To think I can't be this tired for no reason

[Brieandcamembert]

I am 39. I have 2 children 1& 3. I work 4 days per week. I exercise, I'm a healthy weight. I eat relatively well.

I am permanently exhausted. I was before the children so it's not pure parenting.

I sleep 9:30pm -6 week days and 9:30 -6:30/ 7am weekends. I nap on the afternoons I'm not working and they sleep. I also have a lie down for 10 minutes after they go to bed before I start evening jobs.

I have a busy life, kids, work, gym, cleaning etc but this is insane. I started sertraline as I was snappy and irritable but it made no difference. I think I'm just so exhausted I'm irritable from it.

Bloods all came back normal. Surely something is being missed? It's ruining my life as I'm so exhausted I'm in a bad mood do often. My life is good, I'm not depressed.

Juat to add to the fun, I'm always knackered too and I have high ferritin. Round about 300. No idea what it means.

I found an oura ring fantastically helpful. https://ouraring.com/

Also get tested for coeliac (not usually done unless you ask specifically) - if you have it and you are unaware (symptoms don't always show), it means you're not absorbing nutrients from food which in turn will obviously make you exhausted. My DD had it for ages before we worked out what it was. It often comes with other signs (bloating, gas, stomach pain, gastrointestinal difficulties generally) but not always. Worth a blood test to rule out if nothing else.

Look into hemochromatosis. My dad has it and he gives a pint of blood twice month and has been so much better!

There are a lot of bitty answers here narrowing you down on specific conditions without suggesting doing general screening.

Ask your GP for an appt to take a history, do a physical exam and organise a tired all the time screen. These blood tests will screen for various causes of chronic fatigue including e.g. thyroid disorders/coeliac/hyponatremia/CKD etc. There are hundreds of conditions which can cause fatigue symptoms, from postural tachycardia syndrome to lymphoma and I don't think anyone should be self-diagnosing low iron and starting supplements without blood screening, as another (admittedly rarer) cause of tiredness can be iron overload from haemachromatosis.

If nothing comes up on your screen, have a look at the symptoms of perimenopause.

I was exactly the same, and my bloods came back normal - but I had a gp friend look at them and they said my iron and vitamin D levels were both on the low end of the normal range, and that I should supplement both. I did that and also my husband started getting up with the kids every day (we had been alternating beforehand, and I seem to need more sleep than everyone else). I feel like a different person now, and I start to feel the exhaustion again if I let the vitamins slip. I'd buy a liquid vitamin combo that has everything in it and see how you feel after a couple of weeks.

Given the timeline, could it be Long Covid. You are doing a lot, but symptoms vary a lot in severity and there is no diagnostic test for it. My husband started with long Covid in 2021. He had it badly for about two years, then it slowly got better. He had a virus a couple of months ago, followed by a chest infection. It triggered his Long Covid again. There is good evidence that this happens, as they now think it’s likely an immune response.

Buy a Vitamin D spray and some iron capsules. If it is either of those, you'll feel better within a few days.

I get tired on less than 9 hours sleep at least a few times a week. If they’re 1 and 3 are you actually sleeping straight through? If not you could be getting 7-7.5 hours sleep consistently . That would destroy me.

Carbon monoxide. When did you last have your boiler serviced?

If you are able to I’d look at a full sleep study, not the one you get on the NHS. I had 3, all showing I didn’t have sleep apnea, I went private and found out I was taking 6 hours to move from the first rem cycle to the 2nd so although I was sleeping non stop I wasn’t actually getting proper sleep.

I was also diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, but i suffer a lot of chronic pain on top of fatigue, if dosnt sound like your in pain op.

When I was having a magnitude of tests done I was told by 2 separate rheumatologists that the tests the GPs do don’t actually give the best results and many of them don’t always know what to ask or look for.

Push for more tests and answers, but I’d definitely look at going private if you can.

Give it 3 weeks. That is more realistic, so don't give up too early. Go into an independent pharmacy and ask for a proper therapeutic dose of both supplements.

Just looked up my results. My red blood cell count was only in normal limits my 0.06. Thank you for the tip. It was reported as all normal by the receptionist so I didn't even speak to a GP. I didn't realise they tell you it's fine without looking at the nu.bers.

I have B12 injections every 12 weeks but since I've been taking vitamin D, magnesium and a multivitamin with iron in its the only time in my adult life I've not been tired. I'm assuming the vitamin D is having the most effect, as I definitely won't get enough from my diet and I don't spend much time in the sun. Give it a few months and that might really help

OP, I’ve always needed to be in bed for 8-9 hours, and I cannot handle late nights - my body feels hungover, even if I hadn’t drink!

How do you feel during the day? Do you perform well at work, the gym etc?

Your ferratin may have been done but the NHS guidelines are very low. They class between 40-400 as normal and less than 15 as low. Mine is 27 which they said was fine.

Other guidelines suggest it should be at least 100.

Iron supplements might help you.

Do you have a link to the nice guidelines? I couldn't find anything reliable when searching recently.

I hope you get to the bottom of it OP.

It really feels like no one bothers doesn't it. I had bloods done and two came back outside the ranges but noone ever contacted me, I asked GP who insisted it was fine and I didn't have the strength to insist.

The start of perimenopause? Exhausted and cranky sounds about right.

i had bloods and had them checked over by a friend who’s a nurse, my ferritin levels were fine (the stores) but the levels in my actual general blood count were low (but within range) rang GP to discuss and they said all fine no issue, that my tiredness was probably because I’m a mum who works full time 🙄

I use Solgar gentle iron, I find the OTC ferrous tablets dont agree with me but worth a try first as they’re a bit cheaper.

For anyone needing vitamin D, the Better You sprays were on offer in Boots & Holland&Barrett a few days ago.

Floradix is an amazing iron supplement and works very quickly so worth starting on that.

when my ferritin was low, I was cream crackered. Get it checked and ask for the actual number. The UK guidelines say 20 - 200 are ok. Mine was at 22 and I went on iron. You need at least 70-80 to feel human.

Thank you all so much. This has been so helpful amd do validating. I was do upset when the GP came back saying nothing is wrong, just carry on. I knew I wasn't OK.

It's not strong enough to make any difference if you're badly anaemic.

The Sertraline will be making you tired. You should also avoid coffee on Sertraline; when I first started taking it, I was always tired and started gaining weight, which I had NEVER done before. I then learned that if you mix caffeine and Sertraline, this effectively intensifies your dose of Sert in the blood stream. So I stopped coffee, the tiredness lifted (weirdly) and I lost all the extra weight within a few weeks.

What’s the actual results with your b12? The nhs has incredibly low pass rate so you can be very ill with a b12 deficiency yet told you’re fine