About 20% of patients who see a family doctor complain of fatigue. Fatigue can be defined as having difficulty in starting, maintaining, and concentrating on activities. But can medicines cause fatigue? Let’s find out.
Although not the only reason, a few drugs can trigger tiredness, drowsiness, or sleepiness, leading to fatigue.
What is fatigue?
Fatigue is a sensation of excessive tiredness, which can be physical and emotional. It can affect everyone, and most adults will feel fatigued at some stage in their lives.
Fatigue affects one in five adults in the United States. Unexplained tiredness can be a sign of severe health problems often caused by medications as a side effect.
Fatigue is a symptom, not a disorder. For many people, a combination of lifestyle can cause fatigue.
While fatigue is often defined as tiredness, it’s different from feeling tired or sleepy. Everyone feels exhausted at some point, but this is usually done with a nap or a few nights of good sleep. Someone tired can also feel refreshed after exercise.
How can medicines cause fatigue?
The most common side effect of prescription and over-the-counter medicines is fatigue.
When medicines make you sleepy, it is because they affect chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters. Your nerves use them to carry messages to each other. They control how awake or sleepy you feel.
However, there are many ways that medicine can cause fatigue in a person who is taking it. Some of them are:
1. Fexofenadine (Allegra)
Drug Class: Antihistamines
Prescribed for: Treatment of allergy symptoms
How it causes fatigue?
Fatigue is a listed side effect of the medicine, fexofenadine. The drug lists tiredness, weakness, and drowsiness among its potential side effects.
Older people generally should not take this drug as it has powerful sedative effects. These include an increased risk of falls and bone fractures. They also should not use this drug because their renal systems cannot efficiently clear it. As a result, it allows the drug to build up in the body, leading to chronic fatigue.
2. Citalopram (Celexa)
Drug class: Antidepressant
Prescribed for: Major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder
How it causes fatigue?
This drug affects several brain chemicals. Sometimes it leads to unpleasant side effects such as dry mouth, blurry vision, weight gain, and sedation. Ultimately these side effects result in fatigue. The drug is responsible for the fatigue you experience when you take it.
3. Topiramate
Drug Class: Anticonvulsants
Prescribed for: To treat epilepsy and prevent migraines
How it causes fatigue?
Topiramate causes drowsiness and fatigue in up to 15% of people using it. The drug carries the nickname Topamax. The drug works by reducing the brain’s nerve activities. Taking too much topiramate by accident can lead to chronic fatigue.
The higher the dose, the worse the fatigue gets with topiramate.
4. Alprazolam (Xanax)
Drug Class: Benzodiazepine
Prescribed for: Short-term management of the panic disorder
How it causes fatigue?
Alprazolam can cause sedation and fatigue by reducing activity in critical parts of your brain. It typically takes less than an hour to begin working and having a sedating effect. People who take alprazolam feel sedating or tired, ultimately resulting in fatigue. As the drug can make you fatigued, you will feel tired or weak for a few hours to several days.
Some people have also reported memory loss or blacking out. Higher doses will have stronger effects.
5. Atorvastatin (Lipitor)
Drug class: Statins
Prescribed for: Prevention of conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels (cardiovascular disease)
How it causes fatigue?
Atorvastatin stops the production of cells that give rise to muscle tissue, stopping muscle growth. The drug also interferes with the production of energy in cells. They also interfere with cholesterol production.
Muscle weakness and severe muscle aches throughout the body can be symptoms of a statin-induced condition. This condition causes muscle fibers to be released into the bloodstream. Thus causes extreme fatigue.
6. Lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril)
Drug class: Angiotensin-converting enzyme
Prescribed for: To treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and after heart attacks
How it causes fatigue?
Lisinopril is used to treat high blood pressure. So it may slow down the pumping action of the heart and may depress the entire central nervous system. It also depletes electrolytes that the body needs. Examples of electrolytes are sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride, phosphate, and magnesium, etc.
It would help if you looked at the safety information that comes with your blood pressure medication Lisinopril.
7. Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril)
Drug class: Muscle relaxant
Prescribed for: Pain and discomfort associated with muscle injuries
How it causes fatigue?
Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant, doesn’t work on your muscles directly. The drug relaxes muscles by reducing muscle hyperactivity through nerve fibers. It works on the nerves in your brain and spine to make the muscles relax. Its effects on your nervous system. So it can make you feel fatigued. Abrupt cessation of Flexeril may cause sickness, headache, and tiredness.
8. Metoprolol (Lopressor)
Drug class: Beta-blocker
Prescribed for: Blood pressure, chest pain due to low blood flow to the heart and fast heart rate
How it causes fatigue?
Many patients do not like taking metoprolol because the drug drops the heart rate. When the heart rate drops, the blood amount that the heart is pumping forward may also decrease. As a result, it creates symptoms of fatigue, impotence, drowsiness, lethargy, etc.
How to manage fatigue with these medicines?
If your medicine makes you feel fatigued, then don’t stop taking it. If you stop taking that medicine, then it will create more problems. You can try some simple ways to boost your energy so that you don’t feel fatigued:
- Get some exercise, like a quick walk or some stretches.
- Take deep breaths.
- Have a little bit of caffeine, like coffee or tea.
How can a doctor guide in controlling fatigue with these medicines?
Your doctor can help you handle any fatigue you feel from prescribed medicines. The doctor might:
- Change your medication
- Change your dose
- Advise you to take your medicine at a different time, like in the evening or before bed
- Prescribe a medicine to help you feel alert and awake
Final thoughts
Suppose you are:
- Getting your medications properly (as recommended by your doctor)
- Having enough sleep
- Having a healthy diet, good nutrition
- You are exercising regularly
But still, you are finding it difficult to carry out daily activities. In that case, you may be experiencing fatigue that needs further probe.
