Offtopic: Why am I always so tired?

diogomello12
diogomello12 Posts: 33 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 25 years old, I'm a male. I workout every weekday for 20-30 min before work and I drink from 2L-3L of water per day. I'm a non-smoker (I was, in the past) and I have a pretty vegan healthy diet consisted mainly of peas, grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Nutrition-wise I can hit all my macros and I have 1 Vitamin tablet per day and 3 instant coffees per day as well.

Still, I have no idea why I have so much trouble getting out of bed in the morning and my legs always feel like resting. I have a desk job (which is why I exercise every workday before work + 30 min walk to the office) and during the weekend I like to travel with my girlfriend. But truth be told I get tired very easily while traveling with her, I always feel like I get sleepy all the time and I just want to go back to bed.

I don't know if this is mainly a stress issue (since we're about to change jobs and countries in one month) or if I have something else. I haven't been diagnosed with any illness in the past apart from epilepsy which I don't think has much to do with it but truth be told, there are some objectives in my life that I want to fullfil and yet this constant feeling of tiredness is holding me back.

Should I seek a doctor?

Thank you.
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Replies

  • boymom121
    boymom121 Posts: 33 Member
    I went through something similar. I had a checkup recently and my vitamin D levels were creeping on a low side. I had complaints of a lot of fatigue and that feeling of always wanting to sleep. Also like you I’m eating well and working out. Dr had me start a vitamin D supplement and I had on my own starting experimenting with going caffeine free. I may have a little caffeine here and there in a pinch but mostly I’m off of it now.

    I feel like I can tell a difference in energy levels. I feel like I am sleeping way better being off caffeine than how it was before. Always good to have a check up with your Dr and run some labs to see where you are.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    How much sleep are you getting? Are you waking up multiple times a night? Also before you start taking various vitamins, it would be useful to get lab work to see how deficient (or not) you actually are in things like vitamin D and/or B12.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Another vote for seeing a doctor about your fatigue and getting blood work done. As you are leaving the country in a month, make this a priority.

    One clarifying question - is your protein set on the MFP default 20% and that is what you are hitting?
  • diogomello12
    diogomello12 Posts: 33 Member
    edited July 2019
    Thank you for all of your answers.

    Yes, my macro levels are all at default by MFP. I'm on a gaining weight regime, so Im currently eating way more than my regular calorie intake some months ago.

    My sleep hours depend every day because I cannot fall asleep every day at the same time. There are days where I only rest 6 hours and other days where I rest 8-9.

    I have a tablet of multivitamins daily which contains 5 μg of Vitamin B12. I will try to implement some almond milk and mushrooms on my diet for this week, which are rich in Vitamin D, and I will tell if I noticed any difference or not.

    Thanks yet again
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,740 Member
    See a doctor. Could be a vitamin deficiency, anemia, or something like mono, Lyme, West Nile, etc. or something worse.
  • lg013
    lg013 Posts: 215 Member
    I had the same issue a few years back and finally saw a dr to find out I had thyroid issues caused by an autoimmune disorder. I spent years exhausted like this when it could have been made a lot better. Go see a dr!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,160 Member
    Doctor.

    Ask for blood tests on all potential nutritional issues, such as B12, D, iron, calcium, . . . and probably some I'm forgetting. And thyroid (not just TSH, but the whole panel including T3/T4). Add any others your doc thinks are useful.

    If sleep quality is an issue (frequent waking, other insomnia, non-restful sleep), ask for a sleep study. (If you're hitting the bed for too-short hours, fix that.)

    Especially if you live in a hot/dry climate, make sure you're adequately hydrated. (I see that you're drinking a reasonable amount of water in general terms. Special circumstances can require more.)

    As a vegan**, you might want to consider striving for a protein goal higher than the MFP default, unless you're tracking your essential amino acid balance very carefully, or conscientiously getting most of your protein from the few complete plant sources (soy, quinoa, etc.). This is particularly true if you're at sub-maintenance calories.)

    If you're eating at an aggressive calorie deficit (trying to lose more than 0.5-0.75% of your body weight weekly), try eating a little more. (Other readers: If OP weren't feeling fatigue, a slightly higher limit might be OK.)

