If you suffer from severe exhaustion and recurrent fatigue that does not improve with rest and that gets worse with the simplest activities, and if it is accompanied by muscle aches, headaches, sore throat, and recurrent colds that linger for long periods of time, you may be suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The medical community has classified CFS as a syndrome because it is a variable group of symptoms that are present at the same time with no discernable underlying medical condition. CFS affects more people than statistics show since there are no definitive tests for diagnosis. In recent years CFS has been on the rise-more than half a million Americans may suffer from this condition without being aware of it. There are no known biomedical causes for CFS, but some think that severe emotional or physical stress or trauma and prolonged viral or bacterial infections precede the appearance of symptoms. There are speculations that CFS is caused by an overstressed immune system that fails to protect the body properly or becomes overstimulated and attacks the body itself.

In Chinese medicine, in order to function properly, the body requires vital substances, including blood, fluids, energy produced by a healthy digestive system, and the vital essence from the kidney-bladder network which maintains healthy immune function. When these ener­gies are exhausted, the body cannot function properly. Breakdown is the consequence. Many classical medical texts attribute conditions similar to CFS to the exhaustion of these vital substances as a result of being overworked, prolonged illness, emotional trauma, physical stress, or overindulgence.