As a result diagnosis must be made by excluding other illnesses. This can be a long, difficult and costly process. Many CFS symptoms overlap with those of a number of other illnesses including multiple sclerosis. Just about anyone can get CFS however it seems that it is most common among 20 to 40 year olds and women outnumber men. Symptoms can last from a few months to years.
Some people make a gradual recovery, some never fully recover and others become progressively worse.
At this stage western medicine has no cure and because there is no definitive diagnostic test some skeptics claim that it is 'all in the mind'. Other experts say that it is rather 'a condition in which the physical and psychological intermesh'. These comments are interesting from an Alexander Technique perspective. From his earliest experiments F.M. Alexander realized that it was impossible to separate the physical and the mental and spoke of the indivisible unity of the body and mind, a concept that is hardly revolutionary today. Yet we see the strong Cartesian influence in the thinking of western medical experts who perceive 'mind' and 'body' as distinctly separate elements.