Chronic fatigue and nervous system overstrain

Severe fatigue is familiar to many people. It is usually associated with the presence of physical and mental stress the day before. It quickly disappears after rest. These conditions often occur after rush jobs at work, passing exams, going to the countryside and other similar activities.

In this case, people know what causes fatigue and clearly determine the moment when they felt it. When chronic fatigue develops, a person does not realize at what point it arose. The patient does not understand the cause of this condition and experiences serious inconvenience due to decreased performance.

Description

Chronic fatigue is a condition when a person is bothered by a feeling of discomfort with constant mental and physical weakness. The patient is in a state of fatigue. It occurs for unknown reasons and lasts more than six months.

A distinctive feature of asthenic syndrome is that its main symptoms persist after prolonged sleep and prolonged rest. Changing activities or avoiding daily responsibilities does not resolve problems.

For the first time, chronic fatigue syndrome began to be presented as a separate diagnosis to patients in 1988. Before this, it was not considered a disease. Severe variants of asthenia were classified as atypical infections.

Asthenic syndrome often affects young people. In women, this disease is detected more often. The syndrome develops in hyper-responsible and active people, who can be called workaholics.

Mental disorders have become perhaps the most common disease in the fast pace of modern life. The human psyche very often malfunctions due to excessive stress at work, the fast pace of life and the influence of many other stress factors. In the modern world, a person faces many challenges that he tries to overcome, which inevitably leads to stress and mental disorders. Stress itself, as the body’s reaction to a survival situation, is simply an adaptive reaction, even a useful one. Problems begin where stress becomes excessive and leads to damage, distress and dysfunction in the body. This breakdown of defense is called distress . This is the cause of all the problems that arise due to overvoltage.

Examples of causes of stress-related mental disorders:

• Incorrect work schedule or too much workload;
• Conflict situations with management;
• Change of place of work, study or residence;
• Lack of sleep and rest to fully restore the body;
• Poor nutrition (fast foods and quick snacks instead of full meals);
• Lack of vitamins and minerals in the body;
• Problems in your personal life.

Symptoms of distress can appear gradually, so many people simply do not pay attention to minor problems in their body, which accumulate and lead to serious problems.

The main symptoms of mental disorders arising from distress:

• Increased level of irritability;
• Depressed mood or
• Anxiety, the emergence of fears and gloomy thoughts;
• Poor memory;
• State of chronic fatigue, decreased performance;
• Distracted attention;
• Sleep disorders.

In addition, mental disorders can also be accompanied by physical abnormalities in the functioning of the body, which force many to pay attention to their health and even seek help from specialists.

The main physical symptoms of distress that occur with mental disorders are:

• Severe and frequent headaches;
• Poor appetite or even disorders in the digestive system;
• Pressure surges;
• The occurrence of shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat.

If such symptoms occur repeatedly, and even more so if they recur regularly, you should definitely consult a doctor. The correct decision in such a situation would be to call a psychiatrist at home or make an appointment at the clinic.

Treatment options for mental disorders

For a complete and correct treatment of any asthenic or depressive nervous disorder, it is necessary to find its main cause and eliminate it (get out of a difficult and protracted relationship, have a serious conversation with your boss or change jobs altogether, get to know your neighbors if you have just moved to a new place) . However, all this can take a lot of time and is not always feasible, but special therapy can help eliminate the main symptoms of nervous disorders.

There are two main ways to treat mental disorders:

• Non-medicinal. Moderate physical activity, the use of special techniques for rest and relaxation (meditation, massages, yoga), psychotherapy sessions, proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle (complete cessation of smoking and drinking alcohol);
• Medication. This method includes taking medications that help relax and restore the body - sedatives, products based on plant extracts, vitamin complexes, homeopathic drugs, as well as tranquilizers and antidepressants.

Do not forget that taking any medications must be discussed with your doctor (especially sedatives, tranquilizers and antidepressants), since they may have side effects and contraindications.

Causes

The exact causes of this disease in humans are still being studied. Experts believe that pathogens of infectious pathologies play a leading role in the development of chronic asthenia. The following pathogens are identified:

• cytomegalovirus;
• coxsackie viruses;
• herpes virus;
• Epstein-Barr virus and others.

Presumably, the pathological condition occurs due to prolonged antigenic stimulation of immunocompetent cells. During their activity, cytokines are released. Fever, muscle pain and chills have been associated with these substances.

Experts have identified a connection between asthenia and a disorder of the limbic system in the brain. This structure is responsible for the emotional sphere, memory, autonomic regulation of organ activity, circadian rhythms of the body, and performance. These functions are impaired in people with chronic asthenia.

How to relieve emotional stress

Relieving emotional stress requires serious internal and external work, a subtle sense of your needs and capabilities, as well as patience, since it is impossible to remove in a couple of minutes what has been accumulating for months. Engage in restructuring your own life and reducing stress in everyday situations. The strategy of small tasks is perfect for this - when one large task is divided into several components. A person’s perception is structured in such a way that if the plan is global (for example, to buy an apartment), then such a goal will not cause anything but panic, and postponing implementation will cause an increase in internal tension. You should set many small tasks that will ultimately lead to what you want. They can be performed periodically and not feel any pressure arising.

