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Original poster

Is it normal to feel awful all the time?

64 replies

MaryAndHerNet · 26/05/2022 07:43

I'm 42 and for as long as I can remember I've felt terrible. Like I'm always coming down with something that never actually turns up.

Today I've woken after another fitful sleep with yet another headache.
My stomach churning about.
Nose half blocked.
Achey all over and generally feeling like I went and drank 10 shots of vodka before bed, which I didn't, I don't drink alcohol at all.

Is this just how it is for everyone?

Is everyone just a zombie hidden by caffeine?

I see people rushing about and cheerfully taking on the day.. are they big faker phonies on stronger coffee than I've got?

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryAndHerNet · 26/05/2022 09:51

Stick your tongue out in front of a mirror - does it have a white coating?

No white coating, just looked normal to me but I can't remember last time I looked at my tongue.. is that odd? 🤔

I dont have any kind of cravings, never have had tbh. I know I have to eat but it's not something I enjoy, it's a chore really. Relevant? Probably not.

I might look at omega3 of it helps sleep, I don't feel anxiety or the 'down' feeling of depression.

I don't know about sinus infection, if it is, it's been a very long lasting, worth a mention to Dr though.

I'm not hypermobile, as I understand it anyway. I have a normal range of motion in my joints from what I can tell.

OP posts:
LindaEllen · 26/05/2022 10:20

Definitely see GP for bloods.
Also, is there any mould in your home? Above the windows maybe? And do you have a carbon monoxide detector?

Intrigueddotcom · 26/05/2022 10:25

I think being unemployed will play a huge part in this.

Demotivate, bored and fairly empty days. Probably lonely

is finding employment a possibility

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General health
LeeMucklowesCurtains · 26/05/2022 10:38

I felt shit for most of my life. I was always really tired as well.

At 41, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. I didn’t have any of the classic symptoms but my blood levels for it were through the roof.

Cut out gluten from that day and a year on, I feel amazing. Felt better within a month of changing my diet.

prohodilka · 26/05/2022 10:50

There is also something called chronic toxicity, kind of a sustained low dose poisoning that takes place over the years. It might be accidental or having to do with where you live or what's in your house or be due to other natural causes or it might be not. And while it is rare, a doctor should be able to detect this, after he or she's tried tests for other things that occur more frequently.

Buzzinwithbez · 26/05/2022 12:39

How much caffeine are you having?

What you describe sounds like me when the amount of coffee I drink creeps up. A low level feeling of coming down with something, followed by more extreme caffeine withdrawal symptoms every so often.

romany4 · 26/05/2022 12:48

SmiledWtherisingsun · 26/05/2022 08:19

Peri menopausal

This ^^
Felt shit from 42-45.
Now 50 and feeling much better

tcjotm · 26/05/2022 13:21

Low vitamin D makes me feel half dead. Given the way you feel when you wake, try a snoring app and see how much you snore. Could well be sleep apnea going on too.

BooseysMom · 26/05/2022 13:26

Felt shit from 42-45.
Now 50 and feeling much better

I'm 50 and feel utterly shite on a permanent basis! When I was 41 I had DS and felt like a different person ... I had energy I didn't know I had!! Which was just as well with a newborn!

Original poster
MaryAndHerNet · 26/05/2022 14:03

No mold I can see, I've had a nose around windows and such. Monoxide I might check, but we dont have gas.

Demotivate, bored and fairly empty days. Probably lonely
I don't feel those emotions.
I felt worse when employed as I had these same symptoms as well as trying to fit in where I didn't.

Caffeine I cut back on massively about 3 years back. These days I have 3 cups of 1 teaspoon of instant. 1 when I get up, 1 around 11.30am and a last one at 3pm

I might try recording myself see if I snore, I don't think I do, but I don't share a bed with anyone who could tell me.

The Dr rang and he's booked me I to have bloods including thyroid etc. He thinks it's all related to mental health and not so much physical..

OP posts:
Innocenta · 26/05/2022 14:40

AceofPentacles · 26/05/2022 09:43

If you are neurodiverse are you also hyper mobile? I have struggled with feeling shit all my life (pain, IBS, heartburn, ear/nose issues, fatigue all seemingly unrelated) and two years ago was diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome which is more common in autistic people. It also means I have to work harder to absorb vitamins/nutrients as normal diet/supplements have not much effect. This might not apply to you of course but I wish I'd known about it sooner.

@AceofPentacles This is such an incredibly irresponsible suggestion. People are not qualified to assess their own degree of hypermobility, and even if someone is hypermobile, it doesn't mean they have EDS. Please be careful not to spread misinformation about this condition! It already has a very negative reputation with healthcare professionals.

Innocenta · 26/05/2022 14:42

@MaryAndHerNet Some of the things people are suggesting in this thread are pseudoscience, so please be careful about which ones you accept as real possibilities! Definitely a very good idea to see your GP and get the bloods done x

TedMullins · 26/05/2022 14:48

This is me. All my blood tests are normal (had the iron, B12, thyroid, diabetes, coeliac etc) and I’m being investigated for chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and bowel/digestive issues. I’ve been tired since my teens - I remember having to go home from school at lunchtime to sleep. It’s got worse since I turned 30 and I wake up like you, stiff, achey, disorientated and hungover-feeling. Some weekends I sleep 80% of the weekend. It’s taken me over a decade to get taken seriously by a doctor and pursue the diagnoses mentioned because they don’t show up on blood tests. I changed my primary GP to Babylon (the app) its free if you have it as your only GP and the service has been quick, thorough and incredibly helpful. I’d highly recommend it - once all the bloods have been done, if nothing shows up, they should refer you to a specialist for whatever they think might be wrong.

letsnotdothat · 26/05/2022 14:52

Doesn’t sound normal to me, no. You need to push this with your GP. I doubt it’s anything massively sinister if you have felt this way for years, you’d probably be dead by now if so. It may be hormonal or some sort of deficiency. Thyroid possibly?

