Why am I so ridiculously tired?

[CaptainBrickbeard]

I’ve been tired for years really but there has always been a reason. I had a very stressful job up until last October and my youngest child didn’t sleep more than an hour or so for several years so I was pretty chronically sleep deprived.

Now though I have a very non-stressful lifestyle and get 7-8 hours uninterrupted sleep most nights which my FitBit tells me is mostly restful and restorative sleep. About once a week, I’m so shattered that I go to bed about 8pm and might get 9-10 hours sleep.

In the past few weeks - really throughout lockdown - I am exhausted. When I wake up in the morning, I am just thinking of when I will be able to go back to bed, always hoping the next day I’ll have more energy. I fall asleep every afternoon - today I came upstairs to get a kindle charger at about 3pm and lay down on my child’s bedroom floor and fell asleep on the carpet. I woke up very confused!

I’ve lost over three stone since January which has taken me from a BMI of 39 to 32 and I’m still losing weight. Obviously I still have quite a way to go! I eat low carb, keep calories about 1400-1500 most days and have cut out a lot of sugar.

I have cut out all caffeinated drinks after midday (usually drink two coffees in the morning but that’s it). We go for at least one long walk every day. I get outside in the fresh air as much as possible. I take multivitamins. I eat lots of vegetables.

What else can I do to combat this exhaustion?? I can’t understand why I am so tired all the time.

My mood has been very low in lockdown - obviously the worry of the whole situation, the difficulty of home schooling and I know I am very, very drained by having very little time to myself. I’m pretty introverted and so that’s hard. But could this physical fatigue really have a psychological cause?

Falling asleep on the carpet today really bothered me. It doesn’t seem in any way normal.

I just want to feel like I have some energy again! I’m really struggling to do anything more than the barest minimum. Has anyone ever experienced this?

Not trying to be funny but is fatigue like that not a Coronavirus symptom?

Menopause symptoms, thyroid functioning, iron deficiency? Maybe blood tests can rule things out.

Aquamarine thank you! I’m very motivated to keep going with the weight loss - I know it will make me better overall.

Nacreous I hadn’t really thought about driving because I’m not doing much of it nowadays - would definitely worry if I was. But our life has become such a small and local thing, I might only drive once or twice a week no longer than fifteen minutes at a time.

Hannah it crossed my mind! I had some very mild symptoms just before lockdown that could have been an extremely minor case of covid and my children did as well so I have thought could it be a lingering after effect but when I was hardly ill at the time I don’t know how likely that is.

giggling diabetes is a worry. I drink a lot of water all the time so do wee very frequently and that could mask an increase due to diabetes I suppose be it’s normal for me already.

anxious I definitely worry that I would go for a blood test and find everything normal and feel like I was a time-waster! Have you found anything to help with the anxiety?

There is loads of good advice on here and I can see the only way to know what’s going on is to get a blood test so I’ll find out what our GP surgery is doing now in terms of seeing patients again.

You should always discuss fatigue and unexplained weight loss with your GP.

Any other symptoms? Night sweats? Bleeding gums/nosebleeds/bruising? Feeling like you ache to your very bones? Breathlessness? Catching one damned bug after another? Any tenderness anywhere, or feeling of fullness.

Tell your GP the whole list, if those are present or any others. Clusters of non-specific symptoms can be awkward to diagnose, so doctor needs as full a picture as possible.

Blood tests (including full blood count) can rule out some conditions immediately, and give useful clues about others. So I add my voice to those saying get them done.

There's no way a competent GP will think you are a time waster with the two symptoms you give in the opening post.

Captain glad you aren't having to go too far - I am knackered at the moment but work has been insane since Covid started. I am thanking my lucky stars I moved job so don't have to drive much, as I hate driving tired.

@Impatientwino - Thank you: I've just subscribed to Thriva and gone for the whole shebang of tests.

