Suggest Treatment For Persistent Fatigue Despite Resting

Posted on Wed, 1 Jul 2015

Question: I can fall asleep for a couple of hours & feel somewhat ok for an hour or two, then the fatigue sets in again. Very heavy feeling in my arms. Its all I can do to stay awake. Last check up was end of March 2015, which everything was ok. This fatigue this bad started about Dec-Jan, but nothing could be found to explain it. It has really gotten bad; very hard to function.

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (42 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
it needs investigation

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

you haven't mentioned what kind of tests have you done so far, so I'm going to suggest some. I'll start by presenting a list of potential diagnoses:
- sleep apnea: snoring can be a hint. Overweight or obese smokers are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea. The patient feels sleepy all day because the sleep is not restorative. Hypertension and various heart problems may complicate the situation.
- hypothyroidism: testing for TSH should suffice to exclude or confirm it.
- anemia: a complete blood count would be needed for the diagnosis.
- infectious causes: Epstein-Barr virus, HIV, tuberculosis and other infections with a potentially chronic course. Measuring your temperature twice daily can provide clues to the diagnosis.
- various hematologic or other malignancies. The clinical examination may provide various clues like enlarged internal organs or lymph nodes etc
- depression: it may 'drain' the patient's energy and present as fatigue.
etc

So, if you've been tested for the aforementioned conditions, then various less common conditions will have to be considered. If you have any reports to upload, I'll be glad to comment on them.

Kind Regards!
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar