Cfs Or Depression?

[Cloverjo]

My son has been suffering with tiredness for a couple of years now. I know it sounds like nothing, but it has lead to him dropping out of uni and not working. His GP originally thought he was depressed, so gave him anti depressants. These didn't work and nor did a second type. He has had loads of blood tests, seen a hormone specialist and has now been told it's probably Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
He can seem perfectly ok, and people wonder why he's not working and think he's just being lazy, but suddenly he feels exhausted and has to lie down. He is adamant that he cannot work.
Does this sound like CFS? If so, is there any hope of it passing? I am beginning to despair of him ever getting a normal life back.

[jno]

if treatment for depression didn't work then either the treatment is wrong or the illness is wrong. So yes, it might be

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx

[China Doll]

CFS often goes hand in hand with depression.

[Old_Geezer]

Not that I'd know, but according to Wikipedia, many people do not fully recover from CFS. May be worth you having a read, keeping in mind the diagnosis doesn't seem confirmed at the moment.

[China Doll]

You may not fully recover but you can learn to cope and manage it - there's lots of strategies that can be put in place. Plus, you would need to engage with some pysch services as well most likely; as I said, depression and CFS are not mutually exclusive.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, everyone. He is getting some help with managing it, but he and I are still hoping for some kind of miracle cure that sadly seems unlikely.
I have read that some depression does not respond to treatment, so still hoping.

[Hypognosis]

There's a long list of diseases for which "CFS" is just an umbrella term.

For an exact diagnosis, try and persuade the GP to refer him to the specialist doctors at the Lousie Coote centre in London. Unfortunately it's the only such centre in the entire UK (that I'm aware of) and the travelling expenses are a pain if you haven't got a job. You have to visit annually to review/renew the prescription medicines which your local GP just isn't authorised to dispense.
(You can't prescribe a treatment if you're not specialised enough to diagnose the specific variety of CFS in question)

In my case, I caught chicken pox in my twenties, then came the fatigue and the depression came as a response to struggling to get through the working day and not having enough energy to have 'a life' outside of work.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, hypognosis.
I'll look into that.

[lcg]

my health trust has a cfs specialist/outpatient department. you should chase to see if yours has and it is likely to be in the mental health trust provider. good luck :-)

[Hypognosis]

@lcg

mental health trust provider? That's an interesting new development!

Actually, I think there is a wide range of medical opinion on CFS and it's more or less pot luck whether your GP believes it is an auto-immune condition (ie the body attacking itself) or whether it is some variety of psycho-somatic illness.
My own GP was very resistant to the idea of a referral. I had to ask either twice or three times, over a period of up to six months, before I got to see the specialist. Presumably this means the medicine is expensive.