Exhaustion can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'troubling' to 'serious'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.
Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose exhaustion, we could:
Cause | Probability | Status |
---|---|---|
Guillain-Barre Syndrome | 91% | Confirm |
Infectious Mononucleosis | 52% | Possible |
Are you currently experiencing fatigue or exhaustion that started suddenly less than 3 months ago? Do not include fatigue that is due to an obvious cause, such as pregnancy.
Possible responses:
→ Don't know→ No / not sudden onset / started over 3 months ago → Yes, it started about 1-3 months ago → Yes, it started about 1-4 weeks ago → Yes, it started within the past week |
The rapid onset of (ascending) weakness, frequently accompanied by abnormal sensations that affect both sides of the body similarly, is a common presenting picture.
Intermittent and moderate fatigue is one of the early and main symptoms of mononucleosis. It almost always disappears within 2-4 weeks and lasts for months in only 1-2% of cases. Prospective studies among University populations have established that 20% of patients returned to work or school within 1 week and 50% within 2 weeks.