To wonder if it's normal to be this tired?

[Midori1999]

I am exhausted. Beyond exhausted. Sometimes it's worse than others and I feel like I physically haven't got any strength or energy and couldn't walk anywhere, other times it's 'just' overwhelming tiredness. So tired I can't imagine how I'll get through the day and sometimes I feel I have no choice but to nap. I often feel physically sick/nauseous and get headaches or migraines due to tiredness.

However, I do have five DC. The older two are old enough to be pretty self sufficient but my 11 year old had Down's syndrome and can be difficult at times, my other two are 3.5 and 18 months. Sometimes the youngest still wakes at night. So I think it's normal to be tired, right?

I'm also at risk of developing a health condition called Lupus though, which does cause extreme fatigue and I do have some other symptoms of that. I also have some other health conditions and I feel like in always at the GP or hospital and would feel like an idiot going to the GP and saying I think I may have lupus when it's normal tiredness.

AIBU to see the GP?

Absolutely not. It's normal to be tired but this doesn't sound like normal tiredness. Best to get it checked out.
I'm no expert, mind, but I think I'd sooner feel a tit for getting checked out and it being nothing, than for not getting checked out and it being something. If you see what I mean.

No, not at all. I'm experiencing something similar and have just had blood drawn to check for thyroid issues and vitamin d deficiency (which my sister has just been diagnosed with).

You need to take care of yourself so you can take care of your DC.

What makes you think you're developing Lupus? Have you just decided this based on google or has a doctor told you ?

As for your question AIBU to see a doctor ... Well of course not. Nobody in here can diagnose you! Ask for full bloods and take it from there

No! See the GP for a check up & bloods! No wonder you're tired coping with what you have to but the GP would rather see you. Hopefully it's something as simple as anaemia but you really do need to see GP to rule out anything more serious.
I really hope you feel better soon. Sending unmumsnetty ((hugs))

Thanks. I do have regular blood tests anyway as I'm being treated for another condition, so I think anaemia and anything that would show in normal blood tests would be noticed. I've also recently had a thyroid check (my endocrinologist suggested it) as I'm also deemed at risk for that apparently.

Primrose, I'm just wondering as I already have two other autoimmune disorders, one of which is antiphospholipid syndrome, which is closely linked to lupus from what i understand. I was getting aching joints (knees and hands mainly) which I thought might be early signs of arthritis or something as my Grandad had rheumatoid arthritis, but as it was manageable I never saw a doctor about it. It's improved since I've been on oral steroids though. I have also noticed a rash on my face, which seems to be made worse by the sun, across my nose and cheeks. At first I thought it was sunburn, but it's more like a dry rash and isn't sunburn. So those things along with the tiredness make me wonder, but I don't like to make a fuss and until the last couple of years when I've been diagnosed with the autoimmune conditions I've barely been to the GP, so now I feel like I'm never out of the place.

What about coeliac disease? This could account for the tiredness and the rash.

Go to the GP and get blood tests. Your instincts are telling you something is wrong.

When you say 'at risk' of thyroid disorder, do you know what your most recent TSH level was? There's a lot of debate about the currently accepted 'normal range' of TSH in the UK and much suggestion that if you are symptomatic of hypothyroidism, you should trial replacement thyroxine at below the accepted upper threshold.

Have you looked into CFS/ME?