What the fuck is wrong with me

[sleepymcsleepface]

I’m unsure if there’s something wrong with me or not.

I’ve been horrifically exhausted recently. It probably started roughly a few months ago and has been getting worse ever since. I used to be fine with 8 hours of sleep a night (I would feel a bit tired but not exhausted) but now I’m getting even more sleep than that and I permanently feel so so tired. My typical schedule now is to come home from work or uni and nap for at least 3 hours. Then I wake up and get ready and go to bed and sleep through. I cannot go a day without napping or sleeping or else I can barely keep my eyes open and I just feel so drained and tired

i don’t understand why I’m so tired recently. I’m not stressed or anxious or depressed. Im not sleep deprived or over-slept, I’m not dieting or eating badly, I’m not otherwise unwell and I recently had a full blood test which was fine. I’ve had some other bizarre symptoms but this is the worst. I permanently feel like I’ve been hit by a car and I’m so tired. I even got the train home from uni and was so exhausted from doing that and walking 10 minutes to the house from the station that I was falling asleep as I was barely in the door.

anyone else ever had this? I recently met up with my friends and was so tired I could barely stay awake over lunch. I slept on the train home then again when I got home then I woke up and went to bed for the night because I was so exhausted. I’m really struggling with this and I can’t explain why but I have a horrible feeling something isn’t right with my body but I don’t know what/why. It’s just a gut instinct

Perimenopause? Low iron? Any other medical conditions undiagnosed like thyroid etc?

No I’m not menopause or peri menopause age. The GP thought I might be anaemic from my symptoms but I wasn’t (and my results weren’t on the low end of normal either) same with thyroid x

Did they check your vitamin D?

What are your other bizarre symptoms?

I've been feeling similar fatigue recently and it did turn out to be low vitamin D

Sleep apnea?

You say you're not meno or peri age... are you young? And do you have kids? I used to sleep constantly before I "had to get up and deal". I think if someone took the kids for 12h I'd spend it in bed tbh... It's def not unusual to sleep loads as a teen or 20s though

Glandular fever, long covid, thyroid. Only a visit to your GP will start the process of finding a cause and a treatment.

Pregnant?

I was permanently exhausted in the first trimester.

Sorry, just seen your update re GP.

Diabetes? Are you drinking loads, or have regular thrush?

Chronic fatigue? It won't show on any blood tests, and your GP is likely to suggest it once everything else is ruled out. I suffer from it and it's a bugger. No amount of sleep will put it right.

Google chronic fatigue and 'pacing' and see if that helps at all.

Could it be ME? I felt like this when I suffered from it, I couldn't even push the vacuum around, and was frequently falling asleep. What are the other symptoms?

I’ve had extreme fatigue with a urine infection so it could be worth getting that checked but there’s loads of things that cause tiredness.

Are you pregnant? I get extreme tiredness with all my pregnancies (currently battling through it the 3rd time round 🫠)

Yes - been there, done that and got the t-shirt. I had a number of problems which all contributed to this (and still have, but nowadays I have several meds and a CPAP machine which keep things on an even keel most of the time)

I have 2 sleep disorders. One allied to Restless legs ( PLMD) and Sleep Apnoea. The PLMD is worse when I am low (for me) on B12. Normal range is quite wide and frequently got told that B12 was in normal range - but at the lower end. But I get pins and needles and muscle spasms at that lower end, so I take B12 supplements. Also have been prescribed medication for the same. I have a CPAP machine for the Sleep Apnoea. I needed a night at a sleep clinic for these things to be diagnosed.

More recently I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, which makes you very tired if your sugars are too high - but I presume your GP tested for that.

So if your bloods have been thoroughly tested for all the things which might make you tired, I would ask for a referral to a sleep clinic to check that out. People can think they have had a 'good' night's sleep, when in reality there sleep has been disturbed all night only they don't realise it.

Ask for your LSH levels for thyroid. For some reason America has a much lesser level and NHS seems wildly high. I had this issue and got put on levothyroxine and it's perked me up. Had to argue my case, though.

Helped me to conceive after 4 years too. But I appreciate that's probably irrelevant here.

Have you had your vitamin d checked? I felt like that when mine was really low

I was reading about someone with similar symptoms recently in the book The Health Fix. I can't remember her diagnosis but it turned out to be a combination of lots of lifestyle issues I think, combined with previous illness.

The author is a medical doctor and also does free podcasts so they might be worth a listen. His name is Ayan Panja.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/saving-lives-in-slow-motion/id1573742958

I was the same and it was a combination of low vitamin D and Fibromyalgia

Have you had an infection recently?

Did the blood test include CRP (it's a measure of inflammation)?

If not, I'd ask for it to be repeated with that and vitamin D included.

Did they check your ferritin? My iron was okay but ferritin was 6 and I was really struggling with exhaustion.

I could have written this! I'm really struggling at the moment, fed up of losing so much of my day to napping.

It started about a year ago for me and originally I put it down to exhaustion after going through some difficult life events, but I don't know why I still feel like this and it seems to be getting worse rather than any better.

It’s odd that even before this you would feel a bit tired on 8 hours sleep.

I think you need to go back to the GP for more tests.