Is it normal to feel exhausted every morning and struggle to get up?

[LittleRebelGirl]

I'm 38. For as long as I can remember I have been exhausted in the morning. Today I have been awake since 7am, with my alarm sounding every 5 minutes. I still didn't manage to get out of bed until 8.05 then had to rush to get the children to school. Every morning is similar, each day it is a fight to get up and I have to rush around getting ready. Today I'm tired still and it is 10.45, I also have a headache to boot. I went to bed at 9.45pm last night, so it isn't lack of sleep as such.
Weekends I will sleep til 11 if left, I set my alarm for 8.30 and snooze it continuously for hours. I just don't want to get up. I generally get up between 9-10 though, but usually I'm still tired.
Obviously if there is something going on that day I get up earlier, but if not I always lie in.
I do generally get 8 hours a night, but like last night it was almost 11 hours and still not enough.
I know I am not anaemic, but I do have low ferritin. GP not interested though. I try to have a reasonable diet and take a multivitamin. I eat very little meat - no red meat at all. Only chicken. I mostly eat a veggie diet.
I'm just so fed up of feeling like this. I'm not depressed, no MH issues. I've had low moods at times of stress, but nothing that keeps me down long term.
I don't regularly use hormonal contraception, I did have the depo in Nov but since age 17 I have probably spent maybe 4 or 5 years in total with hormonal contraception. So I can't put anything down to that.
I don't take any other medication or have any major medical issues. I am overweight significantly currently. My weight has yoyoed from bmi 24-44 over the last 20 years. Multiple times. Being in a normal weight category didn't make any difference. Still tired and sluggish every morning.
The tiredness doesn't always last all day. But the getting up in the morning extreme tiredness has always been there.
Is anyone else like this? Has anyone cured it? Is this just me forever now?

How low is your ferritin? I have low ferritin (14) but normal iron levels. Veggie diet here too. I’ve found getting up in the mornings a struggle. I’m on iron tablets now to raise my levels. Low Vitamin D can make you feel exhausted too.

1. It has been a few years since it was checked. I'd hope it was higher now due to vitamin intake. I also take 20mcg vit d. I did buy ferrous sulphate otc and tried that for a couple of weeks but I couldn't tolerate 1 a day even as it just gave me awful nausea.

I'm not sure why it has turned my 3 in to some kind of out of order numerical list system 🤣. But my ferritin was 3!

Have you had your thyroid checked?

No, that's not normal OP, particularly as you're only 38. As long as you're in good health you should be able to get up pretty easily most mornings after about 7 hours of sleep. You're sleeping loads! You go to bed at 9.45 and then don't get up until 11 if left to sleep? That's 13 hours of sleep. I'd go and see your GP. Something isn't right.

Low iron?
Low vitamin D?

Supplement and see how you feel

Have your thyroid checked. And always tell your gp about severe tiredness.
I went in 2021 because I kept falling asleep by 7pm. He sent me straight for a mammogram and I was diagnosed with BC. Found at an early stage, thankfully, but acute tiredness is always something to get checked out. Don't wait!

Is it possible it could be sleep apnoea, GP said if I was falling asleep fairly well but waking up knackered it could be that.

Do you feel cold a lot op? Could point toward thyroid issue.. def something to rule out of not already reviewed.

The GP needs to do some tests. My Vit D was so low that I had pains right through my body and I was exhausted to the point of falling asleep mid afternoon. Once I got Vit D pills I felt much better. 20mcg is nothing - my pills are 625mcg!

I feel like that all the time
I take vitamin d high dose and a multi vitamin and do have hashimotos but I'm so tired

I've just called the GP to check when I last had my bloods done. Fbc was 4 years ago and hb 158, ferritin 20, 6 months before that it was 3, so it had come up to what they class as normal (but to me 20 is still low). B12 was normal (they didn't tell me the actual result though).
Tsh was 1.3 that was done 3 months ago along with some other bloods as I was potentially going to be given Roaccutane for acne.
Vit d levels I don't remember being checked.
Yes I feel the cold a lot. Frequently cold hands and feet.
I generally to to bed between 11-12, to wake around 7. But this doesn't seem enough. Yes, if left to sleep I could easily sleep 12 hours every day and still be wanting more. My bladder doesn't even disturb me!

Definitely points to either a thyroid issue or iron deficiency anemia.

I hope you can get tested and on some meds for it.

I felt like this until I started taking a very high dose vit d spray. Within a week all my early morning aches and pains had gone.

