The
IFRT fatigue study (1982-84) included a questionnaire about symptoms
and lifestyle:
and questions about the cause and nature of fatigue from 48 interviews
from about 60 phone calls, in a study totaling more than 200.
1. After a bout of glandular fever during
Matriculation exams the person never got over it. Now has tiredness,
missed heartbeats, stomach pains and dizziness.
2. Started with tension in the home, and
now tired all the time. Would not be depressed if it was not
for the tiredness, and has headaches. Works sitting all day as
a typist with difficulty and strains to read. Never had a lot
of stamina. When she was a housewife she could arrange her workload
to suit her energy level, but when she got a job the demands
of the workload drain her energy.
3. Was a very fit person who used to go
surfing, but after giving birth she had a breakdown and shock
treatment, and 20 years later still gets tired and dizzy, and
leads a restricted lifestyle which is a "bloody nuisance"
because she can't go out at night.
4. An alcoholic with palpitations, chest
pains and tiredness who was depressed by his symptoms and reluctant
to attend courses which involve social situations.
5. A university lecturer who had a family
history of nervous breakdowns, and was bedridden with fatigue,
first occurring after study pressure. He has been told that he
is very fit on a treadmill.
6. Home stress, and work stress caused
many symptoms including palpitations, breathlessness and nausea.
She sees herself as just a machine in a meaningless job who is
always rushing around and is put down by males, and told that
everything is her fault, she gets no recognition, and has no
control over her own workload due to her superiors.
7. Previously nervous but fit until the
death of her husband three years earlier. She gets palpitations
on waking, and is lethargic, and feels guilty about laziness
and hypochondria because her doctors can't find anything wrong
with her.
8. This woman had measles during childbirth
and on the day of giving birth developed palpitations, giddiness,
and hyperventilation, which continued for four years, and since
then she had been prone to symptoms. The symptoms caused her
misery when they wouldn't go away, and she found it hard to explain
them to her husband.
9. A healthy man had been interviewed on
radio when he was attempting to break a world endurance record,
and was praised as a role model for today's youth for his positive
thinking, determination, and stamina. When I phoned him to enquire
about his subsequent health he said that he became fatigued during
the attempt, and returned to work and was still suffering from
tiredness three months later when his boss told him that he was
lazy and sacked him, and he had continued to be tired since.
10. This man had depression following Bell's
Palsy due to a virus in the 7th cranial nerve?
11. This person was healthy until June
1982, when she got a virus and became dizzy, fatigued, and faint,
and had not recovered, and slowed down, gained weight, and complained
of lethargy.
12. This person was tired, breathless,
and nervous.
13. This woman's husband caused her stress,
and she had kids, and did shift work.
14. Teacher stress was the cause of fatigue
15. This person reported sudden tiredness
which was inexplicable.
16. This person injured his back at home,
changed jobs, and lost confidence.
17. This man was an opal miner who got
Quinsy, which is a throat infection, he collapsed, and has "been
useless since then" - February 83.
18. This woman described herself as a worrier,
and boredom contributed to her fatigue which was "helped
a lot" by a curette.
19. This woman reported that suddenly one
day seven years ago she became tired for no reason, and had tried
everything reasonable to cure the problem because she was in
despair about her families reaction to her fatigue, and her doctors'
negative attitude about it.
20. This person exercised a lot and participated
in the City to Bay Fun Run.
21. This person was on sickness benefits.
22. An 82 year old had been healthy until
a long bus tour and a virus, and now is very tired, needs to
rest, and is confined to a helping hand home.
23. Three years earlier the woman had her
third child with extra family worries which accumulated, and
then 1 year ago had tiredness, giddiness, loss of appetite, nausea,
and weight loss, and found that rest in hospital, medication,
and exercise helped.
24. Had problems for three years which
became worse after viral pneumonia in July.
25. This elderly lady's husband became
ill, and then she was "run off her feet" with caring
for his needs, and has been tired all the time in the three months
since.
26. This woman said she was a tense and
anxious type of person.
27. This woman was a Government Administrative
Officer who developed agoraphobia since a period of work stress.
28. This woman said she had agoraphobia
and couldn't leave home without help.
29. A 65 year old man developed symptoms
soon after becoming a POW (prisoner of war) in 1941 - 40 years
earlier - he has had to restrict his lifestyle ever since, and
eventually accepted it, and got used to it.
30. This elderly woman said she had always
been nervous, and described herself as being agoraphobic for
about 17 years, and the death of her husband made her symptoms
worse. She suffered from dizzy spells and was "afraid to
go along the street for fear of having another dizzy attack".
31. This middle aged man had back and neck
problems, and exhaustion since a car accident six years earlier.
32. This man had paroxysmal tachycardia
four years ago, and since then has been tired and exhausted all
the time, and said that his blood oxygen was low.
33. This man said he was agoraphobic.
34. This elderly man was too old for the
fitness course, and said he had muscular fatigue, probably M.E.
(myalgic encephalomyelitis). The flu made it worse, and he had
an enlarged heart, and congested cardiomyopathy.
35. This man was a relieving bank manager
who worked day and night, and had a nervous breakdown about a
year earlier, and had been agoraphobic for about 6 months.
36. This man had been hospitalised for
a few months with disabilities which may have been related to
anxieties involved in his work as an assistant service manager.
37. This man reported that his symptoms
came on gradually.
38. This man did weight lifting.
39. This man worked 18 hours a day, and
ran 4 businesses at once, and wore out. He then gave up working
18 hours per day and expected to rejuvenate with rest, but didn't,
and continued to suffer from fatigue ever since.
40. This woman had been to the Fitness
Institute courses before and was a physically fit shift worker
who tired easily.
41. This woman had ventricular fibrillation
thirteen years ago, and was divorced 8 years ago, and has had
dizziness for 5 years.
42. This elderly woman had been harassed
by her neighbour, and was awoken during the night because of
the noise made by her neighbour, and had a heart murmur, and
headaches due to a spinal problem, and could not attend fitness
classes because she had no transport.
43. This man had narcolepsy at work, and
cataplexy, and elation caused it, so he avoided elation at the
first sign of symptoms.
44. This man got viruses twice per year
associated with fatigue, and was always fatigued, and when he
did anything a little out of the ordinary he became unduly fatigued,
and was extremely annoyed that it affects his lifestyle.
45. This woman said she was short in height
and overweight at 13 stone. She had suffered from fatigue since
her first child kept her awake all night, every night for 9 months,
and the second child did the same 14 years ago.
46. This woman started getting fatigue
when she left school and started work as a nurse doing night
shift. She said that she now works only 1 day per week, and is
a very calm person, and that her fatigue has "nothing to
do with stress".
47. This woman enquired in relation to
her son who was quiet and shy, and had asthma as a child, and
became a very fit muscular man who did weight lifting, and was
a canoe instructor, and played basketball. Three years ago he
lost balance and became giddy and vomited, and couldn't get out
of bed for 10 days to 2 weeks because of vertigo everytime he
lifted his head off the pillow. He recovered after 4 weeks and
has had 2 or 3 mild attacks since, and now gets dizzy, and is
fatigued all the time, and is tired and in bed by 9 p.m.
48. This woman reported symptoms which
started shortly before her marriage break up.
It is clear
from this set of interviews that there are many different causes
of fatigue, and many types, symptoms, and outcomes. M.B.
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