How Doctors Diagnose Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Veterans

Many veterans who served in the first Gulf War are developing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). CFS falls into the category of medically unexplained illnesses—health conditions that present a number of chronic symptoms that are difficult to diagnose and have no known cause.

If you are a Gulf War veteran and you think you might have CFS, talk to a VA doctor about diagnosis and talk to a Houston VA attorney about what kind of benefits you may qualify for.

Diagnosis of CFS is complicated by the following:

Symptoms are different for everyone.
Other conditions have similar symptoms.
The condition has a tendency to improve and worsen unpredictably.
There are no medical tests that definitively identify CFS.
Signs of CFS may not be apparent to the examining physician.

If you’ve demonstrated six or more consecutive months of intense CFS-type symptoms, your physician will usually start the diagnostic process by ruling out health conditions with similar symptoms. You’ll need:

A detailed medical history, including a comprehensive list of medications that may be responsible for symptoms.
Comprehensive physical and mental examinations.
Lab screening tests to identify or rule out other causes for symptoms.
Physician’s follow up tests.

Because diagnosis of CFS is difficult and the cause is unknown, diagnosed veterans of the first Gulf War don’t need to make a service connection to the illness to be eligible for benefits, as long as the CFS:

Is at least 10% disabling
Emerges by December 31, 2016

To learn more about VA benefits for CFS and other medically unexplained illnesses, call a Houston VA benefits lawyer at Morgan Weisbrod toll free: 800.800.6353. Don’t wait.

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