Extreme fatigue

Scarscub

Hello,

I am new to My Fitness, but I have been exercising and calorie counting for over a year now. I have encountered what has become a dismaying problem with daily energy.

I have never had a lot of energy, but within the last two months my energy levels have plummeted. Within the past fortnight I have become incredibly fatigued: I have experienced exceptional difficulty concentrating, mild headaches, and mild dizziness. But my fatigue, both physical and mental, is disrupting my life. I am too tired to properly function.

I used to sleep through the night, but ever since I began university I regularly toss and turn, waking up 4-10 times a night to roll over. But for the past two months in particular, no matter how many hours I sleep, I wake up tired; coffee does nothing to improve my alertness or energy. I also experience an increase in energy starting two hours before I go to bed.

Blood test results show my thyroid hormones, vitamin B12, and vitamin D levels are normal. My iron is deficient, but only by a few points. My white blood count is a bit high.

I am 5'6, 156 pounds. I exercise five times a week:
-50 minutes of heavy strength training followed by 10 minutes of light cardio twice a week
-45 minutes of cardio three times a week

I rest the day after each strength session. Apart from this exercise I live a completely sedentary life. I eat between 1550 – 1800 calories depending on activity, but I have struggled recently with some minor binging. I sometimes forget to log food, but I always eat my daily calories, if not, unfortunately, more.

I currently take a daily multivitamin and a magnesium supplement, and have recently added 5 mg of melatonin to help my sleep: it does help me fall asleep, but has no effect on my tossing and turning.

I have a follow-up appointment with my physician next week, but I am wondering if my slight iron deficiency is solely to blame for my extreme lack of energy, or simply a contributing factor.

I understand that I may be prematurely worrying and my fatigue may simply be the result of low iron, but I am also wondering if there could be a more serious cause, or something related to my diet and exercise.

I am walking around like a zombie. It reminds me of the feeling after pulling an all-nighter, except no matter how many hours I sleep I feel as if I've pulled another one. I can't even read a book anymore; I can't process or analyse anything.

Any thoughts as to what may be causing this debilitating malaise? I am only twenty-three, and I feel like an invalid.

Thank you for taking the trouble to read this!

potluck965

I'm glad you are following up with your doc. That white blood count might be a sign of something important, maybe mono ?

Make sure you tell your physician all of your symptoms and the time frame of onset.

Best of luck.

Gee_24

I went through this phase last year, for most of the year in fact.

When I wasn't at work I was napping. Constantly. When I WAS at work lifting anything, even duvets, caused my arms to ache until Id crumple up on the floor and cry by the time I was in my third room. ( Im a maid )

I had blood tests done and was told I was low on iron. I tried Iron tablets given to me by the Doctor but they made my toilet going...well...unpleasant. Say no more! lol

I then started taking multi vitamins and/or "Perfectil" ( sorry if that is advertising ) and started working out how much sleep works for me. Sometimes if you oversleep it can make you feel far worse than not getting enough!

For me the most important change was getting up earlier and being active in the morning, eating breakfast and taking my multi vitamins. And since I've stopped drinking as much fizzy juice and eating chocolate, I've noticed another change for the better!

Live4theLift

gonna sound crazy but up your healthy carbs and see what happens

DarcieC2389

I was diagnosed at age 14 with Epstein Barr Virus, which causes extreme fatigue,among other things. I am almost 40 now and still fight the fatigue. You may want to ask your dr about that and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

gmallan

BUMP for advice. I'm in a similar situation except I just had a blood test and it came back completely normal.

I've had very low iron in the past and it could be this.

adorable_aly

I experience the same thing. I haven't found a perfect solution yet but I'd think about the following. Are you exercising too much? Personally I found that lifting heavy and cardio 6 days a week was just too much, so I've cut down on the cardio considerably. It also sounds like you could be under eating if you are only doing 1550 on days you work out.

I'd also recommend a sleep app on your phone, which plays white noise, which can help you get to sleep. I'd also recommend that you make sure your sleeping environment is as comfortable as possible, simple things like room temperature can make a big difference in the quality of your sleep.

I suppose the other thing to think about is what changed when you experienced the decreased energy? Did something in your life change? Did you start taking new Meds? Working out more?

Furthermore decreased energy can be a sign of depression, with other symptoms including: persistent low mood, appetite change, changing sleep patterns, feelings of hopelessness, not taking part in hobbies, difficulty making decisions. If this sounds like you it is important to talk to your doctor.

I don't think there is an easy answer, just try different things and hopefully you'll stumble upon a solution. I would go back to your doctor first to clarify your different levels of iron, and whether this is likely to cause this severity of symptoms.

astartig

My first thought, from my own experience is allergies.

white blood cell count can definitely be up with that. and for me it always makes sleeping hell but I am tired all the time.

it usually goes hand in hand with low grade sinus problems. do you feel like you have a light lead weight under the middle of your nose/forehead?

