is a medical term denoting a feeling of
Weakness without actual
Loss Of Strength .
The condition is commonly seen in patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disorders or chronic disorders of the heart, lungs or kidneys.
Differentiating between asthenia and true
Muscular Weakness is often difficult, and in time asthenia in chronic disorders is seen to progress into a primary weakness. Also 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.
- ''Adapted from: Hinshaw DB, Carnahan JM, Johnson DL. Depression, anxiety, and asthenia in advanced illness. J Am Coll Surg 2002;195:276.''
