Lethargy

AnnPT77

Ddsb11 wrote: »

I love that you brought up hypnotherapy because it’s been something I’ve long considered, due to the subconscious nature of nightmares. Another thing that has been brought to my attention is acupuncture. I never would have considered that before, and turns out it is used for practically everything imaginable. I prefer seeking these options before drugs any day. Glad you found success with hypnotherapy!

Funny side note-

My aunt was obese and even though she was nearly 50 and I was 24 she was my best friend. She didn’t want to go to a hypnotist alone for weight loss and asked me to go to an event with her where the hypnotist would hypnotize the audience. I said sure, and didn’t think it would have impacted me at all. I attribute never binging again to that 3 hour session, which I typically did at least once a week prior. It could just be a bazaar coincidence but the only thing I did differently was getting hypnotized.

I'm going to come across as more alt-health here than I actually really am (I think), but I've had acupuncture, too - for knee problems, not insomnia. It's another thing that I didn't expect to work, frankly, but was willing to try.

The opportunity in that case was not via desperation, though. My late husband was a teacher of Chinese martial arts (though not Chinese), and I studied fairly diligently myself for around 8 years. Our lineage's teacher was an older Taiwanese-American guy with great martial arts lineage, who would come here to teach workshops in a couple of nearby places. When he taught in our city, he'd stay with us. He was also licensed in his home state to practice acupuncture (it often used to be practiced and taught alongside martial arts in his youth in Taiwan). I was having regular, pretty significant knee pain, and he was traveling with plenty of sterile acupuncture needles, so he offered to treat me with acupuncture and moxibustion (it's a "heat the needles" thing) at our house. He said he would do some unusual things because it could only be one treatment.

I didn't expect much, but knew he wouldn't injure me, and it seemed gracious to accept (I thought) so I did. The results were amazing. I went from routinely being in discomfort, often pain to the point of limping during my normal office workdays, to no pain; and was able to do the weekend's workshops without aggravating pain, besides. It was effective for a very long time (years), but I had some further joint degradation and soft-tissue injury, and gradually got worse again. Another opportunity hasn't presented itself, and weight loss went a huge way toward eliminating my pain anyway. It's minor, these days, at most.

I don't know about acupuncture for nightmares, but IMO it's worth a try for pain, if a good practitioner is available.

kshama2001

Acupuncture has helped me for other pain issues, but not my recent struggle with golfer's elbow. However, I meditated for the half hour I was left alone on the table with the needles in, and that was very helpful for my state of mind. I brought an MP3 player and played a guided meditation. Often I fell asleep.

That came to an end when we locked down.

I've been having therapy therapy, and while we are not addressing sleep at all, I have been waking less and thus sleeping better. I also changed what I eat before bed. See:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10819241/how-foods-may-affect-our-sleep

kshama2001

I'm thinking about brain fog again. I've been doing some volunteer text banking. We have multiple canned responses and different actions to do depending on what the response is. When I was text banking in the fall and again in December and January, I caught myself making a lot of mistakes. (Ex: Archive instead of Opt Out, vice versa, etc.) This time I've noticed I haven't made a single mistake, which is amazing! I changed up my iron regimen mid-December. Getting blood work again next week and will be interested to review the numbers.

Ddsb11

kshama2001 wrote: »

I'm thinking about brain fog again. I've been doing some volunteer text banking. We have multiple canned responses and different actions to do depending on what the response is. When I was text banking in the fall and again in December and January, I caught myself making a lot of mistakes. (Ex: Archive instead of Opt Out, vice versa, etc.) This time I've noticed I haven't made a single mistake, which is amazing! I changed up my iron regimen mid-December. Getting blood work again next week and will be interested to review the numbers.

I’d love to try Acupuncture for all the things I don’t know is wrong with me. Not sure if people ever just go in and say that, but sometimes we get so used to feeling bad that that becomes our normal. So it would be nice to just say, I feel lethargic, foggy, low mood... what’s wrong with me? And them say, oh wow your intestines are inflamed... or whatever. Just would love that aha! moment.

Sounds like low iron is a big culprit for many people here. I have my appointment on Thursday so we’ll see if that’s the case for me as well. Until then, I’ve been trying to be mindful about getting outside for some fresh air and sunshine, taking more brief walks, seeing if that changes anything at all. I just want to be actively trying to improve my situation and not just complaining to myself about it. I’m kind of tired of my negative self talk at this point lol.

