Several years ago (probably 2009/2010) I read an article that told about the four Stages of CFIDS, NOT to be confused with the four Phases that a person goes through when adapting to a chronic illness. The different Stages were labeled A, B, C, and D. I remember reading that Stage C sufferers were able to be more active in their lifestyle and some were even able to go back to work. I remember saying to myself I must be in Stage C because I can bathe everyday now and can keep my house up better than I had been able to do in the previous 20 years. I never recovered enough to go back to work though. I had learned to pace myself and had approximately 2-3 hours of strength a day, sometimes even 4 although I paid for it the next day. In previous years I could only work for 20 minutes and had to rest for 40. But in Stage C I could work for 30 minutes to 1 hour at a time before needing to rest. I could even push myself to be active for 2 hours but paid the price the next day or two. The thing is my body is changing and I need to know if I am going back to Stage B or is this Stage D? I have spent hours searching the net and cannot find that article. Does anyone know the link to the Four Stages of CFIDS? Remember in this article they are labeled A, B, C, and D. Thank you for your help.
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CFIDS Stages A B C D
- Thread starter Intignia
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minkeygirl
But I Look So Good.
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Never heard of stages. Ever. And I've been sick over 20 years. Some doc has levels of functioning (can't think of his name but someone here will know) but it does not go by stages
minkeygirl
But I Look So Good.
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Thankyou for the link. It's very interesting, but not what I was looking for. Also, I like your pic. Luv cats, but since coming down with CFIDS have become allergic to them : (
minkeygirl
But I Look So Good.
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As I told you, I have never ever seen anything over 20 years that talks about stages A B C D. If it were something legit I think people would be talking about it.
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I think I may have seen something similar whilst doing research on an unrelated facet of the illness, I will look through my history and see if I can turn up what I saw, though I don't think it is quite what you are referring to, @Intignia
alex3619
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Dr Cheney has also written on stages of CFS and ME.
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All I can see in my history that relates to it was, as @alex3619 says, notes from a talk given by Dr. Cheney in 2001. The site I had been browsing it o is not online right now, so here is a prohealth link to the same content. http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=8901
taniaaust1
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the only article Ive ever seen which relates to stages in ME/CFS is Dr Cheney's but that doesn't at all sound like what you are describing. I've personally found his stages quite accurate to my case.
Me too.
Thank you for the link. Am familiar w Dr Cheney's work, but that is not it.
Same! And I'm glad someone brought this up.
His last lecture I believe in 2013 which he outlines these stages in greater detail (his misery vs functionality graph) matches up with my trajectory quite nicely. Which is unfortunately means that I'm somewhere in between almost noticing my brain and body behaving or "functioning" like it did pre-illness only now I'm locked in to a severe metabolic brain/heart disease. The "my brain is shot" and "I just can't do anything anymore" way of putting it.
Interestingly enough, there was an apprx 9 month period during this process which I guess due to where my immune system was at with the disease process, almost eliminated my irritability, social anxiety, IBS, "high strung personality", relationship problems, and other pre-illness issues I had. It sucked because I felt like crap and had ME but it was also wonderful in a weird way. It was as if I was too tired or fluey to have those thing. I even found and maintained a romantic relationship for a portion of that time, but eventually got too sick to continue. Anyone else have something similar?
Now all those things are back with a vengeance only now I have severe functional disability which makes the issues 10 times worse.
I often go back and think about that time with great curiousity and frustration. That's what feeling normal must be like only without any illness or functional disability. It must be a wonderful feeling and its tough pill to swallow knowing what it sort of felt like. I also wondered had I recovered in some way during that stage, would those benefits had remained and various other unanswerable questions.
Does this make sense to anyone? I often ask other patients about this but they have no idea what I'm talking about or didn't experience these types of things. Or perhaps just didn't notice them.
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Thank you for the link. It's not what I was looking for, but I found the article to be very interesting and informative. I hope that you feel better than you have been. I've just spent the last 8 months sicker than "normal" and unable to do much of anything. Am back "on my feet" and have a lot of catching up to do--one baby step at a time.