To wonder whether I'm unwell or just getting old?

[LadyRabbit]

At what age do bits start falling off?
I can't tell whether I'm just knackered (permanently) or this is the new norm now that I'm in my forties.
Always been active and fit (marathons etc) never a big drinker, healthy diet etc. but for the last six months I am permanently tired, have a headache that requires strong painkillers three days a week and every time there is a bug, I get it and am laid low for days on end. I work part to full time ish (funny hours), have great childcare and cleaner so it's not like I'm doing a ten hour day and having a shed load of housework to do. Incredibly supportive DH. DS almost 4.

BUT

I just don't feel like myself. I have to drag myself out of bed every day and this isn't like me. Not depressed, quite content I guess but ache physically frequently.

Should I just get used to it? Is this what happens when you get to a certain age? Or should I go to the GP? And if I did what would I say, "I'm knackered all the time!"??!

Anyone else feel this way?

Have you had your eyes tested recently? Your about the right age to start needing glasses. Constantly straining to read/see (albeit unconsciously) will make you tired and give you headaches.

Is DS in school or at a CM/nursery? They pick up all sorts of bugs from other kids which he could be passing on to you.

Get your thyroid checked.

Get to the GP and explain you have been feeling exhausted for the last 6 months and suffering frequent headaches. It does sound like anaemia to me, but definitely something you should see the GP for so you can get the right medication. You will probably need a blood test to test for anaemia, and possibly to rule out other possible causes of the fatigue, therefore you need to see the GP to get the blood tests.

Second get a thyroid check. I felt like you say at 30! Twas my thyroid.
Then again i felt like that last year and discovered i was very pregnant! !

OK so it's not old age already... To the GP I shall go.
Are thyroid issues heriditary? My mum has had some issues, but it wasn't until her fifties.
And rosiedays how was your pregnancy post thyroid treatment? We are hoping to try for DC2 soon but I didn't want to until I felt back to normal again.
Will get eyesight checked too, I'm shortsighted anyway but haven't noticed any major change in reading etc.
Thanks all. I feel less decrepit now!

I could have written your post myself a month ago. My advice is to trust your instincts - I have just come out of hospital after being admitted for a fever that I couldn't shake off. Turns out I had pelvic inflammatory disease with an abscess bubbling away. I'm not suggesting you are suffering from the same condition, but just urging you to trust in your instincts. I was annoying myself in the end analysing how I was feeling and getting fobbed off by my GP but I just felt something wasn't right. I've more than likely been left with permanent damage as it had been festering away for so long and wish I had had the energy to fight a bit harder for diagnostic tests when I first felt run down.

lady rabbit my pregnancy was a huge surprise at 44! A well controlled thyroid is not a problem. Couple of extra blood tests and usually up the does of thyroxine a bit. My dd3 is currently commando crawling round my ankles :)
Hope you feel better soon. Xx

Don't want to alarm you but this is how I felt going into the menopause. (and still do..especially the headache part!) You say you want another baby so I would definitely go to Drs and get checked out. Hope its not.

I feel exactly like this! Having just read Marylou's post, I now think I know what it is though...

Nah, get checked out. A bit knackered most of the time, crap at work on less than a full night's sleep, slight aches and pains on a wet day, arms too short for small print, forgetting what you went upstairs for, opinion on everything, that's being over 40. You sound distinctly peaky dear and should be under the doctor. Get checked out. Eyes, thyroid, iron, the works. get your moneys worth.

My colleague was like this and she turned out to be gluten intolerant. It was basically stopping her absorbing any goodness from her food.

Hmm maybe I should go too, defo feel I should get my eyes tested. Just haven't come out of being knocked since ds stated sleeping tgrough, been 6 months now.

I second the gluten comment, I feel 10, sometimes 20 years younger since finally getting confirmation that I am coeliac. Ask to be tested at the drs, its initially just a blood test so can be done if they check your iron levels (which plummet with undiagnosed coeliacs) Good luck!

I turned 40 last year and like you have been permanently tired. Also I'm suddenly intolerant to everything, face creams, my Lancôme make up, smelly candles, bloody everything! I've had to switch to all natural products and be extremely careful what I expose myself to, even touching a fabric will cause my fingers to swell up. I got full check up bloods etc and they were all totally clear!!! Dr says it could be the beginning of menopause, very early! She said it's very early at my age (that made me feel so old!)

However, I did have food intolerance testing done and while I'm not gluten intolerant, I'm lactose, egg, and wheat intolerant and I definitely am feeling big improvements in the tiredness since I've started making diet changes. Still having the other skin/sensory reactions though :(

Oh Lawd, these early menopause comments are worrying me. I could set my watch by my cycles, regular as clockwork however I have noticed that the cycle has been shorter by three days in the last year. I just presumed it was Mother Nature telling me to hurry up and make a baby omelette from these eggs and in a hurry!
Can one develop a gluten intolerance? I always presumed you just were or not; I've not been allergic to anything in the past. (Please don't let this mean I have to give up cake.)
Have made appointment, will ask for all tests available to me. I don't go to the GP very often so I think she'll take me seriously when I say I'm really not feeling right.
I love you Mumsnet. If this is early menopause there's no other bunch of broads I'd rather commiserate over it with.

I have the 'Falling Apart' thing going on too (nearly 48)

I had a blood test done - not menopausal but just on the edge (I'm peri menopausal I reckon, all the symptoms are stacking up)
Cholesterol a bit high (in hand)
Not diabetic, liver fine, thyroid fine
But having constant ongoing pain (low level but can flare up) back pain.
And after a scan (ovaries and liver fine) but a gallstone.
I'm relieved it's not me going a tad loopy, it's tangible.
Just have to get rid of it now

Hey I had the falling apart thing going on at 37 Dr said per menopausal ! I asked for a scan as I had pain under right boob. Turned out to be whopping bloody gall stones. Put on list to have gall bladder removed but had bad attack of pain and collapsed. Taken to hospital and had gall bladder removed next day. Feeling much better now. Only moan is they wouldn't let me see the gall stones. Yes you've guessed it elf and safety again

Sugar I'm just wondering what you're other symptoms were besides the breast pain? Did you have bloating for example? I know the wheat intolerance has not helped with my tummy bloating but even when I'm at my strictest regarding my intake of wheat I feel like if you stuck a pin in me I'd burst. Very frustrating as I've lost most of my baby weight but still look pregnant no matter how much exercise and Pilates I do.

Lady rabbit apparently you can develop the intolerance later in adulthood. I have been doing a bit of inner self work and a friend was telling me this could be a reason for developing intolerances also.

Don't forget to ask for a vitamin D test. Similar symptoms to anaemia and if you spend a lot of time indoors you may be very deficient and hardly able to get out of bed.

Let us know how you get on.

I had constant migraine before I was diagnosed with my thyroid, along with the lethargy, hair thinning etc. I had just broken up with my husband and assumed all my symptoms were down to the heartbreak but my thyroid was basically shot! I can't remember the full details because I am on heavy meds and my brain isn't working as it should but there are 2 types of test they need to do for thyroid, one can show ok whilst the other is wrong, I am sure someone else will be able to explain it better. I would definitely have that ruled out first, I think mine must have been bad for years when I look back on that time and, although the meds make a huge difference it takes a while to get the dosage right.

should add I was late thirties when I was diagnosed!

I also felt like this and thought "I guess this is what your early 40s are like when you have three young children" I let it go on a year and a half. I also had severe anaemia - it dated back to a miscarriage. I literally was a new woman after having treatment for six months.

Please see your GP.