So tired all the time

[BumperliciousNeedsToSleep]

I'm so tired all the time.

I have always needed at least 8 hours sleep to be able to function normally. DD is 10 mo and for a long time she slept through the night. Admittedly the last 2 months it has been less predictable, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to my tiredness. I never wake up feeling refreshed. These past 3 weeks I have had a cold I can't shake and at the moment feel like I need to prop my eye lids open with match sticks.

I usually go to bed about 10.30 and wake up at 7. If I am not in bed by 11 I start to get anxious and my tiredness is having an affect on my relationship with DH. He gets up with the baby in the night or gives me a lie in because he knows I am so irritable when I am tired, but it doesn't seem to help.

I do have an underactive thyroid but that is being managed and my levels are back to normal.

I have been going to the dr's for months and aside from the thyroid issue they say "having a baby is tiring" which isn't very helpful, as how does that explain why I still feel shit when she sleeps through.

My whole body aches today, I am lethargic, when I am at home with the baby (I work 3 days) I rarely get dress and out of the house before lunch. I am so fed up with feeling like this and don't know what to do to help myself.

The dr's have mentioned depression, and for a while I did wonder if I had PND but TBH I think the tiredness is a cause rather than a symptom of any low moods that I have.

What can I do to make myself feel better? I rarely drink, rarely have caffeine, have a pretty good diet. But this is really affecting my life.

go and get your ferritin level tested i was feeling as you described, eventually,after i was told i had PND which i did not, a gp checked my bloods and my ferritin level was 4 normal starts at 23 am on iron now and starting to feel normal

yes, if your 'roid is under control then it's your iron.
Ask for direct injections in to your arse.
Worked for me

Good luck

I think I had tests for anaemia last time, they said I am fine. DH and I are just in the middle of a big fight about it. He says I am not doing anything about it, but what can I do if the dr's don't think there is anything wrong?

sometimes they just check your Haemaglobin not ferritin my gp apologised for trying to put me on antidepressants when she finally seen my blood tests, i often felt even worse when AF was due also

Thank lilemer and suzy. I'm just so sick of feeling like this. DH is sick of me too

it's hard to get the dr's to take you seriously when you have a baby.

1. There's more to baby-induced tiredness than whether they sleep through or not. I remember falling asleep on the living room floor one day and waking up to find DD sitting on me. And watering me with a a sippy cup. Given that she must've been at least 14 months (wasn't mobile before then) she was a fair bit older than your DD, and had been sleeping through for at least five months. I was still knackered.
2. You're still adjusting to being back at work. Whole different kettle of tiredness.
3. Do you feel better once you are out of the house? It might help to give yourself solid reasons to get out in the mornings rather than leaving it till later.
4. Find out more about thyroid issues - there's a (primary American) school of thought that doctors are overly reliant on TSH and don't take other measurements sufficiently into account, and that people with 'managed' thyroid disorders aren't being treated correctly at all. I keep meaning to look into this myself ... but I'm too farkin' tired to get round to it.

It is very hard indeed, I went undiagnosed with hypo 'roid for 3.5 years and a baby later.

Can you get your gp to refer you to an endocrinologist or is there anyway you could find the budget to go private and get all your auto immune levels checked?

I had a normal haemaglobin but a ferritin of 3. I felt like death warmed up. It is worth asking if your ferritin level is ok.

Do you have any other symptoms at all?

Eye or mouth problems, stiff joints, skin rashes, chest inections?

Infections.

Sorry you feel so horrid.

Bumper have you seen this site here

A friend of mine was told her thyroid was normal but in the low normal range. She got some other tests back and they said that she still needed thyroid treatment. All tiredness etc.. has gone since she started meds. I will ask her what tests she had done.

Tried to phone you but you were out

xxxx

Hi Lcy, we got a new landline as we couldn't turn the old one down in the evening, but I think it is on the blink. Shall I give you a call later?

Thanks for all the advice. DCMB I feel better when out of the house but today I've been out but still feel sleepy. And I just ache. The worst part is how irritable it makes me.

I'm going to make yet another appointment with the doctor and talk to them about seeing an endocrinologist and maybe doing further test.

I considered going to see a nutritional therapist at the local holistic health centre, but lots of people on here dismissed it as quackery.

LCY that site is really useful. It says:

'Q. I am on thyroxine, but I still feel ill.
Why could this be?

A. Some people still have symptoms when they are on thyroxine. This can be due to many things. It can be that they are not on enough thyroxine for their needs. Before blood tests came into play, people were given more than 200mcg, although many doctors now don?t like to give more than 150mcg. Thyroxine should also be given according to weight, so the bigger you are, the more you should have. In reality, this does not happen. Each doctor seems to have his own ideas about the highest level he will allow his patient to be in the range. He then tells the patient that she cannot have any more thyroxine, even though the patient still has symptoms.

Another reason many people still feel ill on thyroxine is that they are not converting the thyroxine into T3 (tri-iodothyronine). This conversion takes place outside of the thyroid, mainly in the liver, so if the patient has some kind of problem with the liver or any of the other places where conversion takes place, then deficiency will occur. Certain vitamins, especially those of the B group and some minerals are also necessary to aid conversion, namely: iron, selenium, magnesium and zinc. If you are deficient in any of these then conversion will be less effective. If this is your problem, then you will need to supplement your T4 with T3, or take the natural form of thyroid hormone. Armour natural thyroid is an excellent alternative, which has not only T4, but T3, T2 and T1.

If you have adrenal insufficiency, this can also cause major problems for the receptor uptake of the T3. Some kind of adrenal support will be needed before the receptors can uptake properly. Many people have this problem in these stressful times; it can be caused by car accidents, major surgery, autoimmune disease attacking the adrenal glands and, of course, inadequately treated hypothyroidism.

Lastly, there seem to be a lot of people who just cannot tolerate the synthetic form of thyroxine and fare much better on the natural form which contains all four thyroid hormones.

If you are not receiving enough thyroid hormone or not getting the correct form of hormone into your body, then you will still have symptoms. '

I'm going to make an appointment with the dr and take them this and ask to be referred to an endocrinologist.

Hope you get it sorted x

Thanks