Ongoing extreme fatigue, breathlessness and other general symptoms.

[Trebormintz]

Hi everyone,
I have only posted on this forum a few times and I apologise in advance if this is long! I'm just looking for advice on what I can do next really as my Dr doesn't really seem to know what to do or what is wrong.

A bit of background – I’m 44 in the summer. Just before my 41st birthday I had my first and only child – difficult birth and I have to take overactive bladder tablets because of the damage. I have had digestive problems for years and so I also take Nexium as/when I need it. A few months after the birth of my child I developed bad stiffness in my fingers and toes (couldn’t lift my daughter out of the cot) but this mainly went away only comes and goes to a mild extent.

I’ve never been the most energetic person and I do love my sleep, I also know that raising toddler is hard work. I do also have HA to a certain extent but I don’t think any of these things is the (only) reason for the following:

One afternoon, about two summers ago, I suddenly experienced extreme exhaustion. I could barely move and even breathing felt exhausting. I wasn’t a feeling of needing sleep – more that all the life had been drained out of me. I was terrified.
After spending the rest of the day resting, I gradually began to feel better.

I was fine for a few months but then it happened again. It happens on a regular basis now and for longer periods – 2/3/4 days. Sometimes I am so fatigued that I can’t function and others, like today, I struggle along at work. Sometimes I feel ok. I also experience breathlessness – I am a teacher, today I could barely get my words out. I get palpitations and I sometimes (about 3 times a year) have ‘attacks’ where I have agonising pain in the middle of my back/chest – I put these down to digestive issues as Gaviscon and Nexium eventually help these go away after a few hours.

I have had blood tests – all ok, borderline iron perhaps so I have been carefully and regularly taking spatone/floradix. This seems to have helped lessen the palpitations but nothing else.

I’ve had chest X-rays/ultrasounds for the chest/back issue to rule out gallstones – all ok.

I’ve worn a weekly holter monitor for the palpitations – again, ok.

I’ve considered peri/menopause – my periods have been longer/heavier and not as ‘like clockwork’ ever since I had my daughter. I also have day/night sweats but not all the time and not drenching ones.

My GP has floated CFS around but I’m not sure the symptoms fit.

I just don’t know what to do next. I just want to be able to function normally and of course, all of this is causing me to start worrying that I have some hideous disease that is slowly going to get worse….

If anyone has any advice, I’d be very grateful.

Thank you for reading!

[Trebormintz]

Anyone?
I know there's a lot of issues in my first post but if anyone has experience the fatigue before and has any ideas, I'd be grateful to know.

[Zilde]

Currently dealing with the Fatigue situation myself so don't worry, there's others out there who understand. Supermarket is across the road from me and taking a trip there and back has spent me today. I also get Chronic sensations of dizziness and like brain fog where my head feels so heavy and drowsy. Makes it so frustrating when your blood tests are clear because then there's no easy fix, which unfortunately is the nature of anxiety disorders. :(

[Trebormintz]

Thanks for your reply Zilde. Have you tried anything that has actually helped? I'm actually wondering if it's hormone related. Sorry you're suffering too

[Ditapage]

Hi,

I can hear your desperation in your post and I completely relate. I have what I call crashes, where I am so "fatigued" its feel like I have to breathe manually but I feel like I'm being smothered. I try to "nap it off", but I'm not sleepy. It doesn't feel like that sleepy feeling you get before nodding off in bed at night, right? I told my doctor this is not a pleasant tiredness.

Is this happening at the same time in the day? I was crashing mid afternoon. By evening I'm fine again. The doctor had no explanation or suggestions besides "stop looking at the clock" as if to say I was programming my body to react this way the same time every day. Oh he also said "anxiety."


A blood test showed B12 on the lower side. So I started taking a B12 supplement and eating hard boiled eggs every day and the crashes aren't daily anymore.

Then I read a book that referred to this as "tense-tired." It's a combination of high tension and low energy. The book even described it as a highly unpleasant state. When we feel this way we think we need to lay down but we actually need to do some light exercise, like walking. It burns tension and raises energy. High tension results in a tired but wired feeling. So whenever I crashed, I got up and started walking around, jogging on the spot. I felt more energised plus it regulates your breathing. The background anxiety and tension is creating that smothered feeling so common in anxiety. And when we try to breathe by ourselves, we over breathe and taking in too much air causes a laboured breathing sensation.

These crashes can absolutely be caused by faulty breathing caused by being anxious and stressed even if you're not aware that you are, because it can still exist in the subconscious mind. I think we can anticipate these crashes and they are another form of a panic attack. Some of mine were so bad I convinced myself I couldn't move off the bed. At its worst I was housebound and barely functional from about 1pm til 4-5pm. I ended up getting depressed from this tiredness. And scared to go out alone because I think I'll just get so weak I will pass out or die. I feel like I can't get a grip on myself when it hits. I feel like I can't predict how I will cope away from home. Do you feel it in your eyes and head?

