Fatigue : Causes | Prevention | Treatment
November 02, 2017 | Rabia Waqas

Fatigue : Causes | Prevention | Treatment

Do you feel tired all the time? Don’t take it lightly

Fatigue is a feeling of lack of energy and motivation which can be either physical, mental or both and is usually triggered by overwork or stress but could be an early symptom of underlying diseases and should not be neglected.   

Causes:

There are several factors which are related to fatigue such as poor diet, lack of exercise, sleep problems including sleep apnea, mental health issues (anxiety, depression). Other causes may be

• Medications such as antihistamines, steroids, few blood pressure medications and antidepressants etc.

• Diseases: diabetes, hypothyroidism (low thyroid), anemia (low hemoglobin or blood count) and diseases of heart, lungs, kidney or liver. These diseases may or may not have additional symptoms.

 

Prevention:

• Get good sleep.

• Avoid excessive caffeine consumption.

• Manage stress and do exercise regularly.

• Improve your diet, eating a healthy diet may increase your energy level.

• Check your medication with your physicians to see if they are responsible for fatigue.

• Take extra fluids to avoid dehydration.

• Get a regular checkup with your doctor and routine tests for regular health checkup including kidney, liver and diabetes.

Treatment:

 

Fatigue is just a symptom and its treatment requires a proper diagnosis of an underlying condition that is causing it. Many of the underlying diseases can be diagnosed with simple tests and would need further treatment according to the results. For example, if

• Your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is high, it signifies low thyroid hormone production and you may need thyroid medicine.

• Complete blood count (CBC) can check if you have low blood count (hemoglobin) and if so it would need further work up. It may be as simple as iron deficiency.

• Serum Creatinine is a simple blood test to check if your kidneys are healthy or not as kidney diseases usually do not have specific symptoms.

 

Your doctor may prescribe more tests based on your checkup and other problems. 

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