Some questions to get answered?

[AbbyM]

Hey I'm 17 and had this severe virus from the start of October but never found out exactly what it was (apparently there wasn't enough evidence? Even though I was unbearably ill). During the whole illness I'd been tired but ive still been exhausted all the time even when I get so much sleep. And also have postural hypotension sometimes. The doctor told me I had Post Viral fatigue and that it would go away after a month yet that was at the end of October and I'm still feeling absolutely exhausted. And also I do find it hard a lot of times (emotionally) and seem to cry a lot and feel down.
I was just wondering what the difference between PVF and PVFS is (or if it's the same thing?) and how that compares to CFS?

[AbbyM]

Another thing is that I also feel very weak and tend to get chest pains (thought that could have been from having an ASD when I was younger though)

[rm1]

i think the difference is one of duration if you have had it longer than 6 months it's cfs prior to that its pvf. So some good news for you you don't have cfs yet. Those first few months can be the hardest owing to uncertainty and shock at being ill. I would proceed with all the cfs coping strategies namely pacing and good diet that way your recovery will be more rapid.

[hopeful1]

I think PVf is upto 6 weeks, then onwards till 6 months, it's PVFS ( syndrome ? as immunity starts acting up we get whole hosts of new symptoms ) and because we become immune deficient after 6 mo, it's called cfids (chronic fatigue immune defieciency syndrome) / CFS. Our body is extremely weak and it's giving us signals to slow down / rest, so it can repair. Good diet is very important too. i think recovery follows the same pattern, ie climbing up the ladder to 100 in the ability scale. We have to be careful to prevent relapse, as, then we have to start again from below and work our way up. Dr sarah Myhill's website helped me a lot to understand this illness. Just google cfs and Dr sarah Myhill.

[S!mon20]

I think that's right yeah.
I think it was my cardiologist who diagnosed me with it and explained it's post viral fatigue up until six months and passed, and then it's classed as chronic fatigue.

As for your symptoms, when I was first ill I was unbelivably tired all the time but that's now passed. But for the 15 months I've had CFS so far, I've always had chest pains that can be quite bad on some days and not on others - but at first was one of the most worrying symptoms because you immediately think heart problems - but it was all down to viral pericarditis I had back in Nov 2010, which started all this

Si

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