Fed up with being tired all the time!

[NiniLegsInTheAir]

Just looking for a bit of advice as I'm really struggling .

I work FT (from home on Mondays with DD who is 18 months), I realise I should be working now but my head feels so foggy today I can't think straight and I have a big meeting with my boss's boss this afternoon I must be awake for.
Currently my weekdays (bar Mondays) go like this:
7am - up with DD, get us both ready, give her morning bottle, cuppa
8am - leave home. 20 mins walk to nursery, drop DD off. 10 mins to the office. Breakfast at work.
9am-5pm - work
5pm - 10 min walk back to nursery, pick DD up, 20 mins walk home.
6pm - Play with DD until bedtime, give her a bottle.
6:30pm(ish) - DD goes to bed.

Husband gets home at about 7pm and one of us does dinner. After dinner I get my study books out (currently studying for a difficult work qualification, first exam in a few weeks), and study until about 10pm. Shower, crawl into bed, sleep.

Weekends are spent mostly entertaining DD and tidying/cleaning the house. We don't have any family in the area and most of our friends have kids of their own so rare to have babysitters. DD is fantastic but high maintenance as she just wants to spend her day running around. I feel bad some days by putting her to bed at half 6 when its obvious she's not tired, as I just don't have the energy.

Work is very demanding (I love my job though) and stressful most of the time. Relationship with husband is very poor at the moment and also stressful - I've been posting on the relationships board about this. My diet is pretty good although I have been losing weight, although I am partial to about 3 cuppas a day and a bar of choccy.

I took a day off last week 'just for me' and pottered around the house, read a book, had a nap etc, in the hope it would revitalise me, but it hasn't. I'm so tired, what am I doing wrong? Any advice welcome.

If you have enough money I would pay for a cleaner to come for 3 hrs on a Friday morning-there is nothing as nice as coming home to a clean house on a Friday evening ready for the weekend

No money available for that kind of thing unfortunately , our house is still in a state of disrepair so any extra money goes on doing various bits up. Plus I'm a bit of a messy sod so I'd feel mortified having someone in to clean when the house is a tip, I'd have to clean before they arrived

Very if you have a cleaner though snice!

mmm it's a difficult one because looking at your schedule it is not surprising you are tired, however it may be worth looking further for answers just to rule things out.
Why not visit your GP and ask for some tests such as thyroid function, vitamin levels (B12 and D), Folate (iron) levels etc. Make sure when you get the reults that you get a print out of all your results and the 'normal' ranges. Then I would go away and do your own research as to what normal is and decide if you feel some vitamin supplements etc may help.
Ginsing is supposed to be good for energy levels.
Good luck

Thanks topsi, I did go to the GP about it once not long ago but he put it down to just a 'normal' part of motherhood, as did a HV I was talking to about it aswell. But I will try again.

I do take vit supplements but not sure if they help at all. I will try ginsing. :)

Ha! I just got in and saw this-No need to feel jealous as no money for cleaners here either

Your schedule does sound exhausting, but I think you would benefit from juicing raw veg and fruit. I have been doing this for a few weeks now and feel like a new woman. No need for supplements, you get vitamins which are absorbed in just 15mins. Try starting with just one glass of celery cucumber apple and lemon with maybe a dark green vegetable like broccoli. It works wonders and actually tastes good and there's no need to go on a diet.

Well I don't have a juicer and don't need to diet (I'm borderline underweight as it is) but I see your point - I drink fruit smoothies as they taste nice and DD loves them too. I doesn't give me any more energy though :)

Sorry if that came across as you needing to diet, I noticed up thread you mentioned losing weight and I meant that eating more veg increasing your nutrition so you don't have to worry about what you're eating. My point is that we all need raw vegetables in our diet and very rarely eat as much as we need, but juicing them helps because we can get 8 portions of veg down a day with no effort and they taste good. 5 a day has been shown to be a lot less than we really need. You can still do it in a blender, but if the thought of blended broccoli doesn't appeal you can try things like dates and avocado that go better in smoothies. As an aside, I picked up a juicer for £10 on gumtree.
Ok will bow out now hope you get some more helpful advice

Have you had your blood or thyroid checked? tiredness is one symptom of a thyroid problem (under or overactive). Or anaemia.

you're doing all the childcare during the week even though you're not a single parent. of course you're tired.

can't your dh come home earlier and get her ready in the mornings 2 or 3 times a week?

Thanks for the tips umsakinah, like I say I do sometimes make smoothies so maybe I just need to start doing veggie ones too :) It can't hurt, and I can offer them to DD aswell.

dlady I've had my blood checked not long ago and my iron levels are fine. Never had a thyroid test though although I did ask for one once. Think I need to look into it in more detail and maybe ask again?

Basil husband could come home earlier but won't - we're having marital problems and he's never really pulled his weight when it comes to DD. He doesn't do much at weekend either which is part of our current problems. Not sure what else to say on that front but he won't budge

Thanks for posting btw guys, really appreciate it. :)

well there you have it then.

cherchez l' homme

sorry you're having relationship issues, quite often the constant background stress that means, will manifest itself in terrible tiredness. quite apart from the concrete physical causes. get rid of that and you're energised.

best of luck; try and be good to yourself.

Thanks Basil. I was hoping it'd be something wrong with me, which would be much easier to change.

Nini I totally second the juicing both fruit and veg. (not together though) But ALSO it's good to look at your wheat intake .DH becomes completely exhausted also bad tempered when he eats wheat. We've cut it out (it's amazing how many products have it in them ).

Thanks for the tip ppeat, think I need to do some investigating about wheat as well then! :)

Good luck!

Oh I forgot there's a fascinating book out called Wheat belly by Wiliam Davis M.D.

I think your problem has nothing to do with juicing & supplements. It has to do with the fact that you:

1. work full time
2. have a 18 month old (exhausting age even for the most well-supported parents)
3. most importantly of all: have an unsupportive partner plus relationship problems.

I think from these 3, the first 2 will improve will time, ie as children grow they are less needy & take less energy, so that'll get better although will still be tiring. But number 3 (your unsupportive partner / relationship problems) is in my view the most serious of your issues and may go a long way to explain your lack of energy (=depression?) Have you thought tackling that issue head on? Relationship counselling can work well but also setting boundaries in terms of really sharing parenting which you should be doing as your DD growns, as otherwise the resentment you feel will only grow & become unmanageable.

Maria You can have a shxx dh and still feel energetic IMO and E. The wheat problem is not generally acknowleged 'cos it is so prevalent in our society but that doesn't make it good for you 'cos it ain't!