Let us know how your appointment goes!

AnnPT77

Ddsb11 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

I'm thinking about brain fog again. I've been doing some volunteer text banking. We have multiple canned responses and different actions to do depending on what the response is. When I was text banking in the fall and again in December and January, I caught myself making a lot of mistakes. (Ex: Archive instead of Opt Out, vice versa, etc.) This time I've noticed I haven't made a single mistake, which is amazing! I changed up my iron regimen mid-December. Getting blood work again next week and will be interested to review the numbers.

I’d love to try Acupuncture for all the things I don’t know is wrong with me. Not sure if people ever just go in and say that, but sometimes we get so used to feeling bad that that becomes our normal. So it would be nice to just say, I feel lethargic, foggy, low mood... what’s wrong with me? And them say, oh wow your intestines are inflamed... or whatever. Just would love that aha! moment.

Sounds like low iron is a big culprit for many people here. I have my appointment on Thursday so we’ll see if that’s the case for me as well. Until then, I’ve been trying to be mindful about getting outside for some fresh air and sunshine, taking more brief walks, seeing if that changes anything at all. I just want to be actively trying to improve my situation and not just complaining to myself about it. I’m kind of tired of my negative self talk at this point lol.

Let us know how your appointment goes!

Depending on the particular acupuncture practitioner, they may be more willing to look at a condition as a wholistic general malaise, rather than diagnosing down to a specific body part or acute health condition. The traditional Chinese medicine perspective is a whole different paradigm from standard Western medicine; now they collaborate and interplay, both in the field as a whole and even in individual practitioners.

I don't have an opinion on how good a thing that "different paradigm" is, but it's definitely not just like Western scientific medicine's, so I wouldn't assume that you need a very specific symptom set in order to consult an acupuncture practitioner.

Iwannabeapunkrockmom

I have chronic fatigue syndrome. I think it relates to the autoimmune issues I have (Celiac disease and RA). I have adhd-i and was also recently diagnosed with Cognitive Deficit Disorder, and one of the main symptoms of that is chronic fatigue as well. Honestly I don't know which health issue causes which problem, but I was put on some meds and feel much more in step with those around me now.

Ddsb11

Iwannabeapunkrockmom wrote: »

I have chronic fatigue syndrome. I think it relates to the autoimmune issues I have (Celiac disease and RA). I have adhd-i and was also recently diagnosed with Cognitive Deficit Disorder, and one of the main symptoms of that is chronic fatigue as well. Honestly I don't know which health issue causes which problem, but I was put on some meds and feel much more in step with those around me now.

It’s such a relief to feel like yourself again, that’s awesome!

cianag

Regarding bloodwork, I use directlabs.com and order the tests myself. I order a basic workup every January, and when I was watching my cholesterol, I could just buy that one test and see how I was doing. (Interestingly, going vegan for 2 months had no effect on my cholesterol, but eating beans reduced it by 10% in a short time.) Anyway, I would have to pay for it myself if I saw the doctor, anyway, and it's fast. I just had a draw on Friday, and my results should be ready tomorrow online. I'm not suggesting not visiting your doctor, but if you are interested in your bloodwork values, you can DIY it before seeing your doctor so you both have something to talk about. I always give the results to my doctor at my annual visit. Also, there are other companies that let you order online other than Direct Labs, but I've been using them for about 5 years now. It's so handy.

elisa123gal

drink water and get hydrated... eat more... move more..

Ddsb11

cianag wrote: »

Regarding bloodwork, I use directlabs.com and order the tests myself. I order a basic workup every January, and when I was watching my cholesterol, I could just buy that one test and see how I was doing. (Interestingly, going vegan for 2 months had no effect on my cholesterol, but eating beans reduced it by 10% in a short time.) Anyway, I would have to pay for it myself if I saw the doctor, anyway, and it's fast. I just had a draw on Friday, and my results should be ready tomorrow online. I'm not suggesting not visiting your doctor, but if you are interested in your bloodwork values, you can DIY it before seeing your doctor so you both have something to talk about. I always give the results to my doctor at my annual visit. Also, there are other companies that let you order online other than Direct Labs, but I've been using them for about 5 years now. It's so handy.

Oh wow! That’s good to know! I went to my appointment last Thursday, but might use this in the future. Great option!