To feel like this after a standard day? Could this be because of historic pressure?

[Jeesterday]

I had a very stressful and tiring time the last couple of years. I had almost full care of my DD since birth with limited help from her dad. She’s now 2 years 8 months and since she was 2 I’ve had a lot of help… she’s in nursery 4 days a week while I’m at work and she sees her dad for either a Friday or Saturday night and Saturday day. She sleeps through mostly so I’m getting lots of sleep and I have lots of time to myself to rest or see friends and relax.

But I am SO exhausted all the time. I’ve had blood tests and all normal, including iron levels. I take a multi vitamin and have done for years. I feel like a l zombie after being awake a few hours and when I work from home I have to have a nap at lunchtime just to carry on! I often go to sleep at 8:30 when DD is in bed. I’m only 39, is this normal? Could it be a delayed response to prior exhaustion?

I think that sounds plausible. Listen to your body , if you need to sleep earlier then do, Don’t fight it & exhaust yourself. if you need a nap then try to have, even Power Nap at weekend can help.

Get some blood tests at your GP. Could be thyroid issue, perimenopause or any number of other things. It could just be the pressure like you say but if it's not better to get to the bottom of it with your GP.

I’ve had lots of blood tests and all come back normal. I really don’t understand it it’s like full on exhaustion and falling asleep almost!

I'm going through similar at the moment and wondering if it's long covid.

I was in a similar situation, had my bloods done and they came back normal - but when I asked for them and checked in with a GP friend, my vitamin D and iron levels were on the lower end of normal rather than bang in the middle and they told me it could still explain my tiredness at that level. I started taking supplements and it made a huge difference. It might be worth a closer look - the information you need re what is normal etc is all online. I hope you feel better x

Have you had vitamin B12 tested? The reference ranges for that are quite low and people often do better off with a higher level than the reference ranges suggest.

It could be ‘ME’. I’ve heard about it. I think best you can do is give your body the rest it needs . Also try ginseng?

Is your job stressful? With that, the age of toddler and sharing with XP I can imagine there’s a huge mental burden that must be exhausting. B12 and supplements sounds helpful - have you considered earlyish perimenopause too?

I think there's a reason biologically you're meant to have children when you're younger. I had my DC at 40 and I've been exhausted ever since! I've had bloods done, and low in Vit D. But I honestly think you do start 'ageing' which doesn't mix well with young children. That's been my personal experience anyway.