Just managed to get online to my blood results. I can see my b12 was 213 which is just above the 211 cut off.
Folate was well within normal.

If you can’t tolerate ferrous sulphate, ferrous furnate in my experience isn’t as harsh on the stomach.

I could have written this. I could sleep 12 hours and still feel tired. It's debilitating. I've been like this as long as I can remember and in only 35

How is your healthy normally? You said you're overweight (most of us are), but are you generally well. Do you exercise? I don't mean pounding it out at the gym, but do you get enough physical movement in during the day? Do you eat well? You said you're mostly veggie, but do you get lots of variety in fruits and veg, lots of good quality protein? Have you had your vitamin D checked? When I felt truly exhausted, it was related to a vitamin D deficiency.

I started with peri menopause at 38. I know it's around a lot at the moment but I'm now 40 and know lots of women my age who have symptoms. Hope you get sorted op x

Sleep apnoea is my first thought especially if you have weight issues.

I totally empathise, I am very similar and left to my own devices, with no alarm and no one/nothing waking me up, I could sleep for 12 hours solid easily. I have never had any tests but I am generally in good health apart from mild asthma & eczema, active lifestyle, normal BMI, decent diet etc. I am in my early 50s but have always been this way (and so is DS, 23). Like you OP, I make sure I get 7-8 hours sleep at least but I don't feel fully awake until at least 11am, despite getting up before 7.30am most days and walking the dog/ sorting horses first thing, so plenty of fresh air & exercise. I always set my alarm for half an hour before I actually need to get up as it takes me so long to wake up to the extent that I can actually move and between snoozes I regularly go straight back into REM sleep and dream.

Some people have told me that they are envious as I find it really easy to fall into a deep sleep and stay asleep but I think my life would be a lot easier if I were more of a morning person as I don't ever do anything productive that requires engaging my brain until the afternoon and can then work well into the evening, which isn't a great fit with family life.

I've just learned to accept and manage it over the years but I don't think I will ever find mornings easy. For example, I try to schedule meetings and difficult tasks later in the day and keep things I need to focus on for late afternoon and early evening, which isn't a good fit with family life or easy to do if you don't have flexibility & autonomy at work. I try to avoid very early flights if I'm going away because I find it such a challenge and always spend the first few days of the trip exhausted.

Now following this thread with interest in the hope that someone comes along to offer a miracle diagnosis and cure!

I have been like that for years. Hashimoto's thyroiditis diagnosed at 22. I have to have days where I rest as I get fatigued on a regular basis.

A ferritin level of 3 is VERY low and needs to be urgently addressed, regardless of your HB (haemoglobin) level.

I went through extreme anaemia for about 2-3 years after my daughter was born (age 37-40y) and it was no joke. I was, like you, absolutely exhausted and drained. I never felt good on waking up and throughout the day I felt very drained all the time with just little sparks of energy here and there.

My anaemia was being caused by very heavy periods and the fact I ate a mostly veggie (+ some chicken/fish) diet. I too was unable to tolerate regular / prescription iron supplements. Simply, each month I was bleeding out and because I wasn’t taking in much (if any) iron in my diet, I was making myself more and more ill.

Firstly, with anaemia you need to understand two things:

• What is causing your anaemia? In women it’s typically heavy periods, but it could also be undiagnosed absorption issues, from something like coeliacs disease. Or even, bleeding gums, stomach ulcers etc.
• That ferritin is your stored iron, so once that is low (yours is in the floor), your body then starts to use up all the other available iron. This means all the other iron related functions will start to fail (haemocrit etc), so your GP needs to carry out a ‘full iron panel’ of blood tests. The last one to fail is your Hb - once that is low, then you’re really up shit street and need to act.

Ferritin ideally needs to be at 75+ - lower than 50 and you might feel symptoms. Mine was at 2 and I felt like death.

I had to drastically alter my diet for a long time, I also had to have a hysterectomy, but if I could have opted for a Mirena coil to stop my periods, I would have done (that’s if you’re anaemic due to periods).

I don't think I can ever remember not being exhausted as soon as I wake up.

I'm 42, marginally overweight (about a stone over) and whether I sleep 2 hours of 13 hours I struggle. I try to keep active, so I do martial arts and have had every test going. I take vitamins and eat well, I think I'm just a tired person

Have you booked another blood test?

I'm permanently tired but all GP's are dismissive because I've always been like this, they blame my T1 diabetes.