The strong and potentially reciprocal relationship between cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and disrupted sleep-wake patterns suggests a possible shared physiologic pathway. A growing body of evidence supports this and shows that abnormalities in the 24-hour rhythm of stress-related hormones may be related to chronic fatigue and sleep disturbances. Aberrations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal ...

OBJECTIVE Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by profound, debilitating fatigue and a combination of several other symptoms resulting in substantial reduction in occupational, personal, social, and educational status. CFS is often misdiagnosed as depression. The objective of this study was to evaluate and discuss different etiologies, approaches, and management strategies of CFS and...

BACKGROUND Reports of mild hypocortisolism in chronic fatigue syndrome led us to postulate that low-dose hydrocortisone therapy may be an effective treatment. METHODS In a randomised crossover trial, we screened 218 patients with chronic fatigue. 32 patients met our strict criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome without co-morbid psychiatric disorder. The eligible patients received consecutive ...

To the Editor—[Q1]Previous studies have sought evidence for a role of abnormal cytokine activity in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and have had conflicting results [1–3]. These ambiguous results may reflect heterogeneity in groups of patients considered to have chronic fatigue syndrome and variations in assay systems. We established postinfective fatigue syndrome as the only well-charac...

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is usually characterized by upper respiratory complaints, headache, and mild fatigue. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an illness with defined criteria including extreme fatigue, sore throat, headache, and neurological symptoms. We investigated three apparent outbreaks of SBS and observed another more serious illness (or illnesses), characterized predominantly by s...