How to know if fatigue is serious?
Let’s find out…
Most people get confused between tiredness and fatigue.
It is normal to feel tired after a long exhausting day at work. Almost every one of us has felt tiredness in some form or other.
But fatigue on the other hand can concede many hidden serious health complications which can be fatal if ignored.
We can overcome tiredness by taking a day off or sleeping it off but in case of fatigue despite taking proper rest or sleep the feeling of tiredness does not wade off.
You end up waking up tired and no energy.
So what is fatigue?
What causes fatigue and how to know if fatigue is serious? In this brief article, we shall try to evaluate all the above questions on their merit.
What is Fatigue?
A feeling of overtiredness, low energy, and a feeling of sleepiness that interfere with our day-to-day activity is in common term is fatigue.
You may feel sleepy all day but feeling sleepy alone may not be necessarily called fatigue.
There are many factors that result in fatigue. Serious underlying sickness may be one of the factors.
Let’s see what causes fatigue?
Causes Behind Fatigue:
There can be various causes of fatigue but generally speaking, fatigue is broadly divided into three parts:
#1 Lifestyle Factors
If you are experiencing fatigue, the first thing you should look into is your lifestyle. There can be several or at least one thing you are doing wrong.
Fatigue can result because of the following lifestyle changes:
- Physical exertion.
- Lack of physical activity.
- Obesity
- Boredom
- Consumption of Alcohol or illicit drugs.
- Grief
- Taking too much caffeine.
- Not taking a nutritious diet.
Watch out for any one of the causes that may be the reason behind your fatigue.
#2 Physical Health Conditions
If you are leading an ideal lifestyle and still wondering why you feel fatigued or want to know if fatigue is serious, you may need to visit the doctor to know if there is a medical problem causing your fatigue.
There can be serious underlying medical conditions behind feeling fatigued. Some of them are as follows:
- Anemia
- Arthritis
- Hyper or hypothyroidism
- Insomnia
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Kidney/Liver disorders
- Eating disorder
- Congestive heart failure
As you may see one should not take fatigue lightly as there can be serious and fatal medical conditions behind it.
If your lifestyle and medical condition after the checkup are absolutely fine then you need to think about your mental health.
#3 Underlying Mental Health Conditions
In many cases, we see that mental state can cause serious fatigue issues. Some of the examples of fatigue being the symptom of
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Seasonal affective disorder.
By now you must be wondering how to know if fatigue is serious or when to visit your doctor.
Now, let’s move on to our main concern…
How to Know if Fatigue is Serious?
The body usually gives some additional signs apart from fatigue which when experienced must be treated as soon as possible. Here are a few signs to tell you when you need to visit the doctor:
- Lack of appetite: If you feel aversion towards your favorite meal or cannot finish your favorite snack and feel fatigued then you must visit your doctor as it may be a sign of a problem in your kidney or liver.
- You may feel helpless: Fatigue, in general, is not known to cause depression neither depression causes fatigue but sometimes exhaustion can really mess up your sleeping pattern which in turn will affect your mental health. Immediately consult your doctor if you are feeling fatigued and depressed simultaneously.
- It is an obstacle in leading normal life: It can be too frustrating for someone feeling exhausted all day long despite taking proper rest or supplements. It’s too hard to get diagnosed with fatigue as it is too common to ignore.
Even the doctor can brush it aside by prescribing you a few vitamins or by asking you to sleep more.
You need to make your doctor listen about how you feel about it and how it is impacting your emotional and mental health.
Keep on sharing whatever you feel with your doctor unless you feel better.
There are a few other problems that comes with serious fatigue…
Risk Factors of Serious Fatigue
Two major risk factors due to serious fatigue are:
- Glandular Fever: It is not common for fatigue to cause fever but Glandular fever can be reason for feeling fatigued. It is common in young teenagers and adults. You get a sore throat and swollen glands along with fever which can persist up to 4-6 weeks but fatigue lingers for months.
- Sleep Apnea: Watch out for snoring problem. If you snore while you sleep it may be because of sleep apnea. The reason to feel fatigued in sleep apnea is because of the inability to sleep soundly at night.
Now, we have enough information on the subjects make the final statement…
Conclusion
By now you must have learned how to know if fatigue is serious.
Our body is a complex machine and anything that does not feel normal must be discussed with the doctors.
Even a minor health condition of feeling tired all day can have a serious medical complication.
If you are recently experiencing sudden episodes of extreme fatigue then it is something worth taking seriously. Watch out for signs your body sends in the SOS scenario.
