Fatigue but normal bloods

[Roseyposeypie]

I’ve been exhausted and achy for what seems like years. My children are tween/teens so I can’t put it down to night waking. After I had covid (Jan 2021 and also March 2022) it got worse and for several months I couldn’t walk more than about 1000 steps. I’m back to being able to walk further but if I have a particularly active day I can end up utterly exhausted the next day. Most of the time I work from home and find that I usually need to have a nap around lunchtime just to get through the day. If there’s a day when I’m out and about and can’t nap the next day I can end up sleeping for an hour or two in the day. Sometimes it seems to get slightly better and then I start convincing myself I might have been fighting off a virus and then it’s back again. Recently I decided that I really needed to go the GP and find an answer. They’ve done some blood tests but they’ve appeared in my NHS app already and I can see they’re all normal. I was really hoping there was an obvious and fixable cause. What’s wrong with me? I really don’t want it to be long covid or chronic fatigue. It just feels so hopeless. I know I could probably eat better (I have a fairly healthy diet but am probably slightly too keen on sweet treats!), lose a tiny bit of weight, exercise more but I feel so exhausted all the time that it’s hard to take steps to change things.

How old are you and what tests did they do?

Normal doesn't necessarily mean optimal. What was your b12, ferritin and tsh? These are common ones that can cause fatigue.

Normal bloods would suggest chronic fatigue.

Hi OP I'm in the same position as you. Which blood tests did you have? When I went to the GP last year he didn't test ferritin or B12, but told me I was tired because I was a working mother....I felt thoroughly dismissed, but when I summoned the courage (& energy!) to go back recently a different GP tested ferritin and I'm now on high dose iron tablets. Too early to say if they're making a difference, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Also don't want to be told it's long covid and told to live with it. Good luck

Ferritin was 92
TSH was 1.3
I can’t see B12

I’m 43

Also need Vitamin D, as well as B12, folate and ferritin. These are never tested routinely, but low levels of these cause fatigue

I'd have checked B12 and Vitamin D, but in the absence of that being done try supplements for a month and see if that helps. High strength Vit D and B12 (sublingual or spray is absorbed better).

Perimenopause could also be at play, sadly no accurate bloodwork for that.

Perimenopause if you've ruled out everything else.
Possible symptoms off the top of my head no particular order:
Dry hair
Dry skin
Thinning hair
Itchy skin
Rosacea
Weight gain
Weight gain in a different area than previously normal for you
Increased static shocks
IBS type symptoms previously not having had it
Night sweats
Temperature fluctuations
Feeling cold
Aches and pains in joints and muscles
More sensitive teeth
Tired enough to sleep during the day
Insomnia despite fatigue
Early waking
Heavier periods
Irregular periods
Lower libido
Irritability
Quick to anger
Hypersensitive
Misphonia
Tinnitus
Snoring when you didn't before
Lack of motivation/enthusiasm
Anxiety
Feeling flat/low
Frozen shoulder more common
Plantar facitis more common
Increased sweating
Changed body odour
Hot flushes

A lot of over lap with fatigue but it's worth tracking how you feel over your cycle to see if you can see any pattern.

Could be CFS, fibromyalgia or even Lyme disease.
Get your B12 levels tested.

I always hate when they say bloods are normal , because you could be borderline for anything but if it's even 0.1 into the normal range they don't look at it . I spent years similar to yourself maybe not quite as bad but tired every day by 3pm nearly asleep standing up exercise really helped also if I cut out unhealthy carbs I have so much more energy . But if your achy as well and chronic tiredness it might be worth bypassing the Gp and maybe looking into functional medicine ?