How IV Therapy Can Help Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), describes a long-term condition that affects millions of Americans. This illness involves multiple body systems and causes debilitating symptoms that interfere with your ability to carry out normal activities.

Although CFS doesn’t have a known cure, intravenous (IV) therapy helps balance nutrition and boost your energy, offering effective relief from the fatigue and other problematic symptoms CFS brings. 

At The Painless Center, board-certified physician Jason Chiu, MD, and our care team use IV therapy to help our patients in Carlstadt and Tenafly, New Jersey, manage their CFS. Here’s a closer look at how IV therapy can help you manage the symptoms of chronic fatigue. 

Understanding chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

Feeling tired at work and throughout the day might be more American than apple pie. But while about three-quarters of the US workforce reports feeling tired when they start their workday, not everyone with sleepiness suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. 

People with CFS feel especially tired after normal levels of daily activity and exercise compared with people who don’t have CFS, and symptoms last 6 months or more — without improvement despite getting more sleep. 

Why some people develop CFS while others don’t isn’t well known. However, current research suggests that exposure to specific triggers might help explain the development of the syndrome. Those triggers include: 

• Hormone imbalances and stress
• Immune system issues or autoimmune disorders
• Viral infections, especially Epstein-Barr virus, Ross River virus, or Coxiella burnetti, which causes flulike symptoms
• Differences in how cells produce energy
• Genetics

Researchers theorize that chronic fatigue syndrome could develop because of a combination or one or more of these triggers, along with other factors. 

Recognizing the signs of CFS

Most people with CFS are middle-aged, and being female increases your likelihood of developing the condition. Besides feeling tired, CFS causes other unpleasant symptoms, including:

• Sensitivity to light
• Mood disorders and depression
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Disrupted sleep
• Unexplained muscle/joint pain
• Sore throat
• Digestive problems

Unfortunately, since little is understood about CFS, scientists still don’t have a cure. Instead, your care team works with you to help manage your symptoms through medications, counseling, complementary therapies like massage or meditation, and diet and nutrition counseling. 

Managing CFS with IV therapy

Scientists believe that while improving your diet and nutrition won’t cure CFS, boosting your energy and addressing nutrient deficiencies helps minimize aches and pains, reduce tiredness and fatigue, and improve overall well-being. 

While the foods you eat and any supplements you take can help, they must go through your digestive system first. This means the essential nutrients, minerals, and health-promoting substances enter your bloodstream at a reduced dose.

With IV therapy, on the other hand, Dr. Chiu can give you a full dose of custom-blended nutrients, minerals, and hydration — without waiting or losing any to your digestive processes. 

IV therapy also helps combat the cellular damage your body sustains every day due to exposure to unstable atoms, called free radicals. This is important for people with CFS since researchers believe there could be a link between the condition and cellular energy. 

At The Painless Center, our IV therapies contain health-promoting antioxidants, which play a vital role in combating the damage done by free radicals, repairing cellular damage and reducing inflammation. 

Since IV therapy also supports your body’s metabolic processes, you’ll experience a boost in energy after your treatment. For example, one popular blend, called the Myers’ Cocktail, contains B complex and vitamin B12, vitamin C, magnesium, and calcium to give you many benefits, including:

• Boosted immune system
• Increased energy
• Reduced stress
• Detoxification
• Pain alleviation
• Improved metabolism 
• Increased hydration
• Enhanced performance
• Better cognitive function

And because Dr. Chiu customizes your IV therapy formula based on your symptoms and blood test results, he can add the vitamins and minerals you need most to any IV blend. 

Ready to learn more about how IV therapy can help you manage the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome? Schedule an appointment online or over the phone at The Painless Center location nearest you.