There is something wrong with me and I’m scared

[Spottyphonecase]

A brief history - I am obese 18 stone. Before covid I was 22 stone. I have been very fortunate that I have never had any health problems due to my weight. I am 37. I have a job that I love and I enjoy going to. It’s not stressful at all. I only have a 30 minute commute each way. I eat healthy and drink 2 litres of water a day. I don’t drink alcohol or smoke. I hit my 3 rings on my Apple Watch each day and I stick to my calories. I do on average about 12k steps a day. My weight is coming off slowly. My children are late teens so I don’t have the stress of working and trying to manage home/childcare. Everyone at home helps out. I have no stress at all. I spend at least an hour on self care - yoga/meditation/journaling. I do have anxiety and have been on medication for 4 years.

Since January I have felt like crap. Getting up for work takes everything I have. At work is fine. I’m active, happy and have no complaints with how I’m feeling. When I finish work I feel like I have nothing left to give. I struggle to cook dinner or do anything. I go to bed about 10ish and my head hits the pillow. About 5am I wake everyday with a hacking cough. I have no cough throughout the day at all.

Weekends are awful. I wake up naturally about 7 and feel like I have been in a boxing ring. Every bone hurts and my head feels heavy and fuzzy. I get up and hurt so much I make it to the sofa. I then go back to sleep. Today I slept on the sofa until 6.30pm! Everyone is living their lives and I just sleep. I struggle to even lift my kindle to read. It’s 9.30 and I’m back in bed already as I can hardly lift my head to keep my eyes open.

My Dh is very concerned and I took two weeks leave at Easter as he was concerned it was work. I struggled to even get in the shower most days in that fortnight. Everything just ached.

I don’t understand why I’m okay at work. Is it because I have to do it? I can 100% say my job isn’t too much or stressful. When I leave work I don’t think about it until I go in the next day.

I have called the doctors and I can’t get seen. It’s not classed as an emergency and there are no appointments or telephone consultations to be had. Today I cried about it. Everything is open up, the weather is glorious and I just sleep. I just wanted to plant some flowers in the garden.

I have had my first dose of vaccine- Pfizer 7 weeks ago. I have been feeling like this a lot longer so it’s not linked. I haven’t had covid and due to my job I take a lateral flow test twice a week which is always negative.

I know this isn’t a medical forum but does anyone have any ideas of what could be wrong?

Hacking cough is a bit of an anomaly of a symptom here🤔. In any case, You need a work up. Check for thyroid issues etc. It could be many things and could well be something clear and easily fixed. You need to make them give you an appointment. You need it and deserve it. Do not take no for an answer.

I don’t know OP but I am the same. Fine at work, crackered when I get home. In bed before 9 last night, asleep by 10, woke at 7.20 this morning and looked dog shag awful. Was ok this morning as I was out, came home this afternoon and was so tired my head was fuzzy, too tired to even eat!
Am perking up a bit now, weirdly.
I don’t know what it is but it does suck. I am trying to remember to take my vitamins each day in the hope that will help.

Ask your GP for blood tests, I wonder if you may either be anaemic or have B12 deficiency. If your bloods all come back clear then don't be fobbed off, ask if it may be ME or for you to be referred for a second opinion. Make sure you are eating a diet high in iron & all vitamins while you are waiting.

I guess there's some possibility it could be long covid and you had it asymptomatically last year before the lateral flow tests became commonplace.

I think there’s lots of people feeling like this. I can get up in the morning and go to work even when feeling shit, I do get through the day without any fuckups, but I do crash and get to bed around 9pm. Then wake, not refreshed next morning.
Maybe a ‘long COVID’ symptom??

I'm going to say it's sleep apnoea. Do you snore? I'd ask to be referred to a sleep clinic.

@OppsUpsSide, your description sounds very like my anxiety disorder before I was diagnosed and treated. Weirdly I was happy and content but kept getting fuzzy head patches and exhausted patches. Feeling headachy and lethargic then totally fine other parts of the day. In the end it escalated and became clear by other symptoms. Just a thought, could be many things.

Hi , sounds like long Covid . You should go discuss it with your doctor . Hope you feel better soon xx

I felt like this until I was tested for various things for another reason and put on a loading dose of vitamin D because my levels were low. Vit D deficiency is particular common in obese women. You can pay for private testing.

Why is your surgery doing absolutely no appointments or telephone consultations?

