Fatigue Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Diagnosis == {{More medical citations needed|section|date=April 2024}} 2023 guidance<ref name="BMJ-Best-Practice-2023" /> stated the following: * in the primary care setting, a medical or psychiatric diagnosis is found in at least two-thirds of patients; * the most common diagnoses are [[viral disease|viral illness]], upper respiratory infection, iron-deficiency anaemia, acute bronchitis, adverse effects of a medical agent in the proper dose, and depression or other mental disorder, such as panic disorder, and [[Somatic symptom disorder|somatisation disorder]]; * the origin of fatigue may be central, brain-derived, or peripheral, usually of a neuromuscular origin—it may be attributed to physical illness, psychological (e.g., psychiatric disorder), social (e.g., family problems), and physiological factors (e.g., old age), occupational illness (e.g., workplace stress); * when unexplained, clinically evaluated chronic fatigue can be separated into [[Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome|ME/CFS]] and [[idiopathic chronic fatigue]].<ref name="BMJ-Best-Practice-2023"/> A 2016 German review found that * about 20% of people complaining of tiredness to a GP (general practitioner) suffered from a depressive disorder. * anaemia, malignancies and other serious somatic diseases were only very rarely found in fatigued primary care patients, with prevalence rates hardly differing from non-fatigued patients. * if fatigue occurred in primary care patients as an isolated symptom without additional abnormalities in the medical history and in the clinical examination, then extensive diagnostic testing rarely helped detect serious diseases. Such testing might also lead to false-positive tests.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The differential diagnosis of tiredness: a systematic review|first1=Rebekka|last1=Stadje|first2=Katharina|last2=Dornieden|first3=Erika|last3=Baum|first4=Annette|last4=Becker|first5=Tobias|last5=Biroga|first6=Stefan|last6=Bösner|first7=Jörg|last7=Haasenritter|first8=Christian|last8=Keunecke|first9=Annika|last9=Viniol|first10=Norbert|last10=Donner-Banzhoff|date=October 20, 2016|journal=BMC Family Practice|volume=17|issue=1|pages=147|doi=10.1186/s12875-016-0545-5|doi-access=free |pmid=27765009 |pmc=5072300 }}</ref> A 2014 Australian review recommended that a period of watchful waiting may be appropriate if there are no major warning signs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2014/july/fatigue|title=Fatigue – a rational approach to investigation|first=The Royal Australian College of general|last=Practitioners|website=Australian Family Physician|access-date=2024-03-27|archive-date=2024-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327012439/https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2014/july/fatigue|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2009 study found that about 50% of people who had fatigue received a diagnosis that could explain the fatigue after a year with the condition. In those people who had a possible diagnosis, musculoskeletal (19.4%) and psychological problems (16.5%) were the most common. Definitive physical conditions were only found in 8.2% of cases.<ref name="pmid19858240">{{cite journal | vauthors = Nijrolder I, van der Windt D, de Vries H, van der Horst H | title = Diagnoses during follow-up of patients presenting with fatigue in primary care | journal = CMAJ | volume = 181 | issue = 10 | pages = 683–687 | date = November 2009 | pmid = 19858240 | pmc = 2774363 | doi = 10.1503/cmaj.090647 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page