What Causes Severe Fatigue?

Posted on Fri, 15 Jul 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 Answered on

Mon, 8 Aug 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : What is causing severe fatigue. Has had for more than 10 years; not getting out of hand; misses work weekly, can hardly function, sleeps all the time.

He also has bouts of constipation and diarrhea; weekly.

Answered by Dr. Mirjeta Guni (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Rule out the below mentioned diseases.

Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for asking on HCM!

Type 1 Diabetes is a disease that has autoimmune origin. It may be associated with other autoimmune diseases like under or overactive thyroid, adrenal gland insufficiency, anemia, celiac disease ect. If you didn't check for them I would recommend to do so;

-TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 to check the thyroid function
-Cortisol level to check the adrenal function
-Vit B12 level for anemia
-Anti- transglutaminase antibodies for celiac disease.
-Vit D level

Is the diabetes well controlled with insuline? How was the last HbA1c level?

High blood sugar may be manifested with the symptoms you mentioned. It is very important to maintain normal levels.

Regarding diarrhea , it may be caused from the damage of parasympathetic nerves from diabetes ( if he is diagnosed more than 5 years ago), celiac disease or Irritating bowel syndrome.
If all the above mentioned exams result normal, than depression may be the cause of fatigue and other symptoms.

Hope i have helped somewhat.

Kind regards,
Dr.Mirjeta

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T