But it could also be a low grade allergy to something in your diet.

Stress is the other common cause of the symptoms you're describing.

I am not a doctor but that's what springs to my mind.

walkinthedogs

Sounds to me like you're not getting good quality zzzzzz's. That could be a big part of the problem, if not you're whole problem quite frankly. However, I had mono when I was in my early 20's and I felt similar, could hardly make it through my day and often times didn't. Might want to have him rule out mono. Make sure you tell your doc that you are not sleeping through the night, you may have sleep apnea or insomnia and that will make you feel like a slug all the time. Good luck.

chadraeder3

I hope you and your doctor figure out what the issue is, but I have one question during one of the headache/ dizzy spells have you had your blood sugar tested. I am a diabetic (type 2) and when I get to a hypoglycemic state I can get a headache/dizzy/ trouble concentrating and you can feel fatigued too. I am not saying that you have the exact symptoms but it is a idea, please continue with your doctor those symptoms are bad signs and you need to figure out the underlying issue.

Ninkyou

Are you pregnant?

Seriously, this was the first thing I thought of. If not, then disregard, lol.
Maybe try a sleep aid and see if that helps in the meantime until you have your followup.

kill3rtofu

You're not eating enough for starters. Your TDEE is 2409 and if you're only eating 1500-1800, that's a HUGE hole in your diet. Start there.

learnerdriver

I had this problem and saw a naturopath. Basically, I had been running off adrenalin too long and it was going to crash sooner or later.

Here's some info on it:

http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?topic_id=94

mudmonkeyonwheels

Sounds a lot like my symptoms. I have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. A couple of things help me manage my symptoms: Eating wholegrains, not skimping on salt in my diet (dizziness can result from the low blood pressure often experienced by people with chronic fatigue and salt can help mitigate this), a natural sleeping aid (currently taking Clinicians REM Sleep), something called D-Ribose to help with energy levels and most of all not being afraid to back off if you are exhausted. Unfortunately with chronic fatigue syndrome it can take a while to get a good doctor and a diagnosis. People with chronic fatigue often 'appear' healthy so many doctors and other people tend to not take it very seriously.

Hope this helps

Avandel

I hope you and your doctor figure out what the issue is, but I have one question during one of the headache/ dizzy spells have you had your blood sugar tested. I am a diabetic (type 2) and when I get to a hypoglycemic state I can get a headache/dizzy/ trouble concentrating and you can feel fatigued too. I am not saying that you have the exact symptoms but it is a idea, please continue with your doctor those symptoms are bad signs and you need to figure out the underlying issue.

I too thought about your blood sugar, so I looked at this past week in your diary & your sugar levels are way over. I'm not diabetic but I am borderline hypoglycemic, so my blood sugar is always low. If I overdue it on sugar, it bumps my level up & it's when it wears off, my level crashes lower than where it started. That's when I'm in trouble & the first symptom I experience is with my vision. For lack of a better description, I see what looks the same as heat waves rising of a steamy hot road in the summer, then one area will appear blacked out, I also get light headed. If left, it will then progress to headache, trouble concentrating, fatigue & lastly incoherent & an unsteady gait, like I'm drunk.

My glucose intolerance test took 6 hours to come back with those results, sometimes the shorter tests don't pick up on a hypoglycemic as fast as a diabetic.

Just something for you to think about & discuss with your Dr. as well as your iron issue & CFS.

I wish you well.

Scarscub

Thank you for all of your responses. I was able to reschedule my follow-up appointment from next Friday to Monday so as to sooner unravel this mystery.

I am not pregnant, thank goodness! XD My physician didn't think mono was the cause, but it can't hurt to bring it up again, along with possible CFS. My fatigue feels much different to me than a sugar crash, so I'm not convinced that it's the culprit; but again, it can't hurt to raise the issue.

You're not eating enough for starters. Your TDEE is 2409 and if you're only eating 1500-1800, that's a HUGE hole in your diet. Start there.

I have been back and forth on deciding my TDEE. I used Scooby's calculator to calculate TDEE based on a moderate activity level, but I did not lose weight or inches eating that many calories. Despite my exercise I think I am otherwise too sedentary to burn that many calories.

Jennyminus30

Ask your doctor about Adrenal Fatigue.....or you can ask me, I have it!

atibrat

I had this same problems that started 6 years ago. The first year it was only fatigue the 2nd year body pain came in. I had a sleep study which was fine. I had normal blood tests that were normal except a little low on B12 so I started to get shots that did not help. I was diagnosed with CFS, the second year the pain came into play it was Fibromyalgia and later with more test I have Mixed Connective Tissue Disease/Lupus.

Not a very common diagnosis but a very important reason to keep following up with your doctor until they find the reason. I think many people just give up and don't keep pushing their doctors to get to the real issue.

Good luck and don't give up!

dixiewhiskey

If it's not iron, have you tried upping your carbs? I get extremely crabby, twitchy and tired if I don't get enough carbs