PART 2: Chronic Illness and Mental Health: Overlapping Symptoms

Overlapping Symptoms

Overlapping Symptoms Need To Be Accounted For!

 People suffering from invisible chronic illness such as: 

·       Chronic fatigue syndrome

·       Myalgic encephalomyelitis

·       Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, fibromyalgia

·       Lyme disease

·       Mast cell activation disorder

·       Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) 

·       Sjögren’s syndrome 

·       Other neurological disorders and disabilities 

Are first diagnosed, often incorrectly, as suffering from depression. This is super concerning, but it’s understandable because the symptoms for these chronic illnesses overlap with somatic complaints associated with depression.

Symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, weight loss, painful joints, stiff muscles, subluxation, insomnia, changes in appetite, exercise intolerance are all seen in chronic illness and can be confused with clinical depression symptoms. 

Don’t get me wrong MOST people who suffer from chronic invisible illness or disability battle with depression coincided, however, it’s the REASON FOR THE CAUSE of depression that needs to be better understood and considered. 

WHY? Because treatment and plan of action is different  

It is important to realize that some people who might appear moderately, severely, or extremely depressed on a depression screening/test are actually suffering from an undiagnosed physical illness.

Many current depression screening tests have at least a third of their questions related to somatization of depression.

This FALSELY elevates the depression score of those individuals with a chronic illness because of the physical symptoms they experience.