Descriptors of Fatigue in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Objective: To explore how individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) describe their fatigue experience and examine how this differs from descriptions of fatigue in healthy controls.Methods: Fifty-two individuals with CFS and 27 controls listed words that described their fatigue. These words were grouped into 18 categories.Results: Individuals with CFS used more categories to describe their fatigue and more descriptors within each category. The most popular category used by both groups was energy depletion/physical weakness. CFS participants also experienced their fatigue as limiting their ability to function, frustrating, permanent/persistent, out of their control, depressing, and pervading all aspects of their lives. Controls reported that when they experienced fatigue, it was temporary, and they felt unmotivated, sleepy, and comfortable.Conclusion: The multidimensional descriptive pattern characterizing the fatigue of individuals with CFS differs dramatically from the experienced fatigue of healthy individuals, suggesting their “language of fatigue” has a distinctive quality.