Dyspnea

Dyspnea, also called air hunger or shortness of breath, is a symptom of ME/CFS.

Prevalence

 * 2001, In a Belgian study, 79.2% of patients meeting the Fukuda criteria and 83.5% of patients meeting the Holmes criteria, in a cohort of 2073 CFS patients, reported exertional dyspnea.


 * 1995, Katrina Berne, PhD, reported a prevalence of 30-70% for shortness of breath.

Symptom recognition
Exertional dyspnea is noted as a symptom of autonomic nervous system manifestations in the Canadian Consensus Criteria and is included in the criteria for diagnosis of CFS.

It is also included in the criteria for diagnosis in the International Consensus Criteria, under Energy production/transportation impairments.

It is not described in any other case definitions for ME/CFS.

Notable studies

 * 2012, Dyspnea in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): Comparison of Two Prospective Cross-Sectional Studies. (Full Text)

Potential treatments

 * Breathing techniques
 * Buteyko method
 * Cordyceps
 * Antacids
 * Betaine HCL