What Causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? While the exact cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is unknown, there are several theories. Some experts believe that CFS is an immune activation (autoimmune) disorder in which the immune system is so geared up to defend the body against invaders that it attacks thebody's own tissues. This autoimmune activity is similar in some respects to Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Other experts believe that some sort of viral infection plays a role in CFS with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) as the main suspect. Other suspected viral agents for CFS include the human herpes virus 6, Inoue-Melnich virus, Brucella, Borrelia bugdorferi, giardia lamblia, cytomegalovirus, enterovirus and the retrovirus. Other possible causes of CFS include a defect in the mechanisms that regulate blood pressure, anemia, chronic mercury poisoning from amalgam dental fillings, hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, sleep problems, and Fibromyalgia. On the other hand, many CFS patients suffer from gastrointestinal overgrowth of Candida albicans and allergies. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), the most common symptom of body-mind disease, is uncommonly difficult to manage, inasmuch as its causes can be numerous and not always obvious. The standard medical approach to the diagnosis and treatment of CFS is one in which a person's symptoms must be scrupulously catalogued with standard diagnostic tests. If these prove positive, CFS is treated with remedies (often prescription drugs) which may bring about effects/symptoms different from a cure or complete turn-around. Most-often diagnosed causes of CFS What are the most-often diagnosed causes of chronic fatigue? Infections, anemias, inflammatory problems, metabolic malfunctions and, of course, cancer. Unfortunately, a huge number of us are thoroughly examined by skilled clinicians only to be told our exhaustion is "all in our heads" and to "go home and learn to live with it," or even worse, to "go see a psychiatrist." Actually, a large number of us -- so-called medical rejects -- are suffering from real, organic and biochemical problems with which many health practitioners are not prepared to cope. So, we're given up as hopeless misfits. However, it is my conviction that many of the most common causes of CFS can be uncovered by any health care practitioner who delves deeply into the lifestyle and nutritional biochemistry of his or her patient. Any fatigue is defined as a state of abnormal exhaustion after normal activity. Chronic fatigue syndrome is an illness that has been recently recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest definition of CFS holds that a patient must be suffering from unexplained, persistent or relapsing fatigue that is of new or definite onset, which is not the result of excessive physical activity, not substantially relieved by rest and has resulted in a significant decline in previous levels of activity….. A small study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association strongly links CFS to an abnormality in blood-pressure regulation known as "vasovagal syncope" -- a condition marked by low blood pressure that occurs when the central nervous system, which controls the heart rate and blood pressure response, misinterprets the body's needs during periods of upright posture and sends messages to the heart to slow down and lower blood pressure, the very opposite blood pressure response that should occur at such times. Researchers say that these findings explain such symptoms as exhaustion, poor concentration, dizziness and exercise-intolerance. Another finding, is that people with CFS often have thyroid problems.