Fatigue in females is not to be confused with tiredness and weakness. Tiredness happens when anyone performs an activity or forces the body to exert beyond the normal level, but recovers after resting. Weakness accompanies some disease processes, but once the illness is past, the body recovers. Fatigue is the feeling of tiredness or weakness that never goes away, even with rest or lifestyle changes.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a difficult disorder to diagnose due to the complexity of symptoms and lack of diagnostic criteria. Since fatigue is a common symptom of hundreds of diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 1994, experts in chronic fatigue syndrome research established a standardized evaluation for CFS. One of the symptoms required for a diagnosis of CFS is fatigue that lasts for at least six months with no other known cause. The risk factors for chronic fatigue syndrome indicate that females are four times higher at risk than for men.
Cancer Fatigue
The causes of cancer fatigue include the cancer, the treatment, pain and poor nutritional intake. Mayo Clinic reports that some types of cancer rob your body of the energy needed to function normally. Other cancers release substances into the body that cause fatigue. Treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy have great potential to cause fatigue since your body has to work hard to restore healthy tissue following treatment. Pain from the cancer and/or the treatment draws from your body's energy supply and leads to additional fatigue. Loss of appetite that causes a nutritional deficit is a common experience while undergoing cancer treatment. Cancers that cause fatigue in females include breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer.
Seasonal Depression
Seasonal depression, known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), occurs more in the winter than in the summer. The Cleveland Clinic reports that extreme fatigue occurs more in winter SAD. Females from the ages of 20 through 40 account for 75 percent of SAD suffers in the United States, with Alaska residents at a high of 10 percent. Treatments include light therapy and/or antidepressants.
Diabetes
Fatigue is a common factor in all three types of diabetes---type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. The American Diabetes Association reports that in 2007, of the 23.5 million in the United States over the age of 20 living with diabetes, 11.5 million are women.
Anemia
WomensHealth.gov states that there are over three million people in the United States living with anemia. Anemia develops when there is a lack of oxygen-rich blood supply to all organs and tissues of the body. Women are at a higher risk than men for developing fatigue related to anemia. Causes of anemia-related fatigue in females include heavy periods, childbirth and loss of iron from uterine fibroids.
