Fatigue? Advice needed please

[boreduser]

Hey, 29F here and I’m looking for advice if possible please. I’m exhausted all the time and my body constantly feels heavy - almost painful but not quite. My brain is foggy and I sleep any chance I get. The best way I can describe it is how I used to feel before my period except it’s now all the time.

Last night I was counting down the minutes until I finished work and went to bed immediately. I slept for three hours, was up for a few hours and then went to sleep at my normal time (11ish). 8.45 this morning I had to drag myself out of bed and two hours later I’m feeling so exhausted I could cry. Hardly any work done yet.

I’ve tried avoiding naps as I don’t want to get into bad habits but I feel the same no matter how much or little sleep I get. Some days I can push through and go on long walks, go to the gym, have social days but I pay for it in energy afterwards. Waking up is really difficult and I feel groggy for about two hours afterwards.

I have a few hours of super-focused energy each day where I have a coffee and get loads of work done, walk the dog, sort the house out etc and then I’m back to feeling drained by 3pm. My partner works a really intense job and never switches off, I feel as tired as he seems in my pretty relaxed, mainly WFH job that I love.

Doctors haven’t been too concerned, they’ve given me extra iron due to a mild deficiency but I don’t feel any different 3 months on. I’m autistic and looking into hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos. I’ve been on antidepressants for a few years which have increased my tiredness but mentally I’m feeling pretty fine. I eat well and could drink more but I’m not super dehydrated.

My Fitbit says I sleep very lightly and only records about 4hrs per night even if I get a full night’s sleep. I wake easily but it’s very difficult to properly get me ‘up’ ie talking or out of bed.

Could anyone give some advice on what this sounds like and/or what helps you if you can relate? I don’t want to jump straight to something like CFS but it’d be helpful to hear what people think. Thanks in advance ❤️

I should add I take vitamin D supplements too. Had some bloods done a few months back and aside from the iron nothing came back unusual.

What was your ferritin number when you had blood tests and were you deficient in vitamin D too? What strength vitamin D are you taking? If you are deficient in both it can take a long time to get your numbers up to anywhere near the point that you start to feel better.

Thanks so much! Ferritin was 17 before iron supplements, transferrin is normal though. I can also see a vitamin D deficiency on my results that I hadn’t spotted before, I just take the standard 10mcg you can find in shops.

Has GP tested your thyroid levels? I am hypothyroid and if not treated can leave you feeling exhausted

You might have ME/CFS. Have a peruse on here:

https://meassociation.org.uk/

You’ll need a comprehensive range of blood tests to exclude other things that cause fatigue.

17 is very low ferritin. You need to be taking high strength iron supplements (if your stomach can tolerate them) and you co I of double your vitamin d dose (possible even take 3 times as much) to bring your levels up faster.