next »

[anon99]

Instead of going back to the gym, is there a park nearby you could walk to with the kids?  Coffee doesn't wake me up, it actually has the opposite effect for me.  Try cutting out coffee and replacing the liquids with water.  Also get a notebook and keep track of what you are eating and how much sleep you are getting.  If you are having lots of tests done, keep track of the numbers the doctor tells you.  You may also just need a break.  Can you take a 4 day weekend?  Ask your husband how you are sleeping, are you tossing and turning all night?

For your meds, did anything change 6-8 weeks ago?

[knitknat]

Britmom-
I am also hypothyroid. Synthetic thyroid did absolutely nothing for me when I started on it, because my body could not convert the artificial T4 to T3. Synthetic thyroid meds are essentially synthetic T4, but your body needs both T4 and T3. Some of the recent endocrin literature talks about the importance of T3, and recommends natural thyroid replacement instead of synthetic.

My case: I started Synthroid. My TSH level went down to normal, but I still felt like crap. Then they tested my T3 and T4 levels - T3 was severely deficient. My doc switched me to Armour (natural pig thyroid), and my symptoms improved dramatically. When we retested, my TSH was still lower, but more importantly, my T3 levels were much higher. I finally have energy again. I also started taking my meds at night, before bed (there is a recent study showing the effectiveness of this), and that has helped enormously with morning energy.

Please feel free to PM me if you'd like to ask more questions. I have done a ton of background research on this and feel like it was only through perseverance and finding a doc who would listen that I finally found a treatment that would make me feel better.

[britmom]

I'm feeling a little bit better - I've cut the coffee out. I've also moved back in to my normal bedroom. I'd been sleeping in the spare room to allow my husband to get up to my youngest without it disturbing me. However, that bedroom doesn't have blackout blinds. The morning after I was back in my own bed, I felt quite a bit better.

I'm on SSRI's, but I've been on them for a while. I'm pretty sure they're not to blame.

Yesterday I ended up giving in to the cafeine/sugar/gluten hit and had a coffee and a giant chocolate cookie. I felt terrible afterwards - I was to washed out I had to go for  lie down. Perhaps I have a part of the answer, although I still can't figure out why this tiredness suddenly hit a few months ago.

knitknat - I suspect that I'd have a lot of difficulty getting my GP to prescibe something other than thyroxine. (A limitation of the NHS.) I'm working on trying to improve my diet and exercise a bit. If that doesn't work, I'll have to work on th hypothyroidism.

On taking the medication on an evening - I've read about this, but I know that they work best when taken on an empty stomach. I tend to eat fairly late on an evening (8pm-ish, because we don't have the kids in bed until then). Given that, I figured that it was probably best to continue to taking the med's in the mornng.

[groundhog]

Britmom, it sometimes happens that pregnancy triggers celiac.  I don't know how long you've been gluten-free but you might want to stay on gluten and get tested first before going gluten-free.  I know that you're in the UK which (unlike the US where I am) gives significant breaks to those who have celiac and need to have gf foods.  Just a thought...

[scotia]

Yesterday I ended up giving in to the cafeine/sugar/gluten hit and had a coffee and a giant chocolate cookie. I felt terrible afterwards - I was to washed out I had to go for  lie down. Perhaps I have a part of the answer, although I still can't figure out why this tiredness suddenly hit a few months ago.

When I have fatigue it is essential I avoid foods/drinks that give me a quick high - I tend to crash horribly afterwards. The problem is that the 'bad' foods are the ones I seem to crave when I am tired. If I do succumb to chocolate I have a banana or some raisins - something with a slower sugar release - at the same time. That seems to avoid the worst effects. I am not - and never have been - a tea or coffee drinker, but one of my friends who also has fatigue problems tells me that they have the same effect on her that quickly released sugar has on me.

[alto_stratus]

Seconding Scotia's experience with caffeine and sugar.  I'm learning to avoid them as a way of dealing with fatigue, as I also experience the double-whammy effect.  If you like tea, you might try substituting with a rich berry or ginger tea.  Rooibos almond tea is a nice substitute for coffee.  Apple slices will probably perk you up better than a cookie.  I think I recall a study saying apples worked better than coffee. 

Have you been tested for Epstein-Barr?  It's probably a long shot (most people get it before their 20s), but it can caused marked fatigue over several months, especially if you don't know you have it and don't rest.

[britmom]

First of all, my apologies for the atrocious spelling in my last post. I hadn't woken up.

Britmom, it sometimes happens that pregnancy triggers celiac.  I don't know how long you've been gluten-free but you might want to stay on gluten and get tested first before going gluten-free.  I know that you're in the UK which (unlike the US where I am) gives significant breaks to those who have celiac and need to have gf foods.  Just a thought...

That's true (and prescriptions are free in Scotland.) I might speak to my GP about that.

Yesterday I ended up giving in to the cafeine/sugar/gluten hit and had a coffee and a giant chocolate cookie. I felt terrible afterwards - I was to washed out I had to go for  lie down. Perhaps I have a part of the answer, although I still can't figure out why this tiredness suddenly hit a few months ago.

When I have fatigue it is essential I avoid foods/drinks that give me a quick high - I tend to crash horribly afterwards. The problem is that the 'bad' foods are the ones I seem to crave when I am tired. If I do succumb to chocolate I have a banana or some raisins - something with a slower sugar release - at the same time. That seems to avoid the worst effects. I am not - and never have been - a tea or coffee drinker, but one of my friends who also has fatigue problems tells me that they have the same effect on her that quickly released sugar has on me.

I was craving chocolate like mad (and eating it by the bucket load) until I stopped eating wheat and having coffee; the cravings disappeared. I don't quite know why I gave in to the coffee and cookie. I think it was more habit than anything else.

Have you been tested for Epstein-Barr?  It's probably a long shot (most people get it before their 20s), but it can caused marked fatigue over several months, especially if you don't know you have it and don't rest.

Hmm, Google tells me that Epstein-Barr is related to glandular fever? That's interesting as I said to my husband that the only other time I've felt this tired was eleven years ago, when I had glandular fever .

[veleda]

Britmom, long-shot here but I've just been catching up on health issues threads and noticed you posted in May about some insect bites you got while traveling in the US. Could they have been something else, not mosquito bites? Am I right about the timing?

Hope you feel better.

V.

[itried]

Hm, horrible feeling, britmom... take care.

My first two thoughts are Lyme Disease and / or vitamin D deficiency. Have you been tested for both?

[alleyoxenfree]

The weight gain could be just a lack of exercise.  Try just very light walking, but regularly.  Around the block in the morning, so as to get some morning sunlight as well.

Also, it may be that your T3 levels are low because you are a person who does not convert the T4 to T3, as many people don't.  Look into supplementing your thyroid medication for this (like adding Cytomel to Synthroid).  You might also try finding a doctor who specializes in natural thyroid medications like Naturethyroid.  I did better on Armour thyroid, but then moved and couldn't find a doctor experienced with it.  Many people like other forms besides Armour now.  I agree that you may need to find another doc, and not necessarily an endocrinologist.  In my experience (others' may vary), endocrinologists have been the laziest and rheumatologists and osteopaths the best at listening to me, taking seriously something they can't "see" like fatigue, and tinkering until I felt better.

[alleyoxenfree]

Also, your meds could be interacting.  Many things inhibit the thyroid meds from working properly, from taking an iron supplement to taking them in too close proximity to food, etc.