Definitely get a gp appointment op especially as you mentioned just falling asleep out of the blue like that and in particular if it’s unusual for you. Do you have heavy periods
I had extremely low ferritin levels and always felt exhausted so now always take a iron supplement.
I also had years of sleep deprivation due to dcs not sleeping for years. I honestly believe that this has had an effect , I’m still recovering (although it’s only been 6 months since my youngest has started to sleep through at 3 years old) . I’ve always needed a lot of sleep , pre kids I could easily sleep 9/10 hours and felt so great. Now often in reality I get 6/7 hours and it’s just not enough although huge improvement overall. Are you better on more sleep? What are your days like?
I’ve recently felt exhausted but that’s because I’m with kids 24/7 , no school here until September.. My dh is out of the house 6 days a week as he has to be , I work freelance but at the moment have put that on hold but I’m so much more tired than when I was working and kids were in school. I’m an introvert and need downtime and headspace and at the moment it’s noise and constant demands from 7am to 8pm and in no job have I felt this exhausted. Could it be the current situation?

Thefab that’s it entirely. I think it’s very likely to be situational - I’m in very similar circumstances as you and it’s making me realise how introverted I am and how draining the non stop interaction is. I also have extremely heavy periods and during them I tend to feel absolutely dreadful for a couple of days.

scaveola thankfully I don’t have the other symptoms you have listed and my weight loss has been very much intentional and due to dieting. But I agree I’d better see a doctor about the fatigue.

Op heavy periods can lead to anemia or ferritin deficiency. Definitely get a blood test done and gps now are prob quiet so You should book an appointment.
I felt rough before discovering mine were as low as 5. They have picked up significantly through iron supplements but if I’m totally honest I feel really exhausted again all the time now despite still taking them.
I actually took a day off to do some diy work (I’m pretty handy) and it was such a break and I felt rested after a full day of physical labour!
I love my kids more than anything but I’m totally burnt out. Do you have any time that you can take just for yourself ? I have read some threads on here where other people are saying it’s difficult to get up in the mornings and I have to say I also relate to this and this is nothing like me, I also just collapse at around 8pm. Could you have mild depression maybe? I think in my case it is tbh.
Like most people get a break through work and school from their kids , we are talking here almost 6 months of no school/childcare here and although we spend loads of time outside life is still so limited and it’s all so intense and my kids are really well behaved etc.
Effectively our independence has been removed and I feel like parents and kids are forgotten. I mean the last day I had to get something essential from a pharmacy and I literally couldn’t , I couldn’t leave 3 kids in a car and I couldn’t take them in. Sounds like a small issue but it sort of hit me like wtaf is this?!
I think that constant feeling of being trapped and not knowing is exhausting. I feel like I could sleep for weeks and genuinely need it...

Yes, I can’t get up in the mornings and I’m a total lark most of the time - I usually love being outside at 6am. Now I can’t pull myself out of bed until closer to 8am and absolutely collapse at 8pm as well.

My kids are lovely but I am exhausted by non stop interaction and the stress of managing their schoolwork simultaneously, motivating them etc. I am fantasising about having a week’s holiday ALONE in a remote cottage with no other human beings at all where I could work and read and sleep and have long uninterrupted baths..!

And I had the exact same experience with the pharmacy - suddenly minor errands involve huge decisions and loads of complications! It is absolutely intense and overwhelming.

Usually my parents would have the children at least one day a week after school - and they are desperate to take care of them now, but both unfortunately shielding so not able. I really miss that time to myself.

There’s a hilarious post here where the op had to go to a+e thankfully over something minor but she said she had a lovely time

Any chance it could be Lyme disease?

You sound anaemic/iron deficient. I had low iron and really low ferritin, was really tired and had very heavy periods (made worse by the copper coil). A few months of prescribed iron tablets sorted me out and now I maintain my levels with a multivitamin (helps avoid B12 and vit D deficiencies too, which I was prone to). I'd definitely recommend you chat to your GP, it is really easily sorted and you'll feel miles better.

I went on a radical diet and lost loads of weight but got too thin and it turned out I had a serious thyroid problem.
At the same time so called 'friends' who were into competitive thinness were all congratulatory. ....
Tbh my face looked like shit even if I was size ten.

@CaptainBrickbeard Just wondering if you ever got to the bottom of this OP? How are you feeling now?