Is anything I'm doing causing extreme fatigue?

[Ditapage]

I hate napping in the day because I wake up feeling awful. At first I feel like I can't move, like my limbs weigh a ton, and my heart is racing.

I suffer from frequent neck aches, face pain & jaw pain. My jaw feels heavy.

I just feel so fatigued a lot of the time, particularly when I'm anxious. Its weird how I will feel this tiredness the most between 12-3pm.

Can anxiety make you feel so weak that you want to pass out? I don't actually feel tired like I want to sleep. It's just that my body feels absolutely exhausted.

Is this all anxiety? I suffer from obsessive thoughts (ie my mind gets stuck on particular things and won't let go) I have severe self consciousness, i voluntarily tense up my muscles (like someone would do if they're cold) to release anxiety, and I can't stop thinking about how I feel. If I so much as can't find a piece of paper I'm looking for, I start feeling breathless and panicky.

Is this all why I feel extreme exhaustion? My blood tests were fine, just low b12 but not so low that I should have this horrible fatigue.

[pooh]

Hi there,

Anxiety is a very exhausting thing to have to deal with. When your adrenalin levels are running mostly on the up a lot of the time, your thoughts are churning and your body is very tense and stressed, you are most definitely going to feel exhausted. It's absolutely normal. All though it may be the last thing you feel like doing, physical exercise is a good way to help alleviate the symptoms. It's a good distraction and helps to burn off excess adrenalin and your body becomes fatigued in a much more natural way. For a great introduction to what is happening, please do refer to the column to the left. There is so much advice in there and reassurance as well as here on the threads about avenues you can go down to help you to better manage your thought patterns. Hope this helps.

Pooh :D

[Munki]

I suffer with this too and for years people have said it's my diet - I have exactly the same as you with obsessive thoughts and put it down to that. I exercise 5 days a week which definitely helps. I would suggest getting into a pattern of 8 hours sleep, eat well, exercise and make yourself do something when you have your slump. If that's between 12 and 3 maybe you could arrange to meet a friend or do something active.

It's keeping busy that's the key for people like us. Often it isn't therapy we need but activities to stop our minds from wandering :)

[harasgenster]

I had these problems for years and they were a real pain. I also had the problems with waking up when napping and feeling awful afterwards.

You're not giving your brain enough rest, basically. My exhaustion decreased when I did two things: starting prioritising having fun and looking after myself above my responsibilities, and took the pressure off myself to perform (at work, socially, etc). Once I had my priorities straight and started taking time off work if I felt too exhausted and started pushing myself to do things that were fun (hard at first because you feel too tired but the exhaustion lifts if you start enjoying yourself) the exhaustion went away.

Almost....it turned out the last of my tiredness was actually down to the medication I was on. Once I stopped the medication I felt totally back to normal again. If you're on an SSRI, there's a chance (depending on your metabolism really) that it can cause these symptoms. But anxiety also causes these symptoms. So I would say, make changes to your life so that you are prioritising having fun and relaxing for a while. Stop putting pressure on yourself. If you're not in therapy, get some asap as they will guide you through doing this. If you change your life and still don't feel quite right, try reducing or withdrawing from medication. That's what worked for me, anyway.

BTW, I also had obsessive thoughts (with me they often came as images rather than thoughts, that were like vivid flash frames in my head) and these can be difficult to deal with. I found that learning about mindfulness helped. You start to learn that the images and thoughts are inside you rather than reality (I know you always knew this but you often treat these thoughts as if they have a bearing on reality when you're anxious). Once you can see them just as thoughts that have no bearing on the real world then you can relax when they're around. When you relax, they disappear and you can go about your business again :)

[Mora Mora]

I can also relate to everyone else on this. Sometimes I feel like I can't even get up in the morning, especially when I'm having a bad run on my anxiety. But I have to agree with people saying exercise helps, I started running 2 years ago to help with the symptoms of anxiety and I haven't stopped since!! :)
It's really hard sometimes when you feel like you have no energy but even a mile at a slow jog helps me clear my head and makes me sleep better... And since then I've done 4 half marathons and more being planned.
Take it easy... :)
Mora Mora