Fatigue: The Big Picture

This article explores the concept of fatigue, which is increasingly seen in healthcare literature as being the primary problem reported by patients with long-term health conditions such as autoimmune disease and cancer. For many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), fatigue is often thought of in relation to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In addition, the widespread poor understanding of the concept of fatigue tends to result in its conflation with tiredness. This article discusses recent research into the biomedical mechanisms of fatigue associated with various diseases, and includes relevant TCM insights and illustrative case studies. The aim of this article is to increase Chinese medicine practitioners’ awareness of fatigue and its central role in disease, and thereby help practitioners to clearly define outcomes of treatment and achieve therapeutic success.