i'm so tired of being tired.

[mopinko]

just standing up for 4 hours yesterday, and i am exhausted today. slept 12 hours, and still tired, achy, and down.
i sleep 12 hours at least 3 nights a week, no less than 10, then i am tired most of the day, anyway.
and achy.
somedays it is not worth getting out of bed.

[Warpy]

1. Welcome to my world

If you, by any miracle, have health insurance, get to a doc.

It could be something as easy to fix as sleep apnea or something that requires a mild upper during the day like provigil plus something to kill the aches. I find that killing the aches allows me to do something besides stagger between bed, bathroom and computer, albeit not a hell of a lot.

My doc dislikes the idea of putting a bandaid on pain (he has to deal with DEA goons, after all), but after 10 years he realizes I'm not particularly interested in spending my life in a narcotic haze and no longer questions it.

[mopinko]

2. oh, i have been through the medical mill.

got one of the last great insurance policies in america.
got a sleep doc, got a rheumie, got an allergist. got a very understanding internist. sleep with a cpap, which isn't particularly helpful. have both central and obstructive apnea. autoimmune bullshit. fibro.
meds, meds and more meds. they help some days. but seems like i pay for every productive day with one or two completely wasted ones. like today.

[hedgehog]

3. I've been there - and I feel for you!

I had good results with Deplin - it's a form of folic acid. It also turns out I'm a carrier for a gene that interferes with Vitamin B metabolism.(MTHFR) Make sure your Vitamin D levels are up to the latest standards, too. I just mention these in case you'd like some new areas to investigate.

[mopinko]

4. take 2000 units a day of d

keeps me at the bottom of the range that the rheumie likes.
at least my bones are still healthy. osteoporosis runs in my family, and really ruined my mom. i just had a small fracture that healed up perfectly. the tendons, etc, are another story. still sore, still somewhat swollen. have a connective tissue autoimmune thingie, which i am wondering about right now.
it's always freaking something.

[murielm99]

5. Recently, I was tired all the time.

I found out that my thyroid levels are mildly low again. I upped my dosage of Armour thyroid, per doctor's instructions. I hope the tired goes away soon. It should. I hope yours goes away, too.

[mopinko]

6. i think every doctor i have ever seen has tested my thyroid.

always just fine. but what you say- you get something under control, and next thing you know it's not. i have had meds that helped a lot for a while, like lyrica, then they just sort of wear off.
i may break down and go see my rheumie. i sorta want him to look at my ankle, anyway. the broken bone healed fine, but the damn things still hurts quite a bit and is swollen. more shit.

[Peregrine Took]

7. Diet/vitamin related?

B12's under the tongue seem to help me.

Do you sleep soundly?

My doc says that the sleep you get before midnight is more restful.

[mopinko]

8. my sleep is not the worst.

the sleep doc is pretty satisfied, and by the numbers it is good. but much of the apnea occurs during my rem sleep, so it is very disruptive even tho not that severe. not too restorative as they say. but nothing really else to do about it. tried provigil, it just gave me jitters.

i take a boodle of supplements for specific things that the docs want to see, and a multi to boot. i eat a pretty good diet.

[Peregrine Took]

9. I got a special anti snoring/apnea pillow that works quite well.

Its shaped like a figure 8 (sort of) and forces you to lie on your side by keeping your arm (rt or left) under it.

Its actually quite comfy, too.

I'll send you the link if you want. (about $50.00 or less)

[mopinko]

10. that'd be great. i hate my pillow.

i do use a wedge, as i also have some acid reflux. and asthma.
but i have a couple of those ones that look like hot dogs. not very comfy, but they don't interfere with the mask.

[tpsbmam]

11. Sigh, I sooooooo understand! It's unfortunately one of the things that led to me no longer being

able to work. I was a professional working in a high stress, busy, competitive profession. I simply couldn't keep up the pace anymore. Part-time wasn't an option. I even tried to move to private practice, but I couldn't predict when I was going to be functional and when I was going to be crashing. I finally had to quit altogether. I hate it!

When I was working full-time, I worked it out so I could take a nap at work everyday. Taking an hour for lunch was not only accepted, it was expected. So I blocked out an hour, downed my lunch in 5-10 minutes & did my best to sleep the rest of the hour. I worked in hospitals, so it wasn't easy with overhead announcements and other noise. But I usually managed to sleep 20 minutes to a half-hour. It REALLY helped me get through the rest of the day, though by the end of the day I was still totally spent. I was always raring to go on Monday and dragging by Friday. Co-workers would get pissed because I never went out with them. Damn, it was all I could do to keep working! I was typically in bed by 8 pm and up at 6 -- I slept "like a log" for those 10 hours. No way in hell I could go out after work and weekends were out, too!

Weekends were spent doing the usual errands as fast and possible and then sleeping the rest of the time.....I pretty much slept all weekend, which is common among MSers who work full-time.

I take Nuvigil now, when I can -- I've gotten it free at times, but now have insurance with a massive deductible so I have to try and once again get it free. The insurance covered it 100% when I'd met the deductible, but with the start of 2012, it'd cost me $416/month! Yeah, not going to happen! But that is the one drug that definitely helped lately. I went the usual route for MS fatigue.....add drugs (Ritalin, Cylert, etc) -- they all worked for about a month and then were useless. There were a few other meds in there I've forgotten now. Nuvigil is the only thing that's been effective. It was originally made for those with narcolepsy. My insurance covered it, no problem (it had to be pre-approved). So, there's one option you might try. I still have crash days, but at least it's not EVERYDAY!

Yeah, I also get sick and tired of being sick and tired! I took 2 naps yesterday, so out of a 24 hour day, i slept about 15 hours of it. Fun, isn't it?

[OranicManic]

12. Thyroid or Adrenal?

Sounds like it could be thyroid or adrenal. Have you had t3 and t4 tested? Adrenal is much more difficult to address, but there are natural adrenal supplements you can get.

stuff like this:

Drenamin 360 Tabs

[mopinko]

13. tested to within an inch of my life.

thyroid tested, even had ultrasound.

[Rambis]

14. Coeliac?

I had reactive arthritis they would test the fluid and they never knew what it was (not gout) Bad skin, low energy level, depression, diarrhea, acid relflux etc etc. When i hear stories where nobody had a clue what was going on it might be worth looking into. It could be a wheat allergy as well but if you or your dr are out of ideas do the bood test. I am a new person-

[jxnmsdemguy65]

15. Please look into using coconut oil to address your chronic fatigue...

Sounds like you have a thyroid and/or candida issue... This is easily resolved with a daily coconut oil regime...

[rosalgustren]

16. a better suggestion

tpsbmam, have you tried what pregrine suggestion about a B12 spray under your tounge? I've been using it for several months now and I's still satisfied right now. I think you should try it.

[tickedoff]

17. so tired of being tired

Have you been tested for lyme using a tick infection specific laboratory such as Igenex?