Weakness and Fatigue

Many things can affect how your body responds to a symptom and what kind of care you may need. These include:

• Your age. Babies and older adults tend to get sicker quicker.
• Your overall health. If you have a condition such as diabetes, HIV, cancer, or heart disease, you may need to pay closer attention to certain symptoms and seek care sooner.
• Medicines you take. Certain medicines, such as blood thinners (anticoagulants), medicines that suppress the immune system like steroids or chemotherapy, herbal remedies, or supplements can cause symptoms or make them worse.
• Recent health events, such as surgery or injury. These kinds of events can cause symptoms afterwards or make them more serious.
• Your health habits and lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits, smoking, alcohol or drug use, sexual history, and travel.

Symptoms of serious illness may include:

• A severe headache.
• A stiff neck.
• Mental changes, such as feeling confused or much less alert.
• Extreme fatigue (to the point where it's hard for you to function).
• Shaking chills.

Symptoms of serious illness in a baby may include the following:

• The baby is limp and floppy like a rag doll.
• The baby doesn't respond at all to being held, touched, or talked to.
• The baby is hard to wake up.

Symptoms of a heart attack may include:

• Chest pain or pressure, or a strange feeling in the chest.
• Sweating.
• Shortness of breath.
• Nausea or vomiting.
• Pain, pressure, or a strange feeling in the back, neck, jaw, or upper belly, or in one or both shoulders or arms.
• Lightheadedness or sudden weakness.
• A fast or irregular heartbeat.

For men and women, the most common symptom is chest pain or pressure. But women are somewhat more likely than men to have other symptoms, like shortness of breath, nausea, and back or jaw pain.

Neurological symptoms—which may be signs of a problem with the nervous system—can affect many body functions. Symptoms may include:

• Numbness, weakness, or lack of movement in your face, arm, or leg, especially on only one side of your body.
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Trouble speaking.
• Confusion or trouble understanding simple statements.
• Problems with balance or coordination (for example, falling down or dropping things).
• Seizures.

Heartbeat changes can include:

• A faster or slower heartbeat than is normal for you. This would include a pulse rate of more than 120 beats per minute (when you are not exercising) or less than 50 beats per minute (unless that is normal for you).
• A heart rate that does not have a steady pattern.
• Skipped beats.
• Extra beats.

Many prescription and nonprescription drugs can cause weakness and fatigue. A few examples are:

• Antianxiety medicines.
• Antidepressants.
• High blood pressure medicines.