Asthenia

Asthenia

Asthenia (Greek: "ασθένεια", lit. "lack of strength" but also "disease") is a medical term denoting symptoms of physical weakness and loss of strength.

A condition in which the body lacks or has lost strength either as a whole or in any of its parts. General asthenia occurs in many chronic wasting diseases, such as anemia and cancer, and is probably most marked in diseases of the adrenal gland. Asthenia may be limited to certain organs or systems of organs, as in asthenopia, characterized by ready fatiguability.

Asthenia is also a side effect of some medications and treatments, such as Ritonavir (a protease inhibitor used in HIV treatment), vaccines such as the HPV vaccine Gardasilcite web |url=http://www.fda.gov/cber/approvltr/gardasil061208L.htm
title= Information from CDC and FDA on the Safety of Gardasil Vaccine
author=Loris McVittie, Ph.D.
publisher=Office of Vaccines Research and Review at the US FDA
accessdate=2008-07-21
work= June 12, 2008
quote=We have approved your supplement to your biologics license application (BLA) for Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant (GARDASIL®), to include arthralgia, myalgia, asthenia, fatigue, and malaise in the Adverse Reactions section of the package insert to reflect reports received during post-marketing surveillance, to include corresponding changes to the patient package insert, and to include additional minor editorial changes to the package insert.
] and fentanyl patches (an opioid used to treat pain).

The condition is also commonly seen in patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disorders or chronic disorders of the heart, lungs or kidneys.

Differentiating between psychogenic asthenia and true asthenia with muscular weakness is often difficult, and in time apparent psychogenic asthenia accompanying many chronic disorders is seen to progress into a primary weakness.

Causes of asthenia

*Addison's disease
*Anemia
*Anxiety
*Chemotherapy
*Chronic fatigue syndrome
*Chronic pain
*deconditioning/sedentary lifestyle
*Dehydration and electrolyte disturbance
*Depression
*Diabetes
*Fibromyalgia
*Heart disease
*Hypothyroidism
*Infections
*Medications including amiodarone, Anastrazole, and fentanyl
*Narcotics
*Paraneoplastic syndrome
*Polymyalgia Rheumatica
*Pregnancy/postpartum
*Pulmonary disease
*Renal disease
*Sleep disorders
*Temporal arteritis

Cultural references

"The Asthenic Syndrome", a film by Kira Muratova, is about a man or the whole society experiencing symptoms of asthenia.

Blink-182 (album) has a song called "Asthenia", (about an astronaut in a space capsule contemplating whether his return to earth will even make a difference)

ee also

*Neurasthenia
*Myasthenia gravis

References

*"Adapted from: cite journal |author=Hinshaw DB, Carnahan JM, Johnson DL |title=Depression, anxiety, and asthenia in advanced illness |journal=J. Am. Coll. Surg. |volume=195 |issue=2 |pages=271–7; discussion 277–8 |year=2002 |month=August |pmid=12168975 |doi= |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1072-7515(02)01191-2


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  • Asthenia — As the*ni a, Astheny As the*ny, n. [NL. asthenia, Gr. asqe nia; a priv. + sqe nos strength.] (Med.) Want or loss of strength; debility; diminution of the vital forces. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • asthenia — (n.) weakness, 1802, Modern Latin, from Gk. asthenia, from asthenes weak, without strength, feeble, from a , privative prefix, + sthenos strength, of uncertain origin …   Etymology dictionary

  • asthenia — [as thē′nē ə] n. [ModL < Gr astheneia, weakness < a , without + sthenos, strength] a lack or loss of bodily strength; bodily weakness …   English World dictionary

  • asthenia — /as thee nee euh/, n. lack or loss of strength; weakness. [1795 1805; < NL < Gk asthéneia weakness, equiv. to asthene , s. of asthenés (a A 6 + sthene , var. s. of sthénos strength) + ia IA] * * * ▪ pathology       a condition in which the body… …   Universalium

  • asthenia — noun Etymology: New Latin, from Greek astheneia, from asthenēs weak, from a + sthenos strength Date: 1802 lack or loss of strength ; debility …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • asthenia — n. [Gr. asthenes, feeble] Muscle weakness; debility …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • asthenia — noun weakness; loss of strength …   Wiktionary

  • asthenia — Weakness or debility. SYN: adynamia (1). [G. astheneia, weakness, fr. a priv. + sthenos, strength] neurocirculatory a. an obsolete term for a type of anxiety neurosis formerly encountered often among military personnel during times of war, in… …   Medical dictionary

  • asthenia — n. weakness …   English contemporary dictionary

  • asthenia — [əs θi:nɪə] noun Medicine abnormal physical weakness or lack of energy. Derivatives asthenic adjective Origin C18: mod. L., from Gk astheneia, from asthenēs weak …   English new terms dictionary

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