
Have severe chronic fatigue for at least six months or longer with other known medical conditions (whose manifestation includes fatigue) excluded by clinical diagnosis andĢ. Basically, two sets of criteria need to be met to establish a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome:ġ.

However, there is a well-defined chronic fatigue syndrome recognized by specific criteria. However, many physicians do not recognize these as syndromes because the criteria used to define them as syndromes are too diffuse and many consider the associated fatigue (sometimes chronic fatigue) as either a symptom or complication of the underlying associated diseases. For example, Epstein-Barr chronic fatigue syndrome, post viral infection fatigue syndrome, and adrenal fatigue syndrome are among the most commonly seen. There are several "fatigue syndromes" that occasionally appear in the medical literature. In addition to the many terms attributed to "fatigue," there are further problems with the terminology used to describe fatigue. Also, people occasionally experience fatigue after eating (sometimes termed postprandial depression), which can be a normal response to food, especially after large meals and this may last about 30 minutes to several hours. However, in contrast to fatigue that occurs with some diseases and syndromes, normal fatigue in healthy individuals is quickly relieved in a few hours to about a day when the physical or mental activity is reduced. Unfortunately, fatigue can occur in normal individuals that experience intense physical or mental activity (or both). A physical cause has been estimated to be responsible 20% to 60% of the time, while emotional or mental causes comprise the other 40% to 80% of cases of fatigue. About 20% of Americans claim to have fatigue intense enough to interfere with living a normal life. In addition, individuals often describe fatigue using a variety of terms including weary, tired, exhausted, malaise, listless, lack of energy and feeling run down.

Apathy is a feeling of indifference that may accompany fatigue or exist independently. Fatigue is not the same as drowsiness, but the desire to sleep may accompany fatigue.

Picture of Common Causes of Chronic Fatique Syndrome What is the Definition of Fatigue?įatigue is generally defined as a feeling of lack of energy and motivation that can be physical, mental or both.
