Chronic Fatigue. Symptoms And Risk Factors - The Quality Of Life

2023 Author: Oswald Adamson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 12:13

Being tired is a pretty familiar state for us. And even to be honest, for many of us it's a reason to be proud of ourselves, isn't it? How do you know when it's time to pay attention to your tiredness? And what to do with it?

Fatigue that is beyond the norm is called asthenic syndrome, or chronic fatigue syndrome. How she looks like?

If we look at the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases), then there asthenic syndrome is described as follows: a constant feeling of general weakness, increased fatigue (with any type of load), as well as a decrease in working capacity combined with two or more of the following complaints: muscle pain; tension headaches; dizziness; sleep disorders; dyspepsia (discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract); inability to relax, irritability.

Checklist: 10 Signs Fatigue Is Becoming a Problem

To understand if this topic is relevant for you now, we offer a checklist of 10 obvious signs.

1. It seems to me that I do very little in a day.
2. When I am doing something, it is very difficult or even impossible for me to concentrate on it.
3. After sleep, I still feel tired.
4. I cant relax.
5. I am afraid of the things I need to do.
6. My thoughts are easily scattered, I forget little things or I do worse at work.
7. I get irritable and can flare up when I'm tired.
8. More often than usual, I have a headache, muscles, stomach.
9. I go to bed tired, but still can't switch off and fall asleep, or fall asleep and then wake up often during the night.
10. I plan things, but I don't finish them all the time and put them off - not because I don't want to, but because I don't have the strength.

If you observe five or more signs in yourself, then it's time to pay attention to this (especially if the condition has lasted for a month or more).

See also: Part 2. Step-by-step instructions for getting rid of chronic fatigue

Where does chronic fatigue come from?

There are a lot of risk factors - from ecology to viruses, I want to focus on the psychological characteristics that increase the risk of asthenia.

This "psychological portrait" is the result of my observation of patients with complaints of chronic fatigue.

An example of increased performance

In childhood, one of the parents (or grandparents) was an example of increased efficiency ("Hero of Labor"), and this person was always set as an example. This has created a “bar” below which you “cannot” go (otherwise you will be “bad” in your own eyes and the eyes of those close to you), as a result - very high demands on yourself.

On the one hand, this feature helps to achieve the result, but there is also a reverse side of the coin - everyone has their own limit of possibilities, and the "bar" created by someone else's example may be really "beyond our ability".

The prevalence of "I must" over "I want"

Ability to do a lot of things, because "it is necessary." A very convenient feature for those around you, which costs the owner dearly. When a critical mass “I don’t want” accumulates, which cannot be voiced in any way, our wise psyche finds a way out - and “I don’t want” is translated into “I can’t” (and here it’s not “I’m so bad, I would be happy, but not I have no strength at all ").

Of course, all this happens not at the level of consciousness, but bypassing it. That is, the option “I sat down, thought and decided to pretend to be very tired, so as not to do what I didn’t want to do,” - as strange as it may sound, it is more favorable for the psyche. In this situation, she will not have to create real symptoms.

The habit of living "at a pace", "keeping up with everything"

This habit also appears because there was such an example, or because now, judging by social networks, everyone around is doing well. As a result, in a hurry, we do not notice the first signs of normal fatigue and do not pause to recover when it is time.

Inability to rest or an internal ban on rest (when, thanks to the attitudes inherent in us, rest is possible only “if everything is done”, “if a feat has been accomplished” or - ta-dam! - “if completely exhausted”).

If an external situation of increased workload is added to these internal features (the appearance of children, a change of residence, a new job or a change in responsibilities, the need to take care of one's own parents, etc.), then chronic fatigue becomes almost inevitable.