To think it’s not normal and ‘just my age’ to be this tired?

[Pompomfloofball]

I’m 42.
I have to children - 16 and 9 and I work four days a week. I’m also a t1 diabetic which does possibly not help and my diet isn’t good. I take a multivitamin and B12.
I am absolutely exhausted - like all the time. I am now turning down things with friends and family because I am just simply too tired. On my non working day the kids say, ‘what are we doing?’and even though it’s the holiday I have to say - nothing. I need to sleep.
in the term time I have been spending my non working day asleep after the school run.

Overnight I get 7 hours sleep and I wake up just thinking about when I can go back to sleep. I’ve just been asleep for three hours despite not getting up took 9am today. When I’m working from home it is inevitable that I’ll fall asleep - even if I don’t mean to.
Im exhausted after a short walk.

I saw the GP and he basically said you aren’t 20 anymore and you’re in peri so what do you expect. He grudgingly booked bloods for this week for me.

I’m not overweight - bmi is around 19/20. I don’t smoke / vape or drink. My diet is sketchy - I am not interested in food because of being t1 possibly and I know I don’t have much iron or really any fresh food.

Essentially is it normal to be so exhausted at 42 that I cannot do everyday stuff and what I actually want is to spend all day, every day asleep. Even getting up and dressed some days is a huge effort and I’m exhausted again afterwards.

Am I just lazy??

Your diet is really shocking, you're missing out almost all vitamins, minerals and protein.
Perimenopause can make you feel tired - I felt that in the early stages but not so much now. However, I could still do the same things and I never slept in the day time. In fact, I've always gone to bed very late and still get up early, though that's not through choice. I would go back to the GP

What about your thyroid in addition to B12, iron etc? Blood testing for thyroid isn’t great on the nhs (as in they don’t do all the checks fully necessary to rule out thyroid probs) but will r a good starting point.

You’re eating absolute shit, getting 7 hours of sleep in and wonder why you’re tired?? It’s not really rocket science.

"I often feel my body actively works to sabotage me"

You're sabotaging yourself with such a poor diet.

Not normal Op get to the doctors and get referred to a specialist for peri-menopause and one for diabetes. Please work on eating a healthy diet, some meat and vegetables and pulses!!!

I'm surprised to see comments on the 7 hours of sleep. I thought this was normally considered a fairly sustainable amount, even if some people fare better with a more consistent 8-8.5 hours. More than 9 hours on a regular basis is not normal for an adult. A 7-hour sleep pattern certainly shouldn't cause major fatigue.

The poor diet is more likely to be having a negative impact but still this level of fatigue definitely needs medical investigation - I certainly wouldn't wait while you improve your diet.

Have you had your iron, B12, thyroid and folate tested? As mine were all out of whack once and I felt like hell-these conditions o believe are quite common with T1D as all autonimme x

You don't need perfection but you need about 80% good in your diet to feel the benefits.

I have a chronic health condition and my nurse said the people who do best with it are the ones who proactively manage their health.

I would say after about two weeks of eating better you start to feel like you have more energy, so it's pretty quick payback for the effort.

I would go so far as to say you may have some kind of eating disorder OP or some psychological issues with food that you need help with.

Early 40s is the perfect time to address these things as you are laying the foundations for better ageing.

You’re literally not eating food. Not real food. You’re eating ultra-processed junk. No wonder you are tired. You need protein, fruit, veg, carbohydrates and fibre. I would be exhausted if I ate like you. Eating your diet is like filling up a car with Ribena.

you'll know more when you get the blood results - but if your periods are heavier if your peri, you could be anaemic - my iron got really low, and took about six months to get back to normal - diet & iron tablets.
I'm T2 rather than T1, but occasionally my sugar levels go out of whack without any major change in diet - again I get ultra tired. Even when I've slept it off, I usually find focussing on a very low carb diet with protein & lots of veg help me get back to normal.

Op if you take b12, had you known your levels were low? Do you eat red meat? A steak sounds like the way to go with some greens, also get some apples and yoghurts in to kick start something healthier. Hopefully the bloods being checked will help x

"Piece of toast.
Bag of crisps at lunchtime.
Maybe a bar of chocolate. Mid afternoon
couple of pieces of toast in the evening.
usually eat out once a week and will have pasta or something then."

You no longer have youth on your side. That is a shocking diet for an adult.
Start with porridge / eggs / fruit etc. Even a healthy sandwich is better than crisps at lunch. Less tea and coffee. Even a jacket potato with beans and cheese is more nourishing... Multivitamin and less tea/coffee.

I know I don't have much iron
Well, that could be your answer. Before I found out I was anaemic I was tired all the time. Really tired.
Now I've got it sorted out (hopefully) the constant tiredness has gone and I didn't realise how tired I actually was until I wasn't anymore, if that makes sense!

I felt like this, started taking iron and eating more meat after having blood tests, and feel much better now. The thing is, my reading was in the normal range. But the normal range is huge and I was just barely normal. I would look for that in your tests. I also tried HRT for awhile too but it did nothing for fatigue. Only iron and consciously eating more meat helped.

You need protein woman! Your body is effectively malnourished and during peri you have to take better care of yourself. If you can’t be arsed, just get a protein shaker, some powder and milk. Have two protein shakes on top of what you’re eating. And if you really can’t be arsed, buy the ready made ones or protein yoghurts from aldi. It’s better to eat real food but if you’re tired then this way is a good start! Also get more Fibre as that’s another essential for healthy hormones…

Your diet is absolutely appalling so it’s no wonder you feel like shit. I know you say you always ate like that and never used to feel so bad, but as you get older your body can cope with less abuse! Don’t waste the GP’s time until you sort out your atrocious diet.

NRTFT but my understanding is that anaemia comes in several forms and can be accumulative, so can drop over time and get worse with the same diet. Especially as you are bleeding more frequently at the moment, I would ask for a full set of bloods. My family tend to get low in B12, at one point I was so low that I was offered injections, but I’d had the same diet for years and not previously had a problem. I’d recently turned 40 at the time, and I wonder now whether I was starting peri then.

The GP said you were in Peri, did he offer HRT? I was like this at 42 and I needed oestrogen and testosterone as I eventually found out several years later.

Would being low in iron make me THIS tired?

Yes, it could. Definitely worth looking at.

So you basically eat toast and pasta and you're diabetic, no wonder you feel like shit. You are most likely malnourished, ffs alter your diet it will almost certainly improve the way you feel. Simple carbs cause insulin spikes as surely you must know?

You may also be eating things that are triggering your diabetes (I'm no expert on this!)

Absolutely. You’re not an expert.

I'm another to say it's also the 7 hours sleep. I came on here to see if this was like me. But I sleep at least 9 hours per night and usually an afternoon nap of 1-3 hours. Last night I had a busy day (no nap) and I slept 12 hours overnight then napped this pm as I still felt tired. I'm 52.

Try upping your sleep as well as iron rich foods.

When I was this tired it was hypothyroidism. Doctor kept telling me I was depressed. I'd spend my lunch hour in the car sleeping, when I finished work I'd sleep in the car for an hour before I had the energy to drive home.

Hopefully your blood tests will include thyroid function. It is like a miracle when the levothyroxine kicks in.