Reduce the level of uncertainty as much as possible - demand deadlines from people, look for detailed information, compare with similar projects. The greater your awareness of the real state of affairs, the smaller the difference between your expectations and reality. In addition, this allows you to optimally plan your own time and processes. Think through possible scenarios and your actions in them. This will save you from empty fantasizing, increased anxiety and panicky anticipation. When the situation does not turn into the most positive option chosen.

If you notice an increased level of anxiety in yourself, which is not based on objective reasons, then it is worth working with your conditions. To do this, you can compare the emerging situation with similar, but already successfully ended, and what is now perceived as a tragedy is good to mentally put next to really bad things (for example, excessive worries about possible criticism of your report can be compared with the illness of a loved one - the level of anxiety should fall ). There is also the opposite strategy - bringing the significance and importance of the experienced situation to the point of absurdity. By spinning the impact of your failure on a presentation in your head to the point where the sun may go out and the entire universe will perish, you will notice an emotional change in perception.

Increasing physical activity is a great way to process many emotions. Moreover, the type of activity can be selected in relation to the negative emotions that arise. If it’s fear, then start running; if it’s anger, sign up for boxing; increased irritability – go to the pool. You also need to listen to your own body - if you want to stretch, don’t force yourself to lift the barbell. In the process of sports and physical activity, not only emotions are processed, a surge of excess adrenaline occurs, but also positive hormones are produced, which stabilizes the emotional state.

If you notice growing emotional tension, you can reduce it right at this moment using breathing techniques. This can be exercises from yoga or vibration, simply alternating deep breaths and sharp exhalations - there is no clear recipe, but it’s worth trying. However, it definitely helps to shift attention from the thought process to the breathing process.

To release accumulated emotions, you can look for various optimal ways for this that will not harm people and relationships; it is good that this process takes place in the presence of a psychologist. You can independently express your emotions through sports, dancing, singing, drawing (and even coloring), and modeling. All types of creativity are great as a way to express your inner state, and even in the form of art.

Find activities that bring you relaxation, work on allowing more spontaneity into your life and finding reasons to be happy in every moment. Strive to reduce the amount of control you have. Reduce it only to the necessary things, while not touching other people's lives and beliefs. The fewer things you need to keep in your field of vision, the more moments for relaxation, and the world will not collapse without your intervention, but will rather breathe more freely and easier, just like you.

Symptoms

The onset of the disease is often preceded by any infection. It could be a common cold. Normally, after an acute period of illness, weakness is observed for no more than three weeks. Periodically, the patient experiences headaches, depressed mood and increased fatigue.

In the case of chronic asthenia, these symptoms do not go away even after six months. The patient understands that this situation is abnormal and turns to doctors. The main symptom with which he comes to the doctor is a feeling of constant fatigue. It does not go away after a night's sleep. Even resting for several days does not help get rid of it.

A small proportion of patients experience drowsiness. Most people develop insomnia. They often report that their performance has decreased and their attention has weakened. Patients complain of the inability to concentrate. They are concerned about changes in their emotional state, such as:

• hypochondria;
• depression;
• apathy;
• phobias.

Patients often experience thermoregulation disorders. Temperatures rise or fall over a long period of time. Patients are constantly worried about headaches, photophobia, dry eyes, dizziness, sore throat, and palpitations. Some patients lose weight dramatically.

Nervous symptoms and pain

The most common symptoms and complaints, that is, they can arise from “nerves”:

• insomnia, early and frequent awakenings, difficulty falling asleep, daytime sleepiness,
• lack of air, feeling of incomplete inspiration, increased breathing,
• a wave of heat or cold throughout the body, chills,
• feeling of inner trembling,
• palpitations, arrhythmia,
• headache, pain of any localization,
• feeling of heaviness in the chest or other localization,
• lump in the throat, feeling of a foreign body in the throat,
• anxiety, melancholy, apathy,
• obsessive fears, doubts, movements,
• floods of thoughts,
• obsessive feelings of guilt or resentment,
• increased or decreased body temperature,
• weight gain (obesity), weight loss (cachexia), weight fluctuations,
• increase or decrease in blood pressure, pressure surges,
• skin rashes of any shape and location,
• nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea or constipation,
• frequent urge to urinate, feeling of a full bladder, difficulty urinating,
• trembling, feeling of “internal trembling”,
• feeling of numbness in any part of the body,
• loss or increased perception of taste, light, smell, sounds, touch,
• decreased memory or excessive memorization,
• attention disorders,
• increased tearfulness or lack of feelings and emotions,
• aggressiveness, resentment, rancor, vindictiveness, heightened sense of justice, jealousy,
• decrease or increase in volitional activity.

