Why Have I Got Chronic Fatigue (And Others Don’t)?
When you have chronic fatigue, it’s natural to feel jealous of your healthy friends. The level of symptom severity even varies among people with the syndrome, with the most serious cases being house-bound. But why do some people develop chronic fatigue and others, even with the same exposures, don’t get it?
Viral and toxin exposures
Countless people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) can remember a viral infection or exposure to environmental toxins that likely triggered the development of their condition. Medical research validates these experiences, with Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and herpes type 6 being among the viruses linked to CFS.
However, you may have heard that the vast majority of people will be infected with Epstein-Barr virus or cytomegalovirus at some point – so why did you develop CFS? A lower than normal immune response, possibly thanks to variations in certain HLA genes, increases the viral load and allows a dormant infection to reactivate.
Inflammatory Cytokines
Persistent viral infections and toxin exposures cause inflammation and oxidative stress. Inflammatory cytokines (chemicals your immune cells generate) contribute to the “sickness behaviors” that characterize CFS, such as fatigue and depression. Some, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), directly contribute to fatigue and dysregulation of sleep patterns. Inflammation can also cause tissue damage and sustain itself, including in the case of leaky gut where the intestinal barrier weakens. People who have higher levels of inflammation or immune dysregulation just before they develop CFS often have more severe symptoms.
Increased Nitric Oxide
If you have CFS, you most likely feel even worse after exercise. But why can’t you enjoy a post-workout glow? Research shows that nitric oxide levels spike to dramatically higher levels in people with CFS after exercise, compared to a small rise in healthy controls. This is a response to (often inflammation-induced) tissue damage in your artery walls.
On average, your levels of nitric oxide after working out are triple that of someone who doesn’t have CFS. Excess nitric oxide then makes things worse by generating oxidative stress. This leads to inflammation, impaired energy production, and more tissue damage. To make things worse, nitric oxide can reduce your body’s ability to use oxygen.
Mitochondrial Impairment
The oxidative stress and inflammation that drives chronic fatigue syndrome causes significant damage to your mitochondria. They produce the vast majority of your energy, and are passed from mother to daughter. In fact, as they aren’t shuffled like “regular” DNA, we can all trace our maternal ancestry back to one of 35 “clan mothers” (and even further back to Mitochondrial Eve).
However, some of these mitochondrial DNA “clans” are prone to more severe symptoms in CFS. H (nicknamed Helena), J (Jasmine), and U (various sub-types, including Ursula) have lower peak rates of energy production or other risk factors for CFS severity. On the other hand, X (Xenia) is associated with greater endurance.
Environmental factors also affect mitochondrial health. Plastics are one group of toxins that damage them, meaning that drinking unfiltered water or eating out of heated plastic may increase your risk or severity of fatigue. Additionally, alcohol and pre-existing inflammation could have impaired B vitamin metabolism, such as B3, which the mitochondria requires for energy production. Regardless of your mitochondrial DNA lineage, avoiding toxins and supporting them with essential energy-producing nutrients can go a long way in rejuvenating them. After all, they’re your millennia-old inheritance.
To sum it all up, there are several key reasons why you developed CFS, but not others around you. Genetic variations that affect the immune system, mitochondrial DNA, toxin exposure, viral infection, and pre-existing inflammation or nutrient deficiencies can all increase the risk of severity of CFS. If you’d like to take the next (or first) steps towards better health, click here.