1. Undergo a Thorough Physical Exam
Give your doctor a detailed description of your symptoms, as well as any illnesses or injuries you've had since your last visit. Then, have your doctor test your vital signs, reflexes and strength for any abnormalities. Your doctor may also order some basic blood work to make sure everything looks normal and to determine whether you are suffering from a bacterial or viral infection. If everything looks normal, but your symptoms are indicative of chronic fatigue syndrome, you will undergo more intensive testing.
2. Undergo a Mental Health Evaluation
The symptoms of depression may mimic some symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. However, since chronic fatigue syndrome also may cause depression, it's important for your doctor to determine which condition came first. If you've had a history of depression prior to the onset of your chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms, it may be that the depression is causing the symptoms, and that you don't have chronic fatigue syndrome after all. If you have no history of depression, you will undergo more tests to narrow down the list of ailments that could be causing your symptoms.
3. Get Your Immune System Tested
Finding out how strongly your immune system is functioning is important in making a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. Most people with this condition have blood tests that show abnormal immune system activity. In most cases, the number of immune cells is low and the immune system is weak. The immune system also may show signs of fighting some unseen infection, or of having battled an infection in the recent past. If all other possible conditions have been ruled out, the immune system test can often be the deciding factor in diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome.