    If your exercise is intense, and especially if it's routinely intense, back off to lower intensity steady state cardio for a while; and if aggressively pursuing strength, make sure you're not challenging the same muscle groups more than 2-3 times a week. If you've dramatically increased exercise duration, intensity or frequency lately, back it off for a while to see if that's a factor.

    ** I'm not being anti-vegan. I've been vegetarian for 45 years, have nothing against all-plants. But we still need the right amino acid balance. If we're a little sloppy - like I am - getting extra grams, plus variety of sources, is a potential compensation for incompleteness.

    You can figure this out!
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
    Went through this recently, had bloods done and my iron and B12 were low. Fixed that. Fixed the tired
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    diogomello12 wrote: »
    Thank you for all of your answers.

    Yes, my macro levels are all at default by MFP. I'm on a gaining weight regime, so Im currently eating way more than my regular calorie intake some months ago.

    My sleep hours depend every day because I cannot fall asleep every day at the same time. There are days where I only rest 6 hours and other days where I rest 8-9.

    I have a tablet of multivitamins daily which contains 5 μg of Vitamin B12. I will try to implement some almond milk and mushrooms on my diet for this week, which are rich in Vitamin D, and I will tell if I noticed any difference or not.

    Thanks yet again

    Ok...but you are going to have actual blood work done, yes?

    I was deficient in D and only needed 2000 IU per day to fix it. Other posters here needed upwards of 10,000 IU per day for a time to fix it.

    It's better to find out for sure if D is an issue and exactly what needs to be done than to hope some almond milk and mushrooms will fix your fatigue.

    Also, you'd have to eat 250 cups of portabellas to get 2150 IU's of D.

    7ca544d10efc6703c177f61c34edffc5.png
    Exactly. I took 10k iu of D3 a day (prescribed obviously) for one or two months and even with that I was at a very low normal. Not only is trying to get that much vit D3 a day out of food alone more or less impossible, it would also likely be exceedingly expensive given how much food you'd have to eat.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Stop being vegan! It’s just a hype. I mean if you were thriving on a plant based diet then I would go for it but clearly you’re not. It’s not for everyone. I’ve seen so many people quit plant based and go back to meats, eggs and their energy is back! Definitely get your blood tests done without taking any supplements so they don’t interfere with your results.

    I would call people doing it "for the hype" plant-based, not vegan. Veganism is an ethical position concerning not exploiting animals.

    https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Stop being vegan! It’s just a hype. I mean if you were thriving on a plant based diet then I would go for it but clearly you’re not. It’s not for everyone. I’ve seen so many people quit plant based and go back to meats, eggs and their energy is back! Definitely get your blood tests done without taking any supplements so they don’t interfere with your results.

    I would call people doing it "for the hype" plant-based, not vegan. Veganism is an ethical position concerning not exploiting animals.

    https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism

    Exactly! Veganism is a world-view and moral/ethical lifestylewhere diet is an extension of that. Plant-based is just diet. They are not synonymous.

  • MamaSunflowers
    MamaSunflowers Posts: 231 Member
    Following all the people saying to get B12 tested. I had something similar 7 months ago. Incredibly tired all the time, no energy, but also loss of memory and feelings of depression.
    I am also vegan and for years have taken a multivitamin daily which contains B12 and so i thought it couldn't be the culprit. I got my blood tests done and I was hugely deficient in B12. Now I take an additional dedicated B supplement and the change has been enormous in every respect! I never thought one simple extra supplement could have such an effect.
    Good luck! I hope you find your cause and can fix it easily!
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Stop being vegan! It’s just a hype. I mean if you were thriving on a plant based diet then I would go for it but clearly you’re not. It’s not for everyone. I’ve seen so many people quit plant based and go back to meats, eggs and their energy is back! Definitely get your blood tests done without taking any supplements so they don’t interfere with your results.

    I would call people doing it "for the hype" plant-based, not vegan. Veganism is an ethical position concerning not exploiting animals.

    https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism

    People in very recent history, if not currently, have used the term "vegan" to only mean diet. Language being in a constant state of flux, English not having a language academy (not that that would really matter), etc. That said, this is very off topic.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,588 Member
    edited July 2019
    diogomello12 wrote: »
    I'm 25 years old, I'm a male. I workout every weekday for 20-30 min before work and I drink from 2L-3L of water per day. I'm a non-smoker (I was, in the past) and I have a pretty vegan healthy diet consisted mainly of peas, grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Nutrition-wise I can hit all my macros and I have 1 Vitamin tablet per day and 3 instant coffees per day as well.

