For about the past three years I’ve been experiencing flare-ups of fatigue and brain fog, and it feels like they’re getting worse.
It’s starting to really affect my life. When I feel “bad”, I need two naps in the day and still can’t concentrate properly. I’m a lawyer, so I need to be able to think fast and usually this is fine. However, when I have these flare ups I make stupid mistakes and take ages to do anything, which makes me worry about holding onto my job. It also makes me very frustrated and bad-tempered. Today I had to take a nap at 11am for 90 minutes because I couldn’t keep my eyes open and then couldn’t concentrate on a simple draft letter which took me all day. I felt like I could have slept all day instead. It also makes me very clumsy - I knock stuff over and misjudge space badly, walk into doorframes etc. It basically makes me feel completely useless.
I also get random pains - there is a particular part of my scalp where I sometimes get a creeping pain that’s hard to define. I tried migraine medication (it is only on one side of my head) but it didn’t help. I also sometimes get random stabbing pains.
I also used to have a really good memory until this started, but now it is terrible. I put that down to having a stressful job and also being reliant on smartphones, Google etc. but I wonder whether there is more to it.
I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, so have been putting it all down to that, but I don’t actually have that many problems with joint pain or the classic symptoms - really the fatigue is the worst and the most frequent thing. The brain fog episodes are less frequent but they are really debilitating.
I would love to know what is causing it so that I can sort it out, I eat well and do a sensible amount of exercise, and am a normal weight. I had full blood tests last December which came back fine except for low vitamin D and slightly high TSH (6.2). I took a vitamin D supplement and tried to have a healthier lifestyle, and in June my TSH was 5 and vitamin D levels were good. I know that fatigue is a symptom of hypothyroidism, but I don’t have ANY other symptoms of that. My hair and skin is fine, as is digestion and periods, and I am naturally slim and don’t find it hard to lose weight. I gained a couple of pounds on holiday in August but it just disappeared when I got home and went back to my normal routine. The doctor said in June that my TSH could be “normal for me” and said I would only need to think about medication if I got other symptoms besides fatigue.
I have an appointment with the GP on Monday to talk about it, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice or ideas about what it might be.