Fatigue: Why You Shouldn’t Ignore It

Why do humans insist on dealing with fatigue?

Why is it that even when they know that they’re tired, they choose to ignore it?

Here’s the answer: Fatigue is one of the most overlooked medical conditions due to it often being mistaken for tiredness. However, what most people don’t know is that fatigue and tiredness are very different from each other, and the common mistake of ignoring fatigue will cause more harm than good in the long-run. Tiredness is a normal feeling that people experience if they haven’t received enough sleep, received too much sleep or simply just had a long day full of work or activities and naturally, their energy is burned out. Everyone at some point will feel tired and it doesn’t pose any medical threat as the only way to cure it is to go to sleep. Fatigue, on the other hand, is a constant feeling of weakness or a daily lack of energy, sometimes not caused by lack of sleep, but by other medical issues that people don’t know about.            Fatigue is a common problem and ignoring it can be dangerous.

Your Body Is Trying to Tell You Something

When someone is fatigued, it is normally a warning sign of something more serious that, if ignored, can gradually become worse overtime. Some of the most common conditions that fatigue is associated with is:

Whether someone is suffering from something as curable as the common cold or something more serious such as Cancer, fatigue is often one of the first symptoms that one will experience if there is something wrong, and it is up to the individual to catch on to these signals and address them immediately. You’ll never know exactly how urgent your illness is until you address your fatigue and schedule an appointment with a practitioner.

It Affects You in Ways That You’re Not Aware Of

While you may not realize it, fatigue can severely affect your quality of life if it is not addressed. Sure, you can try to act as if you’re fine in front of your peers, but eventually your fatigue will show itself in other ways that will allow those around you to begin to take notice. Some internal symptoms of fatigue involve poor concentration, short-term memory problems, low motivation, body pain and headaches while some external symptoms include bags under eyes, slow responses/reactions, weight loss or weight gain, and impaired judgment. Things like this can have a domino effect and cause strains in both personal and business relationships. For instance, if an individual suffering from fatigue was once a motivated, energetic, mentally sharp and quick-witted person, it won’t take long for others who work closely around them to notice strange behavioral changes. The low motivation and low energy within won’t be able to hide itself, and soon they’ll realize that their fatigue is causing them to make poor decisions, procrastinate on priorities, or become more forgetful than usual, and sooner or later these small problems can turn into something much bigger if the fatigue is not handled accordingly.

If Ignored, Your Health Will Suffer from It

Just imagine if someone took the initiative to address their fatigue immediately. They come into LifeWorks to schedule an appointment with their practitioner, expressed that they were feeling fatigued, and proceed to run some tests to find out the reason why. Soon results in their blood come back revealing that they have a low red-blood cell count (anemia), a bacterial infection (Lyme Disease) or an early sign of abnormal cells (Cancer). The patient is then aware to make some changes in their diet or lifestyle in order to prevent a potential deadly or chronic disease from further developing. In other circumstances, the patient might even be able to attack cancer before it has a chance to form! In the end, the patient is grateful that they took that first step in addressing their fatigue before it developed into something more serious, as it saved their life! Sometimes people underestimate fatigue. They believe that it’s just a temporary problem that will eventually disappear and that there is no point in spending money seeing a practitioner for something that most would consider “minor”. As stated previously, this is a small indicator of a virus that can graduate into something much worse if it continues to go undiagnosed.

You Can Develop Chronic Fatigue

Having fatigue might be manageable on your own if it’s mild, however if it is ignored it has the potential of turning chronic. According to WebMD, Chronic Fatigue is “a new state of fatigue that has lasted for at least six months and be so severe that it gets in the way of normal, daily activities”¹. Chronic Fatigue is normally a symptom of conditions such as:

If fatigue is not addressed initially, it’s possible that the individual might have one of these listed above, thus causing Chronic Fatigue to develop. The last thing people want is to deal with a chronic condition plus an additional health issue that could’ve been prevented.

Treating Fatigue

At LifeWorks Wellness Center, treating your fatigue depends on the underlying causes of where it is coming from. While most conventional medical facilities might prescribe anti-depressants or energy boosting pills to relieve the symptoms, we will put you through various diagnostic tests in order to discover the root cause. That way, we can tackle the actual issue at hand and help you feel better by not only relieving the symptoms but discovering the real problem, which if ignored, could worsen over time. If you are feeling fatigued, please don’t ignore it. We would be happy to help you improve your energy levels so that you can get back to your regular daily life and enjoy yourself in the process. Call to schedule an appointment at 727-466-6789

Sources:

1. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Causes – Who Gets It and Why (webmd.com)