome, now called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or simply ME/CFS.
Patients can suffer from a range of symptoms, including profound exhaustion, brain fog and post-exertional malaise, an escalation in symptoms following exertion. There is no FDA-approved treatment for the illness, which affects more than 4 million people in the U.S.
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