I thought about CFS too but I don't have the symptoms either. I also thought about other illnesses and worried myself sick which just means MORE tension. I totally relate, it feels like the life is sucked out of you. Mine started in 2014 after a break up. They can usually be linked to a stressful event or worrying all the time or even being afraid of them. I thigh they were a form of panic attack. Since I stopped worrying about them and can help myself a little with exercise / walk when I feel it, the hard to breathe feeling has let up. I still get the crashes off and on but I don't feel like I'm about to die.

They're so awful!!!

I also started drinkin more water in a day because dehydration can cause these crashes too.

Have you noticed any links in activity, time of day etc?

[Lakme]

Hi everyone,
I have only posted on this forum a few times and I apologise in advance if this is long! I'm just looking for advice on what I can do next really as my Dr doesn't really seem to know what to do or what is wrong.

A bit of background – I’m 44 in the summer. Just before my 41st birthday I had my first and only child – difficult birth and I have to take overactive bladder tablets because of the damage. I have had digestive problems for years and so I also take Nexium as/when I need it. A few months after the birth of my child I developed bad stiffness in my fingers and toes (couldn’t lift my daughter out of the cot) but this mainly went away only comes and goes to a mild extent.

I’ve never been the most energetic person and I do love my sleep, I also know that raising toddler is hard work. I do also have HA to a certain extent but I don’t think any of these things is the (only) reason for the following:

One afternoon, about two summers ago, I suddenly experienced extreme exhaustion. I could barely move and even breathing felt exhausting. I wasn’t a feeling of needing sleep – more that all the life had been drained out of me. I was terrified.
After spending the rest of the day resting, I gradually began to feel better.

I was fine for a few months but then it happened again. It happens on a regular basis now and for longer periods – 2/3/4 days. Sometimes I am so fatigued that I can’t function and others, like today, I struggle along at work. Sometimes I feel ok. I also experience breathlessness – I am a teacher, today I could barely get my words out. I get palpitations and I sometimes (about 3 times a year) have ‘attacks’ where I have agonising pain in the middle of my back/chest – I put these down to digestive issues as Gaviscon and Nexium eventually help these go away after a few hours.

I have had blood tests – all ok, borderline iron perhaps so I have been carefully and regularly taking spatone/floradix. This seems to have helped lessen the palpitations but nothing else.

I’ve had chest X-rays/ultrasounds for the chest/back issue to rule out gallstones – all ok.

I’ve worn a weekly holter monitor for the palpitations – again, ok.

I’ve considered peri/menopause – my periods have been longer/heavier and not as ‘like clockwork’ ever since I had my daughter. I also have day/night sweats but not all the time and not drenching ones.

My GP has floated CFS around but I’m not sure the symptoms fit.

I just don’t know what to do next. I just want to be able to function normally and of course, all of this is causing me to start worrying that I have some hideous disease that is slowly going to get worse….

If anyone has any advice, I’d be very grateful.

Thank you for reading!

I'm not a doctor, and I can't diagnose you by any means, but neurological issues followed by fatigue and digestive problems sounds a lot like celiac, which is what I suspect I'm going through right now. If you're interested, you might wanna get tested by your doctor to possibly save yourself trouble. It seems like celiac is more common than people/doctors think it is and it's suspected that only about 5% of people with celiac disease are diagnosed and about half are asymptomatic. The chronic fatigue could be a byproduct of vitamin deficiencies from malnutrition.

Take this information with a grain of salt as it could be a number of things bothering you. I also haven't even been diagnosed or tested. It's just an observation that consuming gluten seems to aggravate my symptoms and they go away over a matter of days..

But then again, I did drop 15 pounds and that's a telltale sign of a malabsorption disorder.

Gluten is also a very troublesome protein, so even if you don't get slapped with a diagnosis of celiac, there are a number of reasons it could be beneficial to your health.

I was like you a few months ago and I was told by my doctor that it was just anxiety disorder that was causing all of these problems and now I know it's most likely not.

You really shouldn't be going through this. I should know, I'm only 20 years old and this entire time I was sure each next month would be my last, and yet I'm still here.

Good luck.

[almamatters]

Could be hormone related, I'm suffering similar. Hope you are feeling better soon.

[ankietyjoe]

I also have ongoing bouts of moderate to severe(?) fatigue. It sometimes feels like (as you say) the life has been drained out of me. Like a combination of too little sleep, a hangover and taking a sedative.

I don't smoke or drink,avoid caffeine, I eat healthily, take high quality vitamins and drink plenty of water.

I don't sleep well (usually 4-6 hours a night, always broken). Sometimes 7 hours broken sleep if I'm lucky. I'm 45, overweight and do virtually no exercise. I have been monumentally stressed for several years.

I have come to the conclusion that the lack of exercise combined with muscle tension I often don't even recognise can cause me to become extremely fatigued for several days. I often get to the point where my muscles are so tense it hurts to move. It's as if my body says 'ENOUGH!' and puts me on my ass for a while.

My muscles end up feeling fatigued, sore, trembly, tight and kind of like they're constantly suffering from lactic acid.

When I feel like this, sometimes I have to lay down. Interestingly walking about a bit usually makes me feel a little better, not worse.

It's a very frustrating ailment because it's usually unpredictable, although I am working on not getting tense and stressed in the first place. I'm sure that'll help over time.

I hope you find a solution too.