Constant fatigue

Question

I struggle with a constant fatigue throughout my days. I feel my diet is good and balanced, I drink lots of water, and I exercise regularly. I also constantly have a tired and foggy mind, which is unfortunate, as I am a good student and plan on going to work with my mind. I am still going to be fine, I just think I could do much better without this.

A couple things to note are that I recently (2 weeks ago today) stopped drinking soda and caffeine; I drank a lot, but 2 weeks should be enough that it doesn't still affect me, right? I'm also not active now; I'm home from school for a couple weeks before starting an internship.

However, I don't think these two could affect it that much. First, it's been 2 weeks since I drank caffeine last. Second, I'm still working some, and I still feel this constant fatigue even when I am quite busy.

I used to struggle with bad insomnia (not so much anymore), and I am on no medicines other than Sam-E, which I take every other day to help with my mood. I keep a consistent sleep schedule and sleep 7-8 hours a night.

Is there a vitamin I could be deficient in or maybe something specific I could ask the doctor about?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, for sake of a good answer, this could be so many different things. I'll try to highlight/mention as many as I can. To start, my best advice would talking with a good MD and ask about blood testing. That being said when the results come back I would recommend asking lots of questions and even consider having multiple MD's look at the results of nothing stands out. For example, you may have something in the "normal" range but be barely inside the low or high end. While one doc might not pick up on it, another may have another opinion or have previous experience with a similar case. That would be a good start.

Other things you might consider: mild food allergies or intolerances, low quality sleep, or hormone imbalances. A variety of things could change or fix some of these issues, like diet alterations, exercise changes, prescriptions(not my favorite option), acupuncture, supplements, etc. All are things to consider, research, and most importantly talk to a health professional about.

Answer 2

There can be a number of issues at work here, and to really understand what's going on, you'll need to talk to your doctor. It's not normal to always be fatigued in the way you are describing. There are a number of things you need to be asking yourself:

• Am I sleeping enough? Insufficient sleep causes a multitude of problems including fatigue. NOTE: hours in bed don't necessarily mean all that time is restful sleep.
• Am I eating enough? Sometimes the diet may be balanced, but not enough to support your size and activity levels.
• Am I doing too much? Sometimes your activities are demanding more of you than you can keep up with--demanding more food and sleep to keep up if it's physical activity. Sometimes you just need to scale the activity back a bit before going back with full intensity.
• Am I dealing with a major life change? Major life changes take their toll on you until you readjust. Moving to a new town, major upheaval of your normal schedule, losing someone important to you. All of these can push you into depression, which is normal and nothing to be ashamed of. You should pull out of it eventually.
• Am I sick? Some diseases take a lot of energy out of you with only minor symptoms like mono.
• Am I breathing well? Allergy season can play havoc with your lungs, and some people do develop asthma later in life. If you can't get a full breath into your lungs, you may need some help here.
• Are any meds I'm on causing fatigue? It's possible that your Sam-E might be causing the fatigue. Not being a doctor I can't say for sure.

According to your question, I have to take your word that your food and sleep are in order, and you are no longer doing any physical activities. That knocks out the first three major areas.

When you go to your doctor, just tell him the symptoms you know, and what you've done about it. They may pry deeper into what you mean by "balanced diet", and ask how restful your sleep is, or whether you have headaches when you wake up. These questions are there to figure out which direction they will have to go with tests to figure out what is going on. It might be that you have an easily treatable disease, or temporary depression. It might be that you have a sleep disorder that is robbing you of quality sleep (I've dealt with that). It might be you've developed asthma (I have family who's dealt with that).

Answer 3

This probably ought to go without saying, but prioritize doctor advice over nostrums offered by coaches, friends, random internet people, etc. There's a lot of confusion out there between "needs supplementation because deficient in this specific nutrient" and "MOAR SUPPLEMENTS! AND GREEN TEA!" Most people are getting sufficient nutrients in their diet and, as with any sort of medicine, blindly taking substances without any indication of need seldom ends well whether it's a chemically purified substance where you know the dosage or a random herb with variable levels and extra chemicals with unknown side effects.

Seriously, doctor. There are a lot of conditions, some potentially serious, that this could be a symptom for. Even if something we recommend helps temporarily, it could just be masking the symptoms.