A Mechanism of Fatigue in Neuropsychiatric Patients

Fatigue is frequently observed in patients with neuropsychiatric complaints. The mechanism by which fatigue is produced has been little understood by either neuropsychiatrists or others. This preliminary report presents evidence suggesting one of the possible mechanisms and the animal experimentation on which the procedures adopted are based. Spontaneous hypoglycemia has been noted by many investigators who have attempted to define the variety of settings in which it occurs. Previously Harris,1Ross and Josephs2and more recently Wauchope,3Conn, Wilder and others have reviewed the subject. Blood sugar levels may fall following interference with many factors in the normal homeostatic mechanism. Liver disease and disease of the pancreas, either from known adenoma or from hyperplasia of the islands of Langerhans, have been cited as the important factors which may cause spontaneous hypoglycemia. Faulty dieting, including errors in intake of carbohydrates and the lack of assimilable vitamins, has also