Consequential Symptoms

Consequential Symptoms
Consequential is a medical term meaning symptoms worsen with exercise, exertion, continued immune activation, continued sensory overload, or on going sleep disturbance. Effects of these triggers can last months, years, or even be indefinite.

For example patient A has a headache causing 9/10 pain but if the headache doesn't get worse with activity or sensory overload then the headache is medically inconsequential.

Patient B has 1/10 fatigue. If Patient B exerts himself by walking for 5 minutes he will be in PEM. His fatigue will increase to 8/10, pain will become 7/10. Patient B will take 1 month to recover from the walk. These symptoms are consequential.

Consequential symptoms are fundamentally incompatible with any psychological or psychiatric diagnosis because those categories have an embedded meaning of symptoms being inconsequential.