CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
From the book, "A More Excellent Way," by Pastor Henry Wright.

What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also known as CFS or CFIDS)? It mostly strikes young caucasian women. Those under the age of 45 account for 80% of all cases diagnosed in America today. But all segments of the population are susceptible, including young children and the elderly.

In 1869, a physician described undue fatigue which he termed neurasthenia. This was the first time it had been described in medical literature. This is interesting, since medical history goes back many more centuries. Could it be that the increasing changes in the environment from the beginning of the industrial revolution had something to do with this "new disease"?

The search for causes of this problem has been going on for more than 100 years. The major emphasis lately is a search for an elusive agent as the cause. In 1985, the Center for Disease Control formulated a set of criteria for the diagnosis of what it called chronic fatigue syndrome. These criteria have done little to reveal the true cause of the illness and has served only as a diagnostic label to test various drugs to treat the symptoms.

It appears that “chronic fatigue” will be the dominant health disorder of the next century. Twenty-five percent (25%) of all patients come to their physicians with a complaint of “chronic fatigue.”

People with CFS complain of flulike symptoms that never seem to go away. CFS is not a contagious disease. The onset is usually sudden and totally debilitating. The exhaustion feeling is not caused by overexertion and does not ease with rest or medications. As it progresses it worsens in intensity. CFS is not typically fatal, but can cause other health problems. The symptoms linger and often become disabling before improving.

I've previously put information about spiritual and emotional roots to diseases in this newsletter from the book, "A More Excellent Way," by Pastor Henry Wright. This particular health problem certainly deserves some spiritual insight. The rest of this article is content from this book:

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), almost without exception, and this has been verified by the CFS National Organization, involves a diagnosis of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Hypoglycemia has an autoimmune component. This indicates that it would have a similar spiritual root to other autoimmune diseases.

Whenever we minister to someone with an autoimmune disease, we find without exception, degrees of lack of self-esteem and/or guilt. A person has conflict with himself over his identity, drivenness, performance, conflict and guilt that, at some level, causes an autoimmune disease.

CFIDS (or CFS) is an anxiety disorder coupled with an autoimmune override, which triggers hypoglycemia. With hypoglycemia you have a neurological triggering in the bloodstream that keeps the manufactured glucose from getting to the brain. Glucose provides the energy for the firing of the brain cells, which creates in you the ability to process thought; it makes your brain work.

There is evidence of people that have been diagnosed with CFS who do not have hypoglycemia. It is my position in ministry that if fatigue and exhaustion show up in a person without the corresponding diagnosis of hypoglycemia, then the person does not have CFS but is in the third and final stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome. [We do not agree with all the content at this site and would advise that you use wisdom and listen closely to the Holy Spirit as you view the content.]

Chronic fatigue is the first part of the name of the disease. The symptoms are exhaustion, lethargy, lack of motivation, and lack of energy flow. The word "syndrome" basically means they don't know what causes it. When you hear the word incurable, or unknown, or syndrome, you usually have a spiritually rooted disease.

We minister against hypoglycemia first because the hypoglycemia comes to hide the real problem. It's like the real root problem for CFS is here, and as the profile of the syndrome develops, then hypoglycemia comes and gets a foothold.

There are such a myriad of physiological problems that the real enemy is hidden. We've learned this slowly and surely in ministry. The first thing that we do in ministering to CFS these days is to get rid of the impostor hiding the real root problem. Behind the hypoglycemia is the real problem.

CFS is an anxiety disorder coupled with hypoglycemia override (which would be the autoimmune rider) clouding a very major fear/anxiety disorder and is the result of drivenness to meet the expectation of a parent in order to receive love and acceptance. The love is usually sought from a mother, but not always.

In most cases the man or woman who comes down with CFS is not doing in life what they wanted to do but is trying instead to meet the expectations of a parent. Many times you will find behind the scenes a parent who is very controlling regarding what the child is going to be in life. I consider CFS to be a performance disorder. After they have achieved what they were supposed to achieve to meet the expectations of others, they crash. As they crash, the guilt, the self-hatred comes, the autoimmune components set in, and then we have hypoglycemia which clouds the whole issue.

The only way that I can tell you that our etiology and our diagnosis of the spiritual roots are correct is because so many people are now well! We've unraveled this mystery by getting involved with people at their spiritual and emotional levels, helping them come to grips with their innermost thoughts and fears.

This information is from the book, "A More Excellent Way," by Pastor Henry Wright.