Can you just ring them and ask them for a blood test form for the hospital? You should be able to pick it up from reception.

@WishingHopingThinkingPraying thank you, I have suffered with anxiety before but thought I was on top of it, especially as I can usually deal with the breathing issues quite well now. I will think on what you have said, thanks again!

I would NEVER have identified what I had as anxiety and didn't even know I was anxious. It's a strange condition, not as clear cut as I thought before experiencing it.

I'm gonna hedge my bets with the above poster and say sleep apnoea too, it's a high possibility due to your weight - if you ask for a referral to a sleep clinic they can send you home with a monitor to do a trial.

Do you have a carbon monoxide monitor at home? As you feel better when at work and lousy at home, might you have a gas leak?

I’d be asking for blood tests for thyroid, iron, ferritin levels and b12. I was on my knees in October but blamed work stress (full time nhs) and 3 dc 9-13 years old. But last March I was running half marathons. I’m much better (on iron tablets) and running again but I’m still not completely right. It’s hard to know what’s normal life stresses and what’s actually something that’s wrong. I’m now over weight (only since September and only 4lbs over) but mostly because I’ve been exhausted so eating quick easy stuff. Speak to your gp.

Firstly well done on your weight loss - you’ve done incredibly well!

As others have said, it is worth being forceful with your GP and insisting on a full run of blood tests. It may be something that’s relatively easy to resolve

re the energy for work and nothing else - sometimes I feel like that. I believe I’m operating on adrenaline / nervous energy which is why I’m wiped out at the end of the day

I would say vitamin D. My worst symptom was aching shins/bones but I just put it down to one of those things. Turns out my level was 9

There is no reason why gp shouldn’t see you or at least give you a telephone consultation- ours has been doing this all through covid- you have to fill in an econsult form first then go gets back to you within 2 days but ours has always called the next day.Is there anything like that on their website? If no joy with go I suggest you get a private consult if you can afford it-blood tests for thyroid iron etc- to rule them in or out and go from there .

Could be Lack of vitamin d

@QueenPaw

I would say vitamin D. My worst symptom was aching shins/bones but I just put it down to one of those things. Turns out my level was 9

Yes it was only when I was deficient that I understood what the term tired to the bone really meant.

I was able to cope at work too, the mental stimulation, change of scenery, bit of fresh air and sunshine getting there kept me going but then I'd be in bed by 7pm when I got home. Getting down the stairs in the morning was a challenge because my legs and joints were so sore and stiff...it crept up on me and I never really considered this wasn't normal!

I knew a few women who had something similar and it was vitamin d. Push for a test to rule this out if nothing else. One woman was on the brink of leaving her job as she was so broken. The locum doctor worked it out because the hair on her arms was falling out. She's fine now.

When I was 20 I worked full time whilst at uni full time, and had a hectic social life too - travelling any chance I got! As you can imagine, I was never at home, always out and about and very active.

Suddenly everything ached. Walking up the stairs at the train station gave me intense fatigue to the extent I had to move to the side and recover. My calves and shins permanently felt bruised. I had no energy at all, even moving out of bed required heaps of energy and I was really struggling to function. Turned out my vitamin d level was exceptionally low.

I can’t remember the figure but it was the lowest my GP had ever seen, he even brought in TWO junior doctors to sit in the appointment as it was that much of an anomaly. He gave me a loading dose and tablets and within a week I felt like a different person.

Get bloods taken. Deficiencies can be brutal.

I used to feel like this. I started taking Vit D spray, Floradix iron liquid supplement and B complex vitamins. All three helped. Please try this, It won't do you any harm and it might improve your energy within a couple of days. That deep bone ache and shattered feeling is typical of low Vitamin D. I strongly recommend the spray not tablets for Vitamin D as the body absorbs it properly (BetterYou D-Lux has two strengths - try the strongest one). And definitely the Floradix liquid iron not basic iron tablets as it doesn't cause constipation and ime made a difference very quickly.

If these don't help at all within a week, I'd go to the doctor.

It could also be peri-menopause which also leaves you achy and shattered. You might need GP tests to see if you have started that phase of life.

This sounds similar to finromyalgia, worth mentioning to your GP.
I hope you have some answers soon

@GreenSlide I still feel shattered to be honest but the aching has improved. Had 8 weeks of high dose treatment but I suspect my levels still aren't great as they were so low