Weakness may affect one muscle or a group of muscles. Tiredness and fatigue are terms used interchangeably with weakness, although it is technically incorrect. Weakness that is generally caused by an infectious disease includes:

• Tuberculosis
• Pneumonia
• Flu
• Mononucleosis
• Fever

Other causes include:

• Fatigue
• Malaise
• Weight loss
• Drowsiness
• Tiredness
• Neurosis
• Stress
• Over-exertion
• Pregnancy
• Hypoglycemia
• Blood loss
• Heart attack
• Viral hepatitis
• Internal bleeding
• Arrhythmia

Prolonged weakness may be due to

• Stroke
• Anemia
• Fibromyalgia
• Lung cancer
• Chronic fatigue
• Botulism
• Malnutrition
• Chronic hepatitis
• Kidney and urinary diseases
• Muscle diseases
• Nervous system diseases
• Cancer and its various types
• Hypothyroidism
• Hyperthyroidism
• Congestive heart failure
• Psychological illness
• Poliomyelitis
• Dermatomyositis
• Electrolyte imbalances
• Malignant tumors
• Trauma
• Poisoning
• Sprains and strains
• Addison’s disease
• Cerebral/Bell’s palsy
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Relapsing fever
• Pinched nerve
• Thyrotoxicosis

There are following types of weakness depending upon location:

• Leg weakness
• Arm weakness
• Hand weakness
• Bone weakness
• Muscle weakness
• Back weakness
• Paralysis
• Facial weakness

Self diagnosis in the domain of enigmatic tiredness can be pragmatic.

So following indications should be clearly investigated;

• If weakness is isolated in one region
• If it gets prolong without any explanation
• If there is fever without any other symptom
• After viral infection id there is common cold

General recommended weakness tests are:

• Malignancy-CT Scan
• Metastasis-X-ray of long bones
• Metastatic malignancy-Bone scan
• Tuberculosis-Tuberculin test
• Aids-HIV antibody test
• Porphyria-Urine porphobilinogen
• Sleep apnea-Polysomnogram
• Consult an endocrinologist
• Consult a psychiatrist
• Consult a neurologist
• Mononucleosis-Monospot test
• Infectious disease-Febrile agglutinins

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an enervating and complicated disorder that is delineated with esoteric fatigue, which is not ameliorated with bed rest and can be aggravated with any physical or mental activity.

Patients with a fatigue syndrome often describe some non specific signs and symptoms including memory loss, muscle pain, impaired muscle weakness, post-extensional fatigue and insomnia.

To diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome patient should satisfy two most important conditions.

• They must have severe chronic fatigue that lasts for six months or more.
• Contemporaneously they declare complaints like memory impairment or short term memory loss, tender lymph nodes, joint pain, swelling, muscle pain, restless sleep, headaches, malaise all lasting longer than 24 hours.

There are some generally recognized chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms (CFS).

• Fibromyalgia syndrome
• Neurasthenia
• Chronic mononucleosis
• Myalgic encephalomyelitis
• Sleep apnea
• Narcolepsy
• Hypothyroidism
• Depressive disorders
• Bipolar effective disorders
• Autoimmune disease
• Obesity
• Subacute infections
• Abuse of alcoholic substances
• Hormonal disorders
• Eating disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Cancer
• Abdominal pain
• Chest pain
• Chronic cough
• Diarrhea
• Anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Breath shortness
• Nausea
• Night sweats
• Earaches
• Dizziness
• Dry eyes
• Irregular heartbeat
• Morning stiffness
• Irritability
• Skin sensations
• Weight loss

There is no specific cure and chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis as no single therapy is available. Change in life style, adding nutritional supplements to daily diet, avoiding over work and restless sleep and gentle massaging are general recommended therapies. Moderate low stress exercises are also recommended that prevent deconditioning and over activity.CFS is not generally caused due to depression but both can coexist rather many patients don not have any complaints of psychiatric disorders.

Recommendations

Patient should ask doctor to examine the functioning of their adrenal gland working. In case if hormones cause a slump in the energy levels, it can be boosted up taking Omega 3 fish oils (1,000-4,000 mg) daily. There must be a prompt check up on Iron or vitamin B12 deficiency. Taking excess tea and coffee with only few sips of water a day has dehydrated our bodies so adding liquid chlorophyll to drinking water will not only boost up the energy levels but also oxygenates the cells.

AIDS is basically caused by HIV virus i.e. Human Immunodeficiency Virus. A body will produce new antibodies to fight against the infection. A generally recommended blood test will show these antibodies thus assigning HIV positive to the patient. As HIV continues it wears down the body’s immune system as it becomes damaged with continuous long term attack of bacteria, virus, parasites and fungi.

What are the causes of AIDS?

It is commonly recognized fact that blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal fluid of the patients suffering from HIV would have an enough infection to infect other persons. Most remarkable causes are:

• Having sex with HIV infected person.
• Drinking milk of HIV infected woman.
• Have HIV infection by birth.
• Sharing and using a needle of HIV sufferer.

What are the symptoms of AIDS?

AIDS related symptom is called opportunistic infection or can be called AIDS related cancer. The infections are called opportunistic as they take the benefit of a body’s weakened immune system.

There are some evident AIDS symptoms identified in patients with history of AIDS.

• Swollen lymph nodes in the neck or in groin area
• Fever
• Night sweats
• Poor appetite
• Weight loss
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Breath shortness
• Dry cough
• Skin rashes
• Skin lesions
• Depression
• Numbness burning and tingling of face, hands and feet
• Weakness
• Confusion and changes in consciousness levels

HIV/AIDS diagnosis

A complete diagnosis of AIDS is confirmed when CD4 count falls below 200 per cubic mm of blood. It is a level below which a body’s immune system will fail to combat against illness and infections. AIDS is confirmed with the appearance of Pneumocystis pneumonia (a lung infection), Kaposi’s sarcoma (a skin cancer), Cytomegalovirus (eyes infection) and Candida (a fungal infection causing infections in throat and vagina, forming a white film in a mouth).