special subjects
Fatigue
Causes of Fatigue
Most serious and many minor illnesses cause fatigue. However, most of these disorders have other more prominent symptoms (for example, pain, cough, fever, or jaundice) that are likely to bring the person to the doctor. This discussion focuses on disorders in which fatigue is the first or most severe symptom. There is no firm dividing line between causes based on duration of fatigue. However, doctors find that certain causes tend to be more common depending on how long people have had fatigue before they seek medical care. Recent fatigue(lasting less than 1 month) has many causes, but the most common are the following: Overview of Adverse Drug Reactions None Overview of Anemia None Stress and/or Depression None Forprolonged fatigue(lasting 1 to 6 months), the most common causes are the following: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) None An underactive thyroid gland ( Hypothyroidism ) Sleep disturbances (such as Sleep Apnea ) Overview of Cancer None Forchronic fatigue(lasting longer than 6 months), the most common causes are the following: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (now sometimes called myalgic encephalomyelitis or systemic exertion intolerance) Postviral fatigue syndrome Mental health disorder (such as Depression ) Overview of Adverse Drug Reactions None Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disorder of unknown cause that results in fatigue and certain other symptoms. Not everyone who has fatigue for no apparent reason has chronic fatigue syndrome. People with COVID-19 may have symptoms that last for weeks or even months, which is known as "long COVID" or "long-haul COVID" and resembles chronic fatigue syndrome. Stoppingcocainecan cause severe fatigue. Less common causes of prolonged or chronic fatigue include adrenal gland underactivity and pituitary gland underactivity. 