exhausted feeling...

Sigh. I've been trying to figure out why I feel so exhausted lately. It's not cause I don't sleep enough cuz I'm getting about 7 hrs of sleep a night... It's pretty much at this point do whatever I have to do during the day (ie. work, some combination of running, martial arts, biking or none of the above), then come home and want to just crawl into bed. Then I wake up the next day adn still feel exhausted :confused: . Anyone else feel this way or have suggestions for how I can stop feeling so darn tired all the time?

Have you had your thyroid levels tested?

Or maybe you need more than 7 hours of sleep. I'm a slug if I don't get at least 8 hours.

Or have you been over training? (Not a problem for me, that's for sure!:rolleyes: )

Low iron levels maybe?

Hi liksani,
I too have recently had that really exhausted feeling. I went and had my blood work done to rule out thyroid or low iron problems. Since everything looked fine medical-wise, I finally had to realize that the tiredness was due to overtraining. I've slowed down a bit and feel better.
My advise would be to rule out any medical problems first, then go from there.
Good luck and feel peppy again soon!

liksani, you're not the only one. I've been exhausted half the summer and started getting migraines recently. Thyroid and iron are both fine. Sleep is regular and sufficient.

I think I've just been working too hard! We were extremely understaffed this season in the provincial park I work for, so I had to get through twice as much labour every day.

I just finished work for the season and I'm moving myself back to school tomorrow, the horse back Saturday, unpacking Sunday, then classes start Monday! I'm actually looking forward to sitting in class for a BREAK from physical labour!

In the past I've been able to push myself a lot further. I think as we get older our buffers run lower, especially if we were heavily stressed from a young age. I used to survive off of three hours of sleep or less a day; now I can't even pull one all-nighter without completely crashing. I worked nights two years in a row--I had crippling SAD last winter for it, so I'm strictly operating in daylight now.

Remember, stress builds up. Sometimes just a day or two off isn't enough to recharge.

Everything the others said - start by ruling out thyroid and other medical causes right away - and omega 3 (fish oil or flaxseed oil) and B12/folic acid supplements help me a lot.

Are you depressed?

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Originally Posted by Dogmama

Are you depressed?

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That's a pretty good one -- my immediate question, thinking back to when I was a youngun, was "are you pregnant?" Cuz that sounds much like me back in those days, except for all the exercise: I didn't even have the energy for THAT!

Karen in Boise

How much water are you drinking? I drink very little water throughout the day and was getting extremely tired and worn out. I focused on always having water with me and forced myself to drink more and it helped significantly. If you drink very little, you may want to give this a try!

I read the other comments. When I saw your post I immediately thought pregnant. I was so tired, I thought I had mono-nope pregant. Tiredness could be so many things. Please go to the doctor and let them rule out anything medical. It could be as simple as anemia. Take Care and keep us updated.

Girl do I know where you're coming from!! I get 8 to 9 hrs of sleep but still feel like taking a nap at lunch while at work (and sometimes do). I've been complaining of this for years to my dr. with no help. On the weekends there have been times that I'd sleep 9 hrs., get up for 2 hrs, sleep on the couch for 4 hrs. get up for a couple of hrs and then sleep all night long. To me this is not normal. My doc just says I don't know. Thyroid normal. Borderline anemia. Seems if they can't point to something obvious they just tell you to live with it. I'm going back to my doc AGAIN near the end of the month and I'm going to try to push the issue. Somthin' aint right! I'll let you know if he tells me anything I think could help you. Good luck.

A lot of the times when I'm feeling exhausted with seemingly no reason, its because of poor eating habits. It gets like a downward spiral. I start eating lousy and get tired easily then I'm too tired to fix myself proper meals.

I ALWAYS feel much better if I eat right and drink enough water.

i agree with pap103. when my eating habits are bad i have no energy and just want to crawl into bed.

i notice if i eat a lot of sugar i just get tired. i have energy for a bit, but then i just crash. (mental note #89: shouldn't have had that candy bar for lunch. is the day over yet?) if i'm on a good diet, i'm up and ready to go.

Today I fainted for absolutely no reason. Everything went black and I fell like a tree onto my face. I'd slept, I'd eaten, I'd had water... Doctor asked every question in the book and couldn't come up with a reason why it happened.

And no, I'm not pregnant either!

My face is a scratched, bruised, dirt-emdedded train wreck, though. Why do our bodies work in such mysteriously unpleasant ways?

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Originally Posted by run it, ride it

Today I fainted for absolutely no reason. Everything went black and I fell like a tree onto my face. I'd slept, I'd eaten, I'd had water... Doctor asked every question in the book and couldn't come up with a reason why it happened.

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Yikes! You posted that you were having migraines too. Did you tell the doc about your headaches?

I did mention the headaches. But those run in the family, and now with the concussion headaches are a given anyway. I'm getting some bloodwork done later this week.

Moral of the story: if you feel faint, sit down. Even if you'll look silly in the process.

