Getting GP to take tiredness seriously

[Jellyjumpers]

I have had a range of symptoms over the last two months from pain in my stomach on the left, a hip pain diagnosed as sciatica, random constipation and a general feeling of not being well. While I appreciate that symptoms healing keeping me awake at night will lead to tiredness I do not think the way I feel is normal. I can sleep on my train journey to work, again in the toilet at work he bearly able to keep eyed open in meetings etc

This weekend I have slept well at night for at least nine hours, then had a five six hour sleep yesterday and two hours today. In my last appointment I mentioned this and was told tiredness is normal with pain. Does this sound right particularly as I feel a bit unwell all the time as if I am about to get a cold, with the same sort of tiredness

Maybe try making a sleep log or something to show that you are taking it seriously and concerned. Like you said, I think the focus is on getting the GP to take you seriously rather than us guessing what might be wrong.

And if it is pain, then they should be treating the pain, right?

Re the constipation, if you have slow motility fibre can make things worse. Do lots of walking, take linseeds and drink lots of water.

I second getting your thyroid tested again. Underactive thyroid can lead to all your symptoms, including slow transit constipation. Ask to see your blood test TSH results. Ideally, the TSH should be lower than 2. Any higher and you could well be experiencing symptoms of underactive thyroid, yet they often don't prescribe thyroxine unless your level is over 5. (The so called normal range is something like 1-5).

I get very, very tired due to chronic pain, so yes that can be the cause for some people.

But I did have a LOT of bloods done to make sure there was nothing else going on.

I would ask for your thyroid results and the range for the test. I had to fight for my diagnosis. They wanted to diagnose me with everything from chronic fatigue to depression. My results were outside the range but not enough to be considered hypothyroid by the NHS. In the end I managed to persuade the GP to refer me to an endocrinologist who said yes I was and then I was able to get the medication.

If your gut tells you this is abnormal tiredness and not due to the pain I would keep pushing the GP. If it's not your thyroid it could be something else as other posters have suggested.

Have you had a colonoscopy?

Mine took it seriously when I told them the pavement looked comfortable for a nap. I was trying to explain the level of tiredness... it worked

I too had a long road to diagnosis over 25 years ago. Over a couple of years I was given a variety of different antidepressants, most of which I was allergic to.

I was feeling so ill I did a lot of reading trying to work out what was wrong (no internet then) I was having excruciating headaches and terribly painful flooding periods among my many symptoms like extreme tiredness and debilitating constipation and in the end was convinced it was underactive thyroid so went to a different GP and suggested they do a thyroid blood test.

I went back to my regular GP for the results and he said 'clever Dr Smith, it seems you need to go on thyroxine'.

Completely get that about the pavement, Ollivander84 - I'd got to the stage that I would lie down anywhere, and did.

Thanks Kescilly I agree the most important thing is getting the gp to take the symptom seriously as they have the information and previous test results to make sense of things.

I have logged sleep on my fitbit, but this obviously does not show the times when I have micro Sleeps in the day.

I do think there is an element of treating the pain being important. Right now I have been woken by pain and I do not know how long it will take to get back to sleep.

Thecurtainsofdestiny
Is their any treatment for being so tired with chronic pain. How do you manage your life with these symptoms?

Ollivander84 totally understand what you mean about the pavement. The tiredness is so debilitating I do not know how to carry on working.

I do not even need a flat surface as when a wave of tiredness strikes I could happily sleep where I am sitting whether on a bench, a train or in a meeting. It feels like I am recovering from a virus and the body has an overwhelming need to sleep whenever but my nighttime sleep is always a bit disturbed.

Good luck OP.

Sometimes I'm so tired that I can't wash and dress myself, and they still won't take me seriously. Bloods came back fine, so apparently that's the end of the story.

Do you get average deep sleep for your age? Deep sleep is much more important than total sleep to feel refreshed.

Many factors can bring on excessive tiredness including stress which we might not even be aware of when going through it. GPs can only go by blood tests to start the process of trying to identify a physical cause. You just need to make sure they do test for everything rsthr than the minimum stsndard FBC.

