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A LEMON a Day Keeps Fatigue Away – The ABCDE of Fatigue

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Published Online: Apr 27th 2018 European Endocrinology. 2018;14(1):15–16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17925/EE.2018.14.1.15
Authors: Sanjay Kalra, Rakesh Sahay
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Abstract
Article
Article Information
Abstract:
Overview

Fatigue is a common symptom in clinical medicine. The complex and multifaceted etiopathogenesis of fatigue is a challenge for the differential diagnosis and management of fatigue. This brief communication shares two simple mnemonics – LEMON and ABCDE – which help in the evaluation of fatigue. These frameworks are as relevant to endocrinology and diabetes as to general practice. The mnemonic LEMON stands for lifestyle, endocrine, medical/metabolic, observer (physician) and nutrition-related factors which may cause fatigue; ABCDE lists the aetiology of fatigue in three columns related to physiological/nutritional, psychosocial and biomedical causes (each column includes one cause and how this relates to the ABCDE rubric).

Keywords

Diabetes fatigue syndrome, endocrine
fatigue syndrome, energy, salutogenesis,
type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes

Article:

Fatigue is a frequently encountered symptom in clinical practice.1 This is especially so in endocrine clinics, which have a higher proportion of persons living with chronic disease. While debate continues regarding the exact definition and measurement of fatigue,2 it is not difficult to recognise fatigue in the medical setting. Defined as a feeling of tiredness or exhaustion or a need to rest because of lack of energy or strength, fatigue can present as physical, mental or sexual weakness.3 Patients may complain of difficulty in carrying out normal activities of daily living, inability to work energetically or a feeling of tiredness even upon waking up.

Aetiology of fatigue

The wide range of symptomatology of fatigue is matched by an equally long list of causes of fatigue. The overall clinical picture is diverse enough to be termed as a syndrome of chronic presentation (chronic fatigue syndrome),4 which may be specific to medical conditions (diabetes fatigue syndrome).5

Because of this heterogeneity, it sometimes becomes challenging to evaluate various differential diagnoses of fatigue. This implies that it is not always possible to address the patient’s complaints and resolve fatigue.

Differential diagnosis

Taking a cue from the adage ‘an apple a day keep the doctor away’, we posit a new adage: ‘a LEMON a day keeps fatigue away’. LEMON is a simple mnemonic which lists various aetiologies of fatigue in five categories (Table 1). Fatigue can be due to lifestyle, endocrinopathy, metabolic disturbance, medical diseases, observer (physician) error, or nutritional deficiency. The various causes are listed and classified in Table 1. One must note that many cases of fatigue are due to lifestyle or nutritional factors. While medical and endocrine diseases, as well as iatrogenic causes, must be ruled out, one must focus on lifestyle and nutrition optimisation as well. The table includes various screening and diagnostic tools which may help identify the aetiology of fatigue. It must be noted that these tools are not limited to biochemical investigations or endocrine assays; they include clinical features and patient-reported instruments such as the GlucoCoper (a tool to assess for coping skills) and the Diabetes Distress Scale (a scale to measure diabetes distress).6,7

The ABCDE mnemonic divides causative factors of fatigue into physiological/nutritional, psychosocial and biomedical, and uses simple nomenclature to list these causes in alphabetical order (Table 2).

Discussion

With LEMON, we have purposely used a salutogenic or health-promoting title rather than a pathogenesis-based heading to list the aetiologies of fatigue. This should help facilitate a positive approach amongst health care professionals. The brief nature of this table belies the comprehensive coverage of pathophysiology and clinical features that it succeeds in achieving. The self-explanatory columns facilitate its use as an aid to clinical decision making and management.

In the ABCDE of fatigue, we utilise a framework which lends itself to easy memorisation. This allows it to be used as a teaching tool and serves as a basis for further understanding of the concept of fatigue in diabetes, as well as in general medicine.

Article Information:
Disclosure

Sanjay Kalra and Rakesh Sahay have
nothing to declare in relation to this article.

Review Process

This article is a short opinion
piece and has not been submitted to external
peer reviewers but was reviewed for accuracy
by the editorial board before publication.

Authorship

All named authors meet the criteria of
the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
for authorship for this manuscript, take responsibility
for the integrity of the work as a whole and have
given final approval for the version to be published.

Correspondence

Sanjay Kalra, Bharti Hospital,
Karnal 132001, India. E: brideknl@gmail.com

Support

No funding was received in
the publication of this article.

Access

This article is published under the
Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial
License, which permits any non-commercial
use, distribution, adaptation and reproduction
provided the original author(s) and source are
given appropriate credit. © The Authors 2018.

Received

2018-03-02T00:00:00

References

  1. Fritschi C, Quinn L. Fatigue in patients with diabetes: a review. J Psychosom Res. 2010;69:33–41.
  2. Phillips RO. A review of definitions of fatigue – And a step towards a whole definition. Transp Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav. 2015;29:48–56.
  3. Thesaurus.com. Fatigue. 2018. Available at: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fatigue?s=t (accessed 28 February 2018).
  4. Evengård B, Klimas N. Chronic fatigue syndrome: probable pathogenesis and possible treatments. Drugs. 2002;62:2433–46.
  5. Goedendorp MM, Tack CJ, Steggink E, et al. Chronic fatigue in type 1 diabetes: highly prevalent but not explained by hyperglycemia or glucose variability. Diabetes Care. 2014;37:73–80.
  6. Kalra S, Verma K, Singh YB. Management of diabetes distress. J Pak Med Assoc. 2017;67:1625–7.
  7. Behavioral Diabetes Institute. Scales and measures. 2017. Available at: http://behavioraldiabetes.org/scales-and-measures/#1448434304099-9078f27c-4106 (accessed 29 March 2018).

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