I too from what your said about your symptoms.. think its unlikely you have CFS. Yes there is a long symptom list for CFS which covers what seems like almost every symptom out there (so someone who dont know this illness will can look at such a list and think "oh I have that" cause it covers their syptoms) but with CFS the illness presents in certain ways.. its often easy for those who have ME/CFS to recognise others with this illness.
To me you are showing signs of GAD...
I had a slow onset which didnt have the postexertional symptoms to exercise for the first year but my illness still pointed to ME/CFS with its very virally "on and off" symptoms eg fevers, sore throats, swollen glands etc which were triggered off by what I was doing at the time (triggered off by everytime I worked hard at studying for exams and doing collage assignments).
You have a lot there which points to that you dont have ME/CFS. For example, you dont seem to have any normal ME/CFS triggering off to things.. sounds like your illness is not varying much depending on what you are doing , that doesnt fit with ME/CFS.
Brain issues is the norm in ME/CFS (over 80% of us get memory issues). There is a good symptom list with the percentages for each symptom at
http://wwcoco.com/cfids/bernesx.html . You can see from that you dont have a lot of the normal symptoms (86% of those with this illness have low blood pressure etc).
ME/CFS is a very complex illness with usually more symptoms than just headaches, muscle aches a couple of times a week, a sleep issue and a few other symptoms here and there. (I get over 90 symptoms with it..thou most dont get that many but compared to most who get ME/CFS, you have very little amount of symptoms. Even with a gradual onset case, most would have many other things too.. Many more symptoms which help to distinguish this illness from GAD symptoms).
Have you seen a sleep specialist? It may be a good idea to look into exactly what your sleep is, if you get that treated properly.. you could find things are much different for you. With sleep issues, it would be normal to wake up feeling a bit tired.
I do feel tired sometimes. Especially if I have slept more but not awfully so and better if I have had less sleep.
The "tiredness" in ME/CFS.. well tiredness isnt a good way to describe it, it is complete exhaustion happening at times of the kind it completely interferes with ones life... often its also "malaise" (what people feel when they have the flu). The way you describe your tiredness.. doesnt at all sound like ME/CFS.
Be aware that some doctors will give a CFS diagnoses to anyone with a lot of symptoms they dont know what is wrong as they use this illness as a waste basket diagnoses rather then a proper illness. So take care you dont get wrongly diagnosed.. if you've seen some CFS specialists and they dont think you have it, I'd be believing them.
It is very common for people to falsely get diagnosed with CFS.. 50%? of what were thought to be CFS cases and the people were diagnosed as such, have been found to have been given the wrong diagnosis when peoples illnesses are better investigated and they finally properly diagnosed, take care you dont end up being one of those people falsely diagnosed.
He kept saying you shouldn't be waking up with a burning feeling in your hands and I said but I don't but he didn't seem to hear me.
I told him the burning was worse when I was anxious and also the urine problems.
That shows those symptoms are being caused by anxiety rather then CFS... obviously in your case anxiety can cause burning.
My symptoms started with not being able to sleep.
Literally stopped sleeping through the night all of a sudden one evening.
Still have loads of energy just scared to use it in case I get PEM.
That isnt a normal way for CFS to start, I cant remember anyone with this illness saying it started off with not being able to sleep.
?? You have loads of energy but wont use it in case you get PEM.. certainly sounds like anxiety. If any of us had loads of energy, we certainly would use whatever energy we knew we can.
Get your anxiety treated, get your sleep issue treated and see what symptoms you have left.
