Constant and Excessive Fatigue
One of the 7 Warning Signs of Cancer

How would you know if what you're experiencing is constant and excessive fatigue? You are if you are feeling severe tiredness, weariness or lethargy. Are you always feeling tired lately?

Know that tiredness is one of the early signs of cancer especially the type affecting your lungs. It is a critical symptom because only you can feel it.

We all feel fatigue every now and then. Causes of fatigue can be overdoing something, working or worrying too much.

Feeling tired is normal. It is our body's way of saying that you are doing too much and you must rest.

There are two types of lethargy:

• Temporary, and

• Extreme or severe.

So how do you know if what you are feeling is excessive fatigue? It is when you always feel tired and the lethargy doesn't seem to go away regardless of what you do to ease it. If even after ample rest or a long vacation, you still feel weak then it may mean something else.

Tiredness may be physical or mental. Physical fatigue is a lack of strength or weakness in the muscles while mental fatigue is decreased awareness or focus. You cannot concentrate on the things you are supposed to do.

What are indications of severe fatigue?

So, how do you know that what you're experiencing right now is just temporary or is a severe case of fatigue? Here are tell-tale signs that your body is extremely tired and you need to prevent it from losing control...

• Lack of energy or the feeling that you just want to stay in bed all day

• Sleeping problem

• Difficulty getting up in the morning

• Feeling anxious or depressed

• Muscle pain

• Breathlessness after doing just a small task such as taking a shower

• Difficulty in concentrating

• Difficulty in making decisions and thinking clearly

• Negative feelings about yourself and others

When you have a cold or any minor illness, you will experience temporary fatigue. What you should look out for is lingering and severe tiredness particularly when accompanied by sudden and unexpected weight loss. It may mean an important disease such as diabetes, heart disease and even cancer especially leukemia and lung cancer.

Click here to know the facts about leukemia.

Click here to learn the facts about lung cancer.

It is always one of the significant 7 warning signs of cancer to look out for. The feeling of being tired can be an early symptom in cancers of the blood, colon and stomach. Often excessive fatigue accompanied by unexplained pain may indicate advanced cancer.