Maybe this doesn't relate to your situation, but for what it's worth-
When I was in my 20's, I fainted a few times for apparently no reason. Very scary, and very embarrassing. Turns out I was not eating enough, was too thin and I was anemic as well. (I was smoking back then too and that didn't help at all, for sure.) Once I gained a little weight, ate better food and took vitamins, the fainting went away never to return.

oh dear,im feeling just the same,AND thinking back to the thread i started re weight,im begining to wonder if i put on weight if itd help?been and bought a load of meat for iron,i find although im in bed for 7 1/2 hrs,im waking all the time with HUNGER.bother bother,cut down the exercise but the races i am doing at the moment are hill climbs which tend to wipe me out.bother bother.hard to be strong sometimes and gain weight when society AND THE MODEL THAT LIVES OVER THE ROAD gears us towards looking like kate moss all the time.etc etc etc.


if its not men is blinking health issues!!!!!defo lost my libido so perhaps its quite swanky being single:)

When I was younger, I used to clunk out for no apparent reason. Tested for lots of stuff. Nothing was ever resolved for sure, but best guess is low blood pressure. If it's already low, when you stand up it drops even lower as do you.


This could account for both problems above.

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Originally Posted by SouthernBelle

When I was younger, I used to clunk out for no apparent reason. Tested for lots of stuff. Nothing was ever resolved for sure, but best guess is low blood pressure. If it's already low, when you stand up it drops even lower as do you.

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My dear partner had the same problem for a while. Missed a lot of school because he was always sleepy. Despite all the efforts, I don't think he ever received a definitive diagnosis.

He does have really low blood pressure and heart rate though (just like his dad I think).

im going to EXPOSE myself,right!i nearly died of anorexia nervosa 20 years ago,3 1/2 stone.i now eat well,3,000 kcals a day to accomodate the bike,but am still quite light(so im told,i disagree)so when i feel this wiped out i wonder how the PAST may still linger and whether im really honouring my calorific needs,whether i should weigh more,several of the female racers in the uk are bigger than me,am i holding myself back with this lingering demon(its kicked into touch but its a daily battle)ive never told my coach as theres so much stigma attached to the illness and my own shame,i only ever get a relapse once a year but it always happens on the bike training camp,so maybe i should explain myself and risk it!ive discovered once your up to a suitable weight people assume that the battle is over.Like most illness' you tend to learn to live with it.HATE IT.ALWAYS LOATHE TO ADMIT IT.there again isnt it ace when you do survive some thing to be able to race and cycle and appreciate life,although im sure other sufferers would agree they may be left with other mental illness',which can be A PAIN IN THE ARSE,BUT FAR LESS EVIL THAN AN EATING DISORDER.......phew!soz if i went on a bit

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Originally Posted by hellosunshine

im going to EXPOSE myself,right!i nearly died of anorexia nervosa 20 years ago,3 1/2 stone.

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i know what it's like. i have the same problem. my freshman year of high school i wore a men's size 36 pants. i lost the weight by eating right and working out. i wound up in the hospital for unrelated issues and lost even more weight. when i was out of the hospital and eating again i gained weight. i was scared i was going to be fat again and became anorexic. i still remember feeling tired, cold and out of it. my cousin who nearly died of it when she was my age, noticed what was going on and got involved right away and saved me. we both fight with it every day still.

i just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone. i can now talk about it, unlike before.

My two cents, for what it's worth.

I had similar exhaustion issues last year. Was tested for everything, everything came back normal. I tried some things, self-diagnosed an allergy to ginger, did fairly well after cutting ginger out of my diet.

This year I have exhaustion, but also nausea and specific discomfort in the upper right of my abdomen. We've done several tests and my GP will recommend surgery to remove my gallbladder after he reviews the most recent test.

Recently I just read that people with gallbladder disease should not eat ginger. I'm thinking the GB has been my problem the whole time, but did not come into full symptoms until now.

btw, I do not have any gallstones, but do have thickening of the wall of the GB.

As an interesting note, when I was in grades 8-10, I tried to not eat anything. I never got skinny like models do, but was determined to kill myself by not eating just to destroy my mother. Yes, terrible, yes dysfunctional. I am still convinced I was supposed to be taller as I have a sister the same height who has hands and feet several sizes smaller than I do. I've always wondered what those years of undereating (was it anorexia? I don't want to lessen the severity of a disease with a willful desire to hurt someone else, so I say no) did to my body.

I was in my 30's before I found ways to be truly fit, strong and healthy, and have been dismayed at this recurring health problem that has stopped me. I'm elated to think that this pretty minor surgery may alleviate all that.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, except, keep looking for any possibility. Report EVERY symptom to your doctor. Have a CT scan done if you can and can afford it - I think they show the very most of what is going on with our organs. Don't stop looking for an answer, and don't try to solve the problem completely on your own. If you think it might be something, find out how you can test for it and get the test done. You want to keep exercising and you want to keep having fun!!!

Good luck! I hope you find a really good, definitive answer that is easy to fix!

Namaste,
~T~