FirstbornunicornThat sounds terrible. How do you manage with that level of tiredness? Are you getting any support other than from the gp? Zz I

swingofthings
If the fitbit can be trusted my deep sleep is all over the place. I tend to get into deep sleep quicker than I used to. Have a verry restless patch and then back into deep sleep. For example after posting I went back to sleep.

I can sometimes he so tired as to sleep threw my alarm. Whereas, I used to be a light sleeper who did not really need an alarm and would he aware of what was going on.

Stress may be a factor. I have had a lot going on but do try to make time for mindfullness and exercise, but to be honest this is slipping with the way I feel. I am also concerned about how I feel physically. I do not know if I will need more surgery for endometriosis or adhetions and trying to get on with life while feeling like this is taking its toll. A lot of m me time activities involve sport and or exercise and going out for a short walk leaves me desperate for a sleep.

Have any of you had time off work with tiredness? I can't face having to work and pretend all is ok with I am counting down the hours until I can next sleep. However, it feels a ridiculous reason.

Hi @Jellyjumpers ,

I may have misread things but it sounds like whenever you mention the tiredness to health care professionals is when you're there about other things. GPs have 10 minutes, TEN MINUTES. That's nothing! So if you tag it on the end of a consultation about pain it will be dismissed. So I would suggest making an appointment with your reason being entirely that you're tired all the time. There's a million reasons why someone may be tired and theres a standard set of tests they do for it. If it's your opening for line "why are you here today?" " because I'm tired all the time" then the GP will take you seriously and tackle the issue.

Good luck

Thanks
Its difficult because while I appreciate that appointments are short, I feel all the symptoms may be connected in some way. It seems odd that hip pain, stomach pain, random constipation, tiredness and a general unwell feeling all have separate causes. Obviously if symptoms persist I will arrange appointments to discuss more individually.

I don't suppose you're on the contraceptive pill are you?

I was on Regividon and had been for about 5 years, suddenly experienced hair loss, dry skin, joint pain etc and came off contraception all together when it literally all went away within 2 weeks.

What I hadn't noticed is, since taking it I had been dog tired, all day, every day. I would fall asleep on the toilet at work, not off in meetings, couldnt stay awake past 9pm. I thought this was just me, blood tests ruled anything out so I just dealt with it through lots of caffeine. But when I came off the pill, that dog tired if I close my eyes too long I will go to sleep feeling disappeared as well!

Worth a try coming off it if you do take the pill maybe?

Thanks I had a mirina coil fitted for endometriosis and may well have been more tired since it was fitted a I could have attributed stuff to surgery then having a stressful time. Z I I

@Jellyjumpers I'm actually in early stages of pregnancy at the moment, so my doc has given me a sick line for "pregnancy related fatigue". But it's not pregnancy related, I had it before I was pregnant, the pregnancy is just something they can use to explain it away.

I've had time off work, but always had to go back at the end of self cert period as my doctor wouldn't sign me off. My husband helps me to get out of bed, wash and dress, and drives me to work.

I told my doctor I was feeling too tired to stay sitting upright at my desk, and she said "what do you mean?". I don't think you can understand this level of tiredness unless you've experienced it.

Did you actually have the endometriosis removed? If not it could be the reason for some of your pain, even though you have the mirena. It can cause debilitating tiredness too.

If it wasn't removed you could have scar tissue in your pelvis causing pain, or your bowel could be stuck to itself or other organs and that could be the reason for the constipation.

I agree a thyroid and vitamin D/B12/iron check is a good idea but if you have these and they come back fine ask to be referred to an endometriosis specialist (there are centres nationwide).

Firstbornunicorn I agree it is hard to explain the level of tiredness because you feel you should be able to push through and cope, but it feels like energy is suddenly drained. However, other days I can do a lot of physical or mental work without a problem.

Firstbornunicorn are you finding your treatment is helping at all? You can't carry on needing that level of support with out some more input.

It's difficult because it is easy to fall in a vicious circle: stress start to cause problems, including lack sleep, that causes more physical problems which in turns cause stress so it gets worse and worse.

My experience is that stress and poor sleep is enough to cause all the symptoms you describe but an up to date blood test is reasonable to exclude other reasons.