LeeMucklowesCurtains · 26/05/2022 15:00

TedMullins · 26/05/2022 14:48

This is me. All my blood tests are normal (had the iron, B12, thyroid, diabetes, coeliac etc) and I’m being investigated for chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and bowel/digestive issues. I’ve been tired since my teens - I remember having to go home from school at lunchtime to sleep. It’s got worse since I turned 30 and I wake up like you, stiff, achey, disorientated and hungover-feeling. Some weekends I sleep 80% of the weekend. It’s taken me over a decade to get taken seriously by a doctor and pursue the diagnoses mentioned because they don’t show up on blood tests. I changed my primary GP to Babylon (the app) its free if you have it as your only GP and the service has been quick, thorough and incredibly helpful. I’d highly recommend it - once all the bloods have been done, if nothing shows up, they should refer you to a specialist for whatever they think might be wrong.

Yes - I was only finally taken seriously when I switched to Babylon as my nhs go. Because it’s so anonymous with hundreds of GPs, they don’t tend to argue or take things personally like GP surgeries do, they just listen to the problem refer for tests right away. That’s what I’ve found anyway.

Not much help to anyone who doesn’t live in Birmingham or London though, only place they can be your actual NHS gp.

SchoolNightWine · 26/05/2022 15:41

AceofPentacles · 26/05/2022 09:43

If you are neurodiverse are you also hyper mobile? I have struggled with feeling shit all my life (pain, IBS, heartburn, ear/nose issues, fatigue all seemingly unrelated) and two years ago was diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome which is more common in autistic people. It also means I have to work harder to absorb vitamins/nutrients as normal diet/supplements have not much effect. This might not apply to you of course but I wish I'd known about it sooner.

I was going to mention hyper mobility too. I've just been diagnosed at 50 years old, and feel that my whole medical history has been re-written!

SchoolNightWine · 26/05/2022 15:46

MaryAndHerNet · 26/05/2022 09:51

Stick your tongue out in front of a mirror - does it have a white coating?

No white coating, just looked normal to me but I can't remember last time I looked at my tongue.. is that odd? 🤔

I dont have any kind of cravings, never have had tbh. I know I have to eat but it's not something I enjoy, it's a chore really. Relevant? Probably not.

I might look at omega3 of it helps sleep, I don't feel anxiety or the 'down' feeling of depression.

I don't know about sinus infection, if it is, it's been a very long lasting, worth a mention to Dr though.

I'm not hypermobile, as I understand it anyway. I have a normal range of motion in my joints from what I can tell.

I feel exactly as you describe, and have never woken up feeling refreshed.
I have just been diagnosed as hypermobile, as someone mentioned further up, but would not have been using the Beighton score - you don't have to be super bendy to be hypermobile. Do you have any foot problems - bunions, Achilles pain, plantar fasciitis, etc? These are all common problems with hypermobility, and it was seeming an MSK podiatrist for those, that got me the diagnosis.

Justleaveitblankthen · 26/05/2022 16:03

Ask to have your testosterone levels checked. The recent Davina Mccall documentary, Sex & The Menopause is a very interesting watch that may give some pointers.

Fenella123 · 26/05/2022 16:12

Mental health is physical though. The brain is a big lump of biological stuff!

Kris02 · 26/05/2022 16:44

Has anyone mentioned stress? Never underestimate the effect it can have on the body. Modern life really is making us ill. I'm stressed and exhausted just from the commute to work. There are too many people, too many cars, too many flashing screens, too much bad news, and too much goddam noise. By the end of the week most people's nerves are shredded.

We tend to think of mind and body as separate, which is crazy. Stress, like depression, has a physical effect – you feel it in your arms and legs and stomach. And it can trigger all kinds of weird symptoms, from skin rashes to hair loss. I should think aches and pains could certainly be traced back to stress.

Innocenta · 26/05/2022 17:55

@Fenella123 You are 100% right!

AceofPentacles · 26/05/2022 20:33

@Innocenta how is it irresponsible to suggest other avenues of exploration for someone who has been feeling shit all their life? Is it irresponsible to suggest they may have thyroid issues or anything else? I didn't suggest people self diagnose themselves, if you have EDS you will know how difficult it is to get a diagnosis unless you've had very significant issues since birth. I struggled for YEARS since childhood not knowing what was wrong with me and being sent to umpteen different specialists so I think people should be aware of EDS as a condition regardless of whether or not they want to investigate a possible diagnosis or not .

Innocenta · 26/05/2022 20:35

@AceofPentacles EDS patients have a horrific reputation among healthcare professionals partly because of encouraging self diagnosis and pushing people into believing that any self perceived hypermobility (which often isn't even judged correctly) is a sign of EDS. Nothing that OP mentioned is even indicative of EDS!

Intrigueddotcom · 27/05/2022 06:24

But my point is is….

if you are unemployed
one school age child
Struggling for money
Otherwise for and healthy ie no disability preventing you from working

surely you must be rather bored and aimless? You are 42… that is young!

and I wonder whether that contributes

Rosehugger · 27/05/2022 06:33

No, I'm 46 and normally feel.great, and really notice if I've had a poor night's sleep or eaten something that makes me feel rubbish or had a little too much to drink. I also do yoga regularly and it keeps me sane - I don't feel as well mentally or physically without it.