Fatigue and Alcohol or Other Drugs
Substance abuse includes the overuse or abuse of alcohol or illegal drugs as well as the misuse or overuse of prescription medications. Fatigue often is related to substance abuse.
You have an alcohol problem if your use of alcohol interferes with your health or daily living. The overuse or abuse of alcohol can cause fatigue, as well as many other problems.
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By Gretchen Voss "What about me?" I spat at my mother as she sat frail and broken in a wheelchair, her legs too wasted to carry her emaciated body. It was Christmas of 1999, and my father, two brothers, and I were at a family-counseling session during my mother's second — though not her last — stint in rehab in Florida. My father had found her a few weeks earlier, lying half-dead on the couch, her once-pristine condo looking like a homeless person's final filthy squat, splattered with puke...
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Drug use includes the illegal use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or other "street drugs," and the abuse of legal prescription and nonprescription drugs. Some people turn to drugs to get "high" or to deal with stress and emotional problems. Drug use can cause fatigue, as well as many other problems.
Withdrawal from alcohol or drugs also may cause fatigue.
Overuse of caffeine can cause sleep problems that may lead to fatigue. Decrease your use of caffeine if you think it may be causing your fatigue.
If you think alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, or withdrawal is causing your fatigue, and you are unable to stop using the drug, call your doctor.
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