These are my symptoms. What is wrong?

[MirabelM]

For as long as I can remember, I have very little energy beyond going to work as a teacher, sorting out my two kids, house and husband and general day to day stuff. I'm sick of feeling soooo tired. My exhaustion is now affecting my kids and husband.

Symptoms include: fatigue, exhaustion, never waking up refreshed, irritable, very low mood, tearfulness, slow weight gain, brain feels heavy sometimes and cannot juggle thoughts or tasks.

I've had blood taken recently and awaiting results but I'm worried. I'm worried there'll be something majorly wrong but at the same time worried there'll be absolutely nothing physically wrong so I cannot fix it.

Please help. I just feel like crying.

Weight gain is probably poor diet choices at times. Tbh I feel worse during the school holidays as I have two young kids to entertain from dawn till dusk. At least at school I get half hour lunch in peace!! Well relative peace. I dread the weekends as I can't keep up and just feel battered.

B12 and iron are my bets! I get a b12 injection. It's good.

I suffer with most of these and it's trial and error. For me right now it's down to:
Lactose intolerance
Gluten intolerance (probably the biggest factor for me, the change in going gluten free has been remarkable)
Gynaecology issues (still getting to the bottom of it)

Again possibly also some kind of vitamin deficiency, peri menopause, and so on.

@MirabelM

I take anti depressants for anxiety and low level depression. So not meaning to drip feed. I've gone private ly for bloods as I wanted a full lot done and not just usual ones. I don't think the GP has ever checked my thyroid just gave me some iron tablets. I'm genuinely so down at feeling like this. I've been wishing for a small bump in the car or something just to give me some time off! Sad isn't it

Have a look at subthreshold bipolar disorder and see if that fits your mood. AFAIK clinical depression is a fixed state not something that switches between depression and anxiety. Bipolar isn't correctly treated with antidepressants.

It does sound as if you have a thyroid deficiency as the symptoms fit. That's linked with a mood disorder too. The problem is that doctors measure what your thyroid produces but they don't look at what is being absorbed by the brain, so the deficiency may be there. You'd need to go private to look into that properly.

Someone mentioned ME. For it to be that you need to feel significantly worse after overdoing it. Not just tired or exhausted, but aching and feeling like you have the flu.

Also be aware that your iron stores/ferritin should be >50ug/mL in the context of your symptoms, even though the NHS deem anything above 10ug/mL to be ok. So if needed, focus on building your iron up and look at alternate day dosing.

Will do @Notlostjustexploring I'll cry if GP says there are no issues as it cannot be normal. I feel like I'm in the body of a pensioner

@mirabel, I bet it is a thyroid deficiency. If it is and it will be show in a blood test they will give you levothyroxine. Excessive tiredness, constipation, dry in skin and eyes, poor concentration, feeling low and steady but slow weight gain. Classic low thyroid symptoms.

Stress

"There's a link between tinnitus and B12"

Yes, I had this with b12 deficiency too as well as heart palpitations

Sounds like me. I recently found out I have a condition called hyperparathyroidism which causes this (you can get a blood test for calcium levels and PTH to diagnose this), which causes these symptoms. I am also 'subclinical' hypothyroid though so I'm not sure if this is a factor.

I think more blood tests would be a good call for you. If your GP will not listen, medichecks are good.

Hopefully something will show up in your blood work. Make sure you are taking at least a multivitamin with iron though

If your bloods come back that you aren't deficient in anything I think you should try antidepressants.

Keep getting tested, push for hormone test, track period and try hrt if you can. I did all of that and I've got ME/CFS diagnosis by ruling out other options. It's shit
It sucks. But it's best to know.

Another vote for B12 or Iron issues.

The fatigue, irritability, brain fog and hair falling out.

The only way I can describe myself when my level were at the worst was it was like severe PMS on steroids. Mood swings from angry to despair. Overreacting to everything and everyone.

Following treatment, the mood stabilised very quickly but the fatigue took about 5 weeks to start improving and 10 to feel fully normal.

Sorry, just read you are on anti depressants. To be honest, you sound like you need a break to rest. A work and child free couple of days. I don't know how realistic this is for you. Either way keep on at your GP as you don't have to feel like this xx

If it is not iron/thyroid then look at Louise Newson's Balance App as it also sound very, very perimenopausal.

More often than not GPs do bloods to check for iron/vit B/D and thyroid....and if they are all clear AND if you are over 45, you are pretty much assumed to be perimenopausal and HRT can totally give you back your life.

If under 45 they should do FSH tests to confirm...but they can be a bit rubbish and need to be taken on the right day of your cycle to be worthwhile. So if everything else comes back normal but no FSH was done ask for it to be done and check it is done on the right day of your cycle. 41 would be considered early - but not really amazingly early.

How are your periods?

Heavy/frequent/long can also tie in with thyroid and/or peri - as hormone related.

Not read every comment sorry, but be careful with iron levels and ask the doctor for the precise figures. The range for "normal no action required" is huge. I feel awful (exhausted, achey, hair coming out, breathless) if I get too low even if the number isn't quite low enough to be called anaemia.

Thanks so much everyone.

I genuinely cannot remember the last time I woke up refreshed and excited for the day. I just feel like I'm letting my kids down. I really do. I just want to be fixed. Be better. How long do blood tests take??

Also, do you have restless legs, as in difficult to lie straight in bed and have to continually move to get comfort as it is another symptom that a lot of people get

Yes! The medication directly replaces the lacking hormone and so resolves symptoms, occasionally the fatigue starts again, just a matter of a blood test and increased medication. Extremely common, especially in women but a fairly benign condition overall.

Periods are heavy. Was put on contractive pill in November to help with bad PMS and heavy period. Made some difference to PMS but not heaviness.

I would also say thyroid. I had an overactive thyroid and after 3 years i had a partial thyroidectomy. After about 10 years a blood test showed that I was borderline underactive but the GP didn't want to give me medication with those levels but I explained how bad I felt with similar symptoms to you plus a really bad memory, you could tell me something and five minutes later I couldn't even remember the subject never mind the context. They tried me on levothyroxine and I am now fine. Good luck op hope you soon get sorted.

@NeverChange no restless legs. Once I'm in bed, it's pretty much game over and I'm asleep!

@Ffsmakeitstop I'm the same memory wise and forget what word I'm after.

If your GP have you iron tablets, they had presumably found you had low ferritin (iron stores)? Low ferritin alone can make you feel exhausted/cause hair loss/tinnitus etc.

You need to ask for a printout of your blood results, or if you are signed up online with your GP you should be able to view your past tests. Find out your ferritin and post here. You need to know how bad it is.

How often do you get a proper rest? A break from all your responsibilities?