These complaints may be a consequence of a malfunction of the nervous system (that is, arise from nervousness). However, such symptoms can also manifest themselves in ordinary somatic diseases (inflammation, trauma, dystrophy, vascular disorders, infections, etc.).

Therefore, even if you are faced with the presence of several symptoms from this list at once, you cannot draw a conclusion about the presence of “nervous soil”. Such a conclusion can only be made by a doctor who will examine, clarify the condition and determine the diagnosis.

Diagnostics

Patients are diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome based on characteristic complaints. They must meet the following criteria:

• presence of severe fatigue for more than six months;
• the condition does not improve after a long rest;
• There are no somatic or mental diseases that can be considered the cause of asthenia.

There are also minor criteria that may be present in a patient with chronic asthenia. These include the following:

• temperature rise to 38.5 °C;
• pharyngitis;
• increased pain in the lymph nodes;
• muscle pain;
• general weakness;
• severe headaches;
• low exercise tolerance;
• joint pain without signs of inflammation;
• sleep disturbance;
• psycho-emotional disorders: depression, loss of memory and attention.

The disease often has a sudden onset. The diagnosis is made when the patient has two major and four minor criteria.

Relaxation techniques

Yoga

The ancient eastern practice actually has little to do with occult practices. But it really helps you relax and unwind after a hard day at work.

The secret is quite simple. When we do yoga, we take unusual poses. During them, our body stretches, which has a beneficial effect on the hematopoietic system. It has long been proven that stretching is the most pleasant action for our body.

Head massage

If neuropsychic overload has become a constant occurrence for you, ask your loved ones to give you a head massage. This is a popular practice. Firstly, such a massage is simply pleasant, and positive emotions are your best friend in the fight against stress.

Secondly, this practice affects the active points of the head, which promotes relaxation and stress relief.

Psycho-emotional relaxation sessions

If you absolutely cannot cope with constant stress on your own, you can resort to the good old method. Sit in a soft and comfortable chair, place your pet on your lap.

Play slow music for relaxation. Close your eyes and - at least for a couple of minutes - stop thinking. Try to clear your mind of worries and self-inflicted thoughts.

Aromatherapy

Also, if the symptoms, consequences, and prevention of fatigue scare you, try regular aromatherapy. Buy some sandalwood sticks and a special stand for them.

Advice

It is better to use sandalwood, chamomile or tea tree scents. Regular hops will also work well.

Sauna/bath

Dry steam from a bath or sauna has a beneficial effect on the nervous system. The process of going to the steam room itself is a special time. Even the stage of preparation for the event relieves anxiety and gives a lot of positive emotions.

Once you enter the room, don’t rush anywhere. Just lie lazily on the board, relaxing. And under no circumstances think about work issues.

Affirmations and meditation practices

If you regularly search on search engines about what overwork is, what its signs are and methods for relieving it, then affirmations were created especially for you. This is a spiritual practice that helps fill yourself with confidence in the future.

This is useful to know

Repeat a phrase every day, for example, “I can succeed.” Really believe what you say.

Treatment

Treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome is carried out by a neurologist. It is intended to eliminate symptoms and improve performance. The doctor prepares an individual course for the patient, based on his complaints. With the help of medications, nervous tension or pain is relieved. The patient is prescribed vitamins and microelements.

The patient is recommended to cure all chronic pathologies. He must strictly observe the work and rest schedule and adhere to a nutritious diet. The patient is undergoing psychotherapy. He is recommended to engage in swimming and physical therapy. It is necessary to give up bad habits.

Treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome takes a long time. The patient must be patient and strictly follow all the doctor’s recommendations.

What is stress

Stress is a normal reaction of a healthy body to threat or overwork. In this way, he tries to resist high stress, fear, excessive physical and psychological activity. As a result of such protection, the nervous system is primarily affected.

If the overload protection works normally, this is not a problem. This way a person remains cheerful, efficient and fit for a long time. However, such loads are often prohibitive. This has a detrimental effect on health and causes chronic diseases.

Stress is an abnormal state of the body. When a person is exposed to it for a long time, the body intensively spends energy.

Prevention

Balance the level of workload with the capabilities of the body

Never take on too many responsibilities. Of course, everyone wants to work for days and earn huge money. However, any body needs rest. Find your norm.

Proper organization of the day

Try to plan your work schedule so that there is time not only for work, but also for breaks. Don’t allow rush jobs, when all the tasks for the day need to be done during the last hour.

Long sleep

Doctors recommend sleeping about 8 hours a day. There can be no talk of any 4 hours, which is often found in modern people. You need to sleep a lot and go to bed on time.

Healthy eating

Avoid fatty and fried foods, fast food. It puts a strain on the body and leads to rapid fatigue. It is better to create a complete diet filled with all the vitamins the body needs. Don't forget about vegetables!

Allocating time for proper rest

Be sure to take a day off at least once a week. At the same time, rest should not be sitting in front of the TV. Have a blast: hang out with friends or do your favorite hobby.