Persistent tiredness

Many patients complain to their doctor that they feel tired all the time (known in the profession as TATT!), and there are several medical reasons that can cause tiredness.

Given that your sleep pattern seems normal, your doctor will probably check you for anaemia, which 'simply put' is thinning of the blood. This can be caused through poor iron intake in the diet, or losing iron through blood loss which can occur with heavy periods.

Deficiencies of Vitamin B12 or folic acid are other causes of anaemia, and a simple blood test will soon ascertain the cause.

An under-active thyroid could also cause tiredness, along with weight gain, constipation, slowness of movement, thinning of the hair, and brittle nails.

Diabetes is another condition that may cause feelings of weakness and tiredness, and both this and thyroid disease can be detected by blood tests done at your GP's surgery.

A more serious cause of tiredness can be cancer of any part of the body, including leukaemia (which is, in effect, cancer of the blood). However, there will usually be other symptoms present such as weight loss, loss of appetite, weakness or an abnormal swelling, depending on where the tumour is situated.

You must also appreciate that certain medications can cause tiredness such as beta blockers and other treatments for blood pressure, as well as tranquillisers, anti-histamines and some sleeping tablets might leave you feeling 'hungover' the following morning!

If you are having trouble sleeping, why not try our handy guide to getting a good night's sleep, explained in this video.

This article was published on Wed 23 September 2009