    Still, I have no idea why I have so much trouble getting out of bed in the morning and my legs always feel like resting. I have a desk job (which is why I exercise every workday before work + 30 min walk to the office) and during the weekend I like to travel with my girlfriend. But truth be told I get tired very easily while traveling with her, I always feel like I get sleepy all the time and I just want to go back to bed.

    I don't know if this is mainly a stress issue (since we're about to change jobs and countries in one month) or if I have something else. I haven't been diagnosed with any illness in the past apart from epilepsy which I don't think has much to do with it but truth be told, there are some objectives in my life that I want to fullfil and yet this constant feeling of tiredness is holding me back.

    Should I seek a doctor?

    Thank you.

    EPILEPSY probably has everything to do with it.

    Do you have night seizures?

    Other kinds of seizures?

    Is your medication controlling the seizures?

    When was the last time you had your medication checked?

    And yes of course you need to see a Dr ... especially since you have epilepsy ... and especially since you are about to move to another country. At the very least you need to find out if you can get your medication in the new country.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Since your vegan, do you supplement with vitamin b12 or consume fortified foods with it? Also, how do your calories and protein levels look like?

    You might try to add B12 fortified nutritional yeast to your meals, if you’re not already using it. It can be used in cooking for a great umami cheesey flavour (sauces, gratin tops, homemade vegan cheese, for example) or just sprinkled on your meals where the flavour profile is savoury. Never tried it on fruit and yoghurt and probably not about to! 😉

    It’s available both with and without the B12 fortification so make sure you get the right one. It’s such a common deficiency in a vegan diet which is why it’s made with B12 added.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    I'll just add on the deficiency side of things, I note you've mentioned you're getting Protein & Supplementing some vitamins, are you meeting your fat requirements? Some vitamins including Vitamin D rely on fat intake for absorption. Just a thought as I didn't see this mentioned yet.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,588 Member
    https://www.epilepsy.org.au/about-epilepsy/living-with-epilepsy/

    "Get Enough Sleep
    Lack of sleep is a common trigger for seizures for many people with epilepsy. The amount of sleep a person needs will differ, but it is recommended that people with epilepsy stick to a regular bedtime and try to get a full night’s sleep (7–8 hours) as often as possible.

    People with epilepsy should not need an excessive amount of sleep. Constant tiredness and sleepiness may be a sign that medications may need adjusting. If you suffer from sleeplessness, excessive daytime sleepiness or overtiredness, discuss this with your doctor."


    https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/epilepsy-and-sleep

    "For people with epilepsy, sleep problems are a double-edged sword; epilepsy disturbs sleep and sleep deprivation aggravates epilepsy. The drugs used to treat epilepsy may also disturb sleep. Because lack of sleep is a trigger for seizures, achieving healthy sleep on a nightly basis is essential for people with epilepsy."


    And more.
  • kimondo666
    kimondo666 Posts: 194 Member
    how is your iron in the blood? Vegans can be pretty low on it.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,271 Member
    You mention that you take B12 oral supplements.

    however if your levels are low you probably need a course of B12 injections (probably only available on prescription - that is the case here anyway) to kick start it up to normal level - then oral may maintain it.

    This is very common amongst vegetarians/vegans - sometimes meat eaters too, but vegans/vegetarians are at more risk.

    But of course you need to see a Dr and get tested first - for deficiencies like this, thyroid function level etc
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    Same here, although I am not vegan. I had my blood drawn, had a sleep study, etc and everything came back fine. Viatimin D helped a little, B12 viatimins didn't help me at all. I believe that in my life when I am having exhaustion issues it's due to stress or not being able to turn off my thoughts at night (overthinking) - melatonin doesn't help. I do find that meditation or sitting quietly, alone for a little bit everyday helps clear my mind. However, my first suggestion would be to speak to a doctor. Good luck :smiley:
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    The first thing I would ask is if sleep disturbances or tiredness are side effects of any epilepsy medication you may be on. Given your medical history it may be worth going into a sleep clinic - I once dated a guy with petit mal seizures and he found he was having them several times at night without knowing it, leading to disturbed sleep.

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