What may increase your risk for problems from weakness or fatigue?

Many conditions, lifestyle choices, medicines, and diseases interfere with your ability to heal or fight infection. You may be at risk for a more serious problem from your symptoms if you have any of the following. Be sure to tell your health professional.

Conditions

• Age older than 60
• Surgery to remove the spleen

Lifestyle choices

• Alcohol abuse or withdrawal
• Drug abuse or withdrawal
• Recent travel

Medicines

• Blood-thinning medicines, such as warfarin, heparin, and aspirin
• Corticosteroids, such as prednisone
• Medicines to prevent organ transplant rejection
• Medicines used to treat cancer (chemotherapy)
• Radiation therapy

Diseases

• Adrenal or pituitary gland problems
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Anemia
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Cancer
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD or emphysema)
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Eating disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Heart disease, including prior diagnosis of irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), heart failure, or coronary artery disease
• Infections, such as HIV infection, tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, or a parasite infection, or Lyme disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Malnutrition
• Multiple sclerosis
• Myasthenia gravis
• Parkinson's disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sickle cell disease
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
• Thyroid disease