Date: July 6, 2011
Author: Kay Cahill Allison, Editor Special Health Reports
URL: http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/fight-fatigue-by-finding-the-cause-201107062952
http://www.health.harvard.edu/special_health_reports/boosting-your-energy
Fight fatigue by finding the cause
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Feeling tired? If so, it's not surprising. Fatigue is
one of the most common problems people report to their
doctors. The Health and Retirement Study of more than
17 million older people ages 51 and up reported recently
that 31% said they feel fatigued.
Fatigue is a symptom, not a disease. Different people
experience it in different ways. The tiredness you feel
at the end of a long day or after a time zone change
might feel similar to that resulting from an illness.
But fatigue from stress or lack of sleep usually subsides
after a good night's rest, while disease-related lethargy
is more persistent and may be debilitating even after
restful sleep.
Finding the cause. How do you know if your low-energy is
caused by an underlying illness or is the result of
stress, poor diet, or lack of sleep? For example, could
you have chronic fatigue syndrome? That is an unusual
illness and an uncommon cause of persistent fatigue, says
Anthony Komaroff, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard,
world-renowned expert on chronic fatigue syndrome, and
medical editor of a new Harvard Special Health Report,
Boosting Your Energy. About 4 to 8 of every 1,000 adults
in the United States suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome,
which is about twice as common in women as in men. The
causes of chronic fatigue syndrome are still unknown, and
there is no accurate diagnostic test. However, scientists
have found abnormalities in the brain and peripheral
nervous system, in the immune system, and in energy
metabolism in people with this syndrome.
If you feel unaccountably fatigued, make an appointment
to see your doctor, especially if you feel so weary that
you can't do your regular activities as well or as
often as you once did. Fatigue is a symptom of many
illnesses, so try to describe your symptoms in detail
to help your doctor narrow down the possible causes. How,
exactly, does the fatigue feel to you? Do you have
trouble concentrating? Does your body tire more quickly?
Answers to these questions indicate how severe your
fatigue is and whether it mainly involves muscle fatigue,
brain fatigue, or both.
Medical conditions that cause fatigue. Once you've
described your symptoms, your doctor may want to do some
tests to rule out underlying causes listed here.
Conditions that cause fatigue include:
- Anemia
- Congestive heart failure
- Diabetes
- Hypothyroidism
- Infection
- Kidney disease
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
For more detail about how these conditions are linked to
fatigue, read an excerpt from Harvard Medical School's
Special Health Report entitled Boosting Your Energy.
This new Special Health Report offers information about
the causes of fatigue and how it is linked to illness.
No matter what the cause, there are lots of things you
can do to try to get your old energy back. To help you
do this, the report includes a step-by-step plan for
boosting your energy naturally.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Boosting Your Energy
--------------------
Fatigue is a symptom, not a disease, and it's experienced
differently by different people. This report, entitled
Boosting Your Energy, describes different kinds of fatigue
and ways to improve your energy level. For example, the
fatigue you feel at the end of a long day or after a time
zone change might feel similar to the fatigue resulting
from an illness. The difference is that fatigue from
stress or lack of sleep usually subsides after a good
night's rest, while other fatigue is more persistent and
may be debilitating even after restful sleep.
How do you know if your low-energy is caused by underlying
disease or is the result of lifestyle factors, stress,
poor diet, lack of sleep, or normal aging? Harvard's
Special Health Report, Boosting Your Energy, provides
advice and information from world-renowned medical experts
to help you discoverer the cause and find the right
treatment or lifestyle changes. It includes a Special
Section: A Step-By-Step Plan to Boosting Your Natural
Energy. Prepared in collaboration with the editors of
Harvard Publications and Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D.,
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and
David M. Dawson, M.D., Professor of Neurology, Harvard
Medical School. 48 pages. (2011)
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(c) 2011 Harvard University
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