I never, ever feel well, or not exhausted. What 1 thing would you suggest that has improved your wellbeing?

[Bemyclementine]

I'm in a vicious circle of feeling ill, run down and tired and as a result not looking after myself properly, exercising or eating well. Which can only make me feel worse.

I'm so fed up with constant tiredness and illness.

I do suffer with anaemia and hypothyroidism which doesn't help, along with high BP. I am overweight. Im 45. I have 2 small children who bring ALL the germs home.

I am determined to turn things around. I am upping my water intake, adding in a small fruit and veg smoothie, a multivitamin of some sort.

What else? I need an easy meal plan (happy to eat the same thing a lot!) Especially for breakfast and lunch.

If you've started doing, taking, eating, drinking something that you feel has been beneficial, please share!

Never trust the fact you haven’t heard anything about your latest blood test results.
Or that you are told ‘everything is ok’.

Speaking from experience here….

@SwollenAnkles123 ha well yes, but I've suffered with anaemia for 30 yrs, and the thyroid problem 5.5 yrs, I didnt feel this bad when I was first diagnosed (and had 2 dc under 2!)

@RetiredEarly my thyroxine has increased 3 times after test results. I'm sure I'm due a check anyway so will book in..

Check how low iron is. Iron infusions are absolutely amazing. There is a threshold level , not sure if this is higher privately, but if you drop low enough push for one

Everytime you put on weight you need to take more thyroxine. The dose is relative to your body weight. When you go for repeat bloods ask them how to access your results on the NHS app. Ask them if the will do TSH and free T3 and Free T4. They will probably say no, just TSH, but its worth asking. Also try and get Vit D, iron, B12, Magnesium, Calcium, Parathyroid, Ferritin and a CBC

You can feel more and more ill as time goes on with hypothyroidism if undertreated. There may be something else also going on of course. Vitamin deficiencies are common with hypothyroidism.

As you know the anaemia and hypo are problems I'd check these out first.

Also further problems can develop with hypo such as you can stop converting T4 to T3 (this happened to me).

I also wouldn't go off what the GP says alone. It's very commonly undertreated. Your TSH for example should be around 1 when on thyroid meds. Very often GPs say it's in range and think this is sufficient. You want a TSH around 1 and FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of their ranges.

Number one - High Dose Vitamin D

Extras - Magnesium and B12

(but honestly, even though I wasn't clinically outside the range) Vitamin D3, first and foremost

I love this list!

Easing off screens! The days I put my phone away early (have a sick little man I’m listening out for tonight) and just read before bed I find life changing. I also try not to reach for the phone in the morning and I stand outside before anyone gets up and just take in the day! Best of luck op, some great suggestions here

@stayathomer I definitely need to ease off screen. Get to bed and read instead of mindless scrolling. I find it difficult, having been single fir so long, I'm on my iwn every night once the dc are in bed so phone/social media has become my company.

@Arewehumanorarewecupboards I love all the little rituals. It's a lovely idea.

I'm working on getting to bed earlier, less phone use. A decent vitamin, and some smoothies full of fruits and veg. I'm feeling particularly bad this week so small things to start.

Advert Olympics - I sit in the kitchen and prepare food watching tv, and every time the adverts come on I walk round my kitchen island. 2000 steps equals a mile.

We switched from semi skimmed milk to full fat at the beginning of the epidemic, and I have definitely felt better since we did that.

This. Vitamin d deficiency is really common in the Northern hemisphere. Everyone needs to take a good supplement between October and March as a minimum.

OP probably not what you want to hear but I lost all my extra weight (4 stone). My diabetes went completely into remission/reversed. I always felt like shit and tried bits and bobs here and there, but realised one day this would be life unless I majorly changed it. It's weird because I'd struggled with diets forever losing a bit and putting it back on with no real progress but something just clicked. It was very hard but I just had a different motivation and stuck with it.

Did everything right for the first time, no more fad diets (Ive tried everything believe me!) Sorted out my shit eating, cut out drinking, exercised, no takeaways, took vitamins and all that. Honestly I used to feel like you did (although you're probably not overweight like I was), and life is so much better now. It's worth just going for it with no short cuts.

@Outofthepark I do need to lose weight. Feeling so rubbish all the time is making it a huge struggle. I'm reasonably active (13k steps a day and outside everyday) but just don't have the energy to exercise properly. I used to do really well at meal planning and need to get back into the habit. Well done on your weight loss!

Vitamin B complex

I have an under active thyroid too. I have struggled for years with fatigue even though my medication level is okay.
I have made a few changes that have really made a huge difference to my energy levels:
no/v low alcohol, min caffeine, min sugar & processed food, vitamins (rise & energise - vit d, magnesium, b vits + more), omega fish oils 3,6,9, Ginkgo Biloba, drinking more water and kefir.
I feel so much better.

Where do you find out about this link? I honestly didn't know this.

Find out your TSH number from the blood test - the ‘normal’ range is very misleading - normal is something like 0.5 to 4.5 I feel totally rubbish when it’s near the top end of 4.5 - so we aim to keep mine nearer the 0.5 makes the world of difference to how I feel.

always take on an empty stomach, I take mine when I first wake up even if I’m going back to sleep as it’s too early.

Drinking lots of water also livens me up plus reducing processed sugar.

Hope you feel better soon 🌸

One thing I do remember being told by a GP about an under active thyroid is that your thyroid controls your zest for life and if it’s out of whack you’re really going to feel it.

Severely reduce caffeine intake - and nothing after 12pm.

Eat plenty of cabbage, broccoli and other green leafy veg. These contain plenty of the nutrients that will help restore damage to your gut from persistent tiredness and associated stresses. Gut health is the first frontier of most health issues, as a healthy gut can process nutrients a lot more effectively for you.

Not so much volume of exercise but frequency of exercise - if you can try and move morning, lunch and dinner, I find that allows you an endorphin boost through the day.

Some vitamins eg biotin mess with your thyroid blood tests so give a false reading. If you take any medication always check with your go before starting herbal or vitamins.

Vitamins.
Cod liver oil, Glucosamine, turmeric, vitamins B, C and D. All have made a big difference to me recently. Also Magnesium to sleep.

HRT if you need it

Exercise of some sort

Massively reducing alcohol ( will also help with sleep)

A good skincare routine.

is there any possibility of you taking a weeks annual leave just to concentrate on you, getting enough sleep, reorganising your kitchen so cooking healthily from scratch is easier some decent rest and nice exercise , decent walks and take a healthy picnic
I know this may be impossible due to needing to save annual leave for school holidays ( but if really run down a week's sick leave could be the answer)

@Cottagecheeseisnotcheese I would LOVEto do that, but as you say, I need to save all my leave. I actually had to take a weeks leave a couple of weeks ago asmy son had strep throat which I then caught. I've had too much time off sick so am being "monitored" at work, they expect me to not be ill for 6 months. Again, I'd bloody love to not be ill. I'm not sure what would happen if I was.