I recently did an online continuing medical education activity on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). This is a diagnosis which I never see in my patient population, so I found it interesting to learn about.
According to the presentation, CFS is severe fatigue that persists for at least six months and results in a significant decrease in activity. The fatigue occurs in combination with at least 4 of the following symptoms on a regular basis: joint pain, impaired memory and/or concentration, enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, unrefreshing sleep, sore throat, muscle pains, and headaches. CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that other causes of symptoms need to be ruled out, such as an underactive thyroid gland, before a diagnosis can be made.
As soon as I read this info, the first thought that went through my mind was how similar the CFS symptoms seemed to how I would feel if I had to go back to eating gluten again. Joint pains, “brain fog,” fatigue, and enlarged lymph nodes were all chronic problems which I experienced in the months before my Celiac diagnosis.
The educational activity included 3 case reports of real patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. The third report described a 52 year old woman with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She was previously healthy, but developed fatigue and chronic pain following a trip to Asia. She did have a past medical history of depression, high blood pressure, and environmental allergies. Her physical exam was normal outside of having some fibromyalgia trigger points (these are areas of the body which are tender when palpated). The patient had low Vitamin D levels, but her thyroid function, iron levels, and autoimmune screening tests were normal. She was started on Vitamin D supplements and began psychological therapy, with minimal improvement in her chronic fatigue symptoms. Since her Vitamin D levels remained low, despite supplementation, she was tested for Celiac Disease. She did have Celiac Disease, and she had an almost total resolution of her symptoms of CFS within 6 weeks of going gluten free.
The bottom line is that you or a loved one have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, please make sure that Celiac Disease has been excluded. I tried to search the medical literature for information linking CFS with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, but in usual fashion, there has been no research looking for a link between the two problems.