Symptom
Fatigue
Fatigue can be psychiatric, medical, sleep-related, medication-related, psychological, or mixed. Calling it depression too early can miss the pattern.
Review frame
How Fatigue gets reviewed
Inputs
- Labs
- PHQ-9 and GAD-7
- Insomnia screen
- Medication and supplement list
- Sleep, caffeine, alcohol, and substance pattern
- Symptom timeline
- Top goals
Output
- Symptom and timeline summary
- Lab-pattern read in psychiatric context
- Medication, supplement, sleep, and substance review
- Psychiatric-medical differential
- Named pathway for care or monitoring
Not this
- Not emergency care
- Not a diagnosis from labs
- Not a medication or supplement change by website
- Not a replacement for primary care, psychiatry, or therapy
- Not proof that biology explains every symptom
Clinical read
Fatigue needs a differential, not a reflex label.
The psychiatric explanation may be real
Fatigue can live inside depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, burnout, or chronic stress. It can also come from the body asking for a different workup.
The body can amplify the signal
Sleep quality, insomnia, circadian mismatch, or sleep apnea risk Iron deficiency, thyroid disease, B12 deficiency, inflammation, glucose swings, or endocrine problems Medication burden, alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, stimulants, or antihistamines Pain, autoimmune disease, infection recovery, or cardiopulmonary symptoms
One cause is not assumed
The goal is to decide what fits, what does not fit, and what still needs a clinician.
Common contributors
What can cause, mimic, or amplify this symptom.
- Sleep quality, insomnia, circadian mismatch, or sleep apnea risk
- Iron deficiency, thyroid disease, B12 deficiency, inflammation, glucose swings, or endocrine problems
- Medication burden, alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, stimulants, or antihistamines
- Pain, autoimmune disease, infection recovery, or cardiopulmonary symptoms
Useful inputs
Labs and screens are chosen by pattern.
- CBC, ferritin, iron panel
- TSH with follow-up thyroid testing when clinically appropriate
- B12/MMA, vitamin D, CMP, liver markers
- Glucose, HbA1c, insulin when metabolic symptoms fit
- PHQ-9, GAD-7, insomnia screen
Common questions
Questions people ask before they start.
Can this symptom diagnose the problem?
No. This symptom can change what belongs in the differential. A responsible review still requires clinical history, symptoms, timing, medication context, risk review, and the appropriate clinician relationship.
What does the review actually give me?
A written psychiatric-medical synthesis: what appears more likely, what remains possible, what seems less likely, what needs another clinician, and what should be monitored or left alone.
Is this emergency care?
No. If symptoms are acute, dangerous, rapidly worsening, or involve possible self-harm, psychosis, mania, delirium, withdrawal, chest pain, neurologic symptoms, or medical instability, use emergency or urgent care.