Tiredness roundup
Description of symptoms:
Subjective description of tiredness:
Low energy, inability to do things, need to sit or lie down or sleep even though I want to be doing things. Foggy head, heavy limbs. Difficult to be patient with the kids (they make noise and demand things, which is perfectly reasonable of them, but I want to rest). Difficult to be creative and proactive with the kids (it takes too much effort, so I end up letting them watch TV far too much). I procrastinate on chores, admin, etc - I feel like I don't have the energy, and hope I might do later. I don't get to do things I want to do because I'm too tired - I sometimes go to bed straight after the kids, and miss out on an evening, and sometimes I have to cancel evening plans with friends because I'm too tired (just plans to sit around chatting for a couple of hours, not go clubbing until 2am). Often I really want to be doing something creative or playing a game but I don't have the energy so just surf the internet. I feel like Alex is taking up a lot of the slack - taking the kids so I can have a daytime nap or break - and I would be coping a lot worse without this.
On good days, it's so much better - I can be both patient and proactive with the kids, and we actually do things together, and I get things done around the house, and I get to do things I enjoy.
Possibilities:
Ruled out:
Diabetes (this has been ruled out multiple times, but they keep testing for it anyway because the symptoms seem to match so well)
Anaemia
Diabetes insipidus (kidneys removing too much water, causing dehydration)
Celiac
Thyroid levels (checked with GP today; already tested)
Tiredness caused by waking in the night with kids and/or breastfeeding (no longer apply)
Tried:
Cutting out sugar
Cutting down heavily on carbs and eating more protein and veg
Increasing exercise
Drinking even more water
Eating more (this seemed to be going well for a few days, but then I had a really tired day on Sunday and slept all through church)
Folic acid (high dose supplement - random GP suggestion)
Modafinil
Keeping sleep and food diaries - not spotted any obvious patterns, could apply techniques of big data, recording loads of things (don't even know what things could be relevant)
Things maybe not been checked:
Absorption of oxygen - VO2 max?
Absorption of energy from food
Some kind of food allergy
Some kind of nutrient deficiency
Current status:
Saw the GP today. She's sent me for yet another round of blood tests, checking the same things they always test, but she thinks something might have changed (?) If those come back normal, she will refer me to the chronic fatigue clinic (which I didn't know existed before today). I had trouble ascertaining whether it's a chronic fatigue clinic (as in, for people with fatigue which is chronic, to try and figure out the cause) or a Chronic Fatigue clinic (for people who they believe have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome specifically, giving them coping strategies).
- Tiredness/fatigue
- chronic (many years - which rules out several acute or short-term conditions)
- variable (some v bad days, some v good)
- despite getting plenty of sleep - now Z is sleeping through, I usually get 8 hours, sometimes even 9 or 10 - but still often feel sleepy and need naps
- Thirst - I need to drink much more than most people, and often feel thirsty or dehydrated
- Appetite - I feel very hungry by, or before, mealtimes; I cope badly with hunger; I eat quite a lot, but am fairly thin.
Subjective description of tiredness:
Low energy, inability to do things, need to sit or lie down or sleep even though I want to be doing things. Foggy head, heavy limbs. Difficult to be patient with the kids (they make noise and demand things, which is perfectly reasonable of them, but I want to rest). Difficult to be creative and proactive with the kids (it takes too much effort, so I end up letting them watch TV far too much). I procrastinate on chores, admin, etc - I feel like I don't have the energy, and hope I might do later. I don't get to do things I want to do because I'm too tired - I sometimes go to bed straight after the kids, and miss out on an evening, and sometimes I have to cancel evening plans with friends because I'm too tired (just plans to sit around chatting for a couple of hours, not go clubbing until 2am). Often I really want to be doing something creative or playing a game but I don't have the energy so just surf the internet. I feel like Alex is taking up a lot of the slack - taking the kids so I can have a daytime nap or break - and I would be coping a lot worse without this.
On good days, it's so much better - I can be both patient and proactive with the kids, and we actually do things together, and I get things done around the house, and I get to do things I enjoy.
Possibilities:
- Something blood sugar related - not diabetes, but something similar? I'd be curious to borrow a blood sugar test kit and see if there's a correlation with subjective tiredness.
- Sleep quality - I did an overnight test at the sleep clinic in Papworth, and there my subjectively perceived sleep quality was better than the recorded data (apparently with most people it's the other way round - they say they didn't sleep a wink, and the recordings say they did). So maybe I think I'm sleeping well, but am actually sleeping badly, so am tired. Would explain day-to-day variation, if some nights I sleep better than others. So maybe I should take sleep-quality advice I've previously ignored because sleep is subjectively good. Sleep clinic just said I'm a "long sleeper." They prescribed amphetamines but I didn't take them because we were TTC Zoe at the time.
- Depression - doctors often suggest this, but I don't feel depressed, or have any other symptoms of it. I've read descriptions of what depression is like and really don't recognise it.
- Atypical depression - apparently this is like depression except you cheer up when good things happen (which makes me wonder how that's different from just not having depression). That fits with the non-constant nature of my condition, and its symptoms also include hypersomnia and increased appetite - but also some symptoms I don't have, like weight gain, and oversensitivity to rejection (I don't think I have this - what do people who know me think?) And again, I don't feel "depressed", even on the bad days, just tired. I am still able to be happy and enjoy things on those days, within the limits of the tiredness; and any emotional effects, like irritability, seem to be a consequence of tiredness, like they would be in anyone who's tired. OTOH, I do find the tiredness seems to alleviate for a few days whenever I come up with an Exciting New Theory about it, so maybe that's the atypical depression responding to hopeful events?
- Chronic fatigue syndrome. I don't like this because it's kind of a last-resort diagnosis - like "you're tired, we don't know why, we've ruled out most other things" - and there's no actual test for it, and no cure. I don't have the other symptoms that often go with it, like joint pain or bowel problems. No one really knows what causes CFS, but there is the "central governor theory" - the mechanism which normally shuts off functioning and forces you to rest at a point short of actual exhaustion (but could be overridden by adrenaline if you suddenly get chased by a tiger or something). The hypothesis is that this is set too sensitive in CFS patients, so their body thinks they're close to exhaustion when they're not, and shuts down. I wonder if it's possible to change this set point? Hypnosis or something?
Ruled out:
Diabetes (this has been ruled out multiple times, but they keep testing for it anyway because the symptoms seem to match so well)
Anaemia
Diabetes insipidus (kidneys removing too much water, causing dehydration)
Celiac
Thyroid levels (checked with GP today; already tested)
Tiredness caused by waking in the night with kids and/or breastfeeding (no longer apply)
Tried:
Cutting out sugar
Cutting down heavily on carbs and eating more protein and veg
Increasing exercise
Drinking even more water
Eating more (this seemed to be going well for a few days, but then I had a really tired day on Sunday and slept all through church)
Folic acid (high dose supplement - random GP suggestion)
Modafinil
Keeping sleep and food diaries - not spotted any obvious patterns, could apply techniques of big data, recording loads of things (don't even know what things could be relevant)
Things maybe not been checked:
Absorption of oxygen - VO2 max?
Absorption of energy from food
Some kind of food allergy
Some kind of nutrient deficiency
Current status:
Saw the GP today. She's sent me for yet another round of blood tests, checking the same things they always test, but she thinks something might have changed (?) If those come back normal, she will refer me to the chronic fatigue clinic (which I didn't know existed before today). I had trouble ascertaining whether it's a chronic fatigue clinic (as in, for people with fatigue which is chronic, to try and figure out the cause) or a Chronic Fatigue clinic (for people who they believe have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome specifically, giving them coping strategies).