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What Is Causing My Tiredness ?
85 Answers
Taking tabs as doctor said I was low on iron, but my tiredness is extreme at the moment, everything is an effort. Nothing showed up on tests at the doctors. I sleep soundly at night for about 7-8 hours and have a sleep in the afternoon as well, but I am tired all the time
Answers
I must be missing something basic here.
Tired All The Time or TATT is an acronym often seen and often associated with an anaemia, the most common type of which is Iron Deficiency Anaemia.But- for anaemia to be profound enough to induce such listlesness, you would certainly expect to see an abnormal blood test.
You go on to say that your are taking tabs ( by which I assume you mean iron tablets) as your Dr. said you were low on iron.
Here is where I get a bit confused though - you say that "nothing showed up on tests at the Dr." - but if you have an iron deficiency anaemia diagnosed by your Dr, then I would have expected an abnormal Full Blood Count with a low Haemoglobin. Unless you have a low Haemoglobin, I really do not understand why you would be prescribed iron tablets.
In further posts, I get more confused :) I think I understood you to say you had started taking iron tablets of your own accord, before you went to see the Dr. So does the Dr know you are taking iron tablets? Did they prescribe them?
Otherwise, I would agree with Sqad, especially wrt B12 anaemia - very characteristic blood film and markers from the Full Blood Count, such as Mean Cell Volume ( MCV) for instance...
So the questions I would have are;
1. Has the Dr. diagnosed you as suffering from anaemia?
2. Has the Dr. presribed a course of supplementary iron therapy?
3. Was the blood test for anaemia abnormal?
If you do have iron deficiency, and have been presribed iron supplements, then any improvement will take some time - typically several days if not weeks. And I would certainly expect the Dr. to investigate the cause of your anaemia- is it due to bleeding, or impairment of the iron transport/absorbtion system, or simply an insufficiency of iron in the diet?
@Solvitquick - You said something in your post which i do not understand - you said that "like vitamin B12 status which is needed for dietary iron absorption" - Can you explain how B12 is involved in dietary iron absorption? First I have heard of it :)
Tired All The Time or TATT is an acronym often seen and often associated with an anaemia, the most common type of which is Iron Deficiency Anaemia.But- for anaemia to be profound enough to induce such listlesness, you would certainly expect to see an abnormal blood test.
You go on to say that your are taking tabs ( by which I assume you mean iron tablets) as your Dr. said you were low on iron.
Here is where I get a bit confused though - you say that "nothing showed up on tests at the Dr." - but if you have an iron deficiency anaemia diagnosed by your Dr, then I would have expected an abnormal Full Blood Count with a low Haemoglobin. Unless you have a low Haemoglobin, I really do not understand why you would be prescribed iron tablets.
In further posts, I get more confused :) I think I understood you to say you had started taking iron tablets of your own accord, before you went to see the Dr. So does the Dr know you are taking iron tablets? Did they prescribe them?
Otherwise, I would agree with Sqad, especially wrt B12 anaemia - very characteristic blood film and markers from the Full Blood Count, such as Mean Cell Volume ( MCV) for instance...
So the questions I would have are;
1. Has the Dr. diagnosed you as suffering from anaemia?
2. Has the Dr. presribed a course of supplementary iron therapy?
3. Was the blood test for anaemia abnormal?
If you do have iron deficiency, and have been presribed iron supplements, then any improvement will take some time - typically several days if not weeks. And I would certainly expect the Dr. to investigate the cause of your anaemia- is it due to bleeding, or impairment of the iron transport/absorbtion system, or simply an insufficiency of iron in the diet?
@Solvitquick - You said something in your post which i do not understand - you said that "like vitamin B12 status which is needed for dietary iron absorption" - Can you explain how B12 is involved in dietary iron absorption? First I have heard of it :)
1 No he just said my iron levels were low (before I got the diagnosis of low on iron I was at the doctors for something else and he told me in passing that is what the results showed, I had to wait for my next appointment with another doctor who was handling this matter so I went out and bought an iron supplement.
2 He prescribed Ferrous Fumarate 305 caps, one a day (100)on the 6/4/13.
3 Today he has prescribed and I have received Adcal-D
2 He prescribed Ferrous Fumarate 305 caps, one a day (100)on the 6/4/13.
3 Today he has prescribed and I have received Adcal-D
Like LazyGun, I am confused:
I will "buy".....just.....only just...that your Vit D defy may have caused your iron defy anaemia.......BUT...why are you Vit D deficient?
lack of sunshine.........naaaah!
not absorbing Vit D......nothing in your history suggests that........
Sorry...this doesn't add up to a medical disorder.......that I am familiar with...
I will "buy".....just.....only just...that your Vit D defy may have caused your iron defy anaemia.......BUT...why are you Vit D deficient?
lack of sunshine.........naaaah!
not absorbing Vit D......nothing in your history suggests that........
Sorry...this doesn't add up to a medical disorder.......that I am familiar with...
Vitamin D has nothing to do with your problem. It's only involved in bone growth, deficiency in early life leads to rickets.If you take large amounts of Vitamin D you will develop osteoporosis!
Wow you are confused - the immediate help I offer is to say that daisya is talking rubbish - sorry daisya.
I've covered iron status earlier but we are all confused about who's treating you and what's happening.
Have you had thyroid-function fully investigated - ask for another blood test for thyroid activity. It STILL sounds like thyroxine deficiency!
SIQ.
Wow you are confused - the immediate help I offer is to say that daisya is talking rubbish - sorry daisya.
I've covered iron status earlier but we are all confused about who's treating you and what's happening.
Have you had thyroid-function fully investigated - ask for another blood test for thyroid activity. It STILL sounds like thyroxine deficiency!
SIQ.
I hope you get it sorted soon tamaris. I know what it's like to feel tired. Some of mine is self inflicted because I don't eat as healthy as I should or exercise regularly. But I do have a lot of personal family problems at the moment and even though my body is telling me I'm tired, my mind is still too active and wont shut down. And another thing is I spend too long on the computer. I ought to cut back a bit but I find it so addictive.I hope you
find a solution that works for you. There does seem to be a lot of people complaining of tiredness of late and a lot of it is down to the oppressive weather we've been having. Good night. hope you sleep well and wake more refreshed tomorrow or later today!
find a solution that works for you. There does seem to be a lot of people complaining of tiredness of late and a lot of it is down to the oppressive weather we've been having. Good night. hope you sleep well and wake more refreshed tomorrow or later today!
Dear tamaris,
I think that your best treatment now is a strict and scary talking to in order to get you to demand a full diagnosis from your doctor including referral to a specialist. I really sympathise with your awful suffering but here comes "cruel to be kind".
This whole business is loaded with confusion on AB and possbly between you and your doctor.
On MAY 29th you posted that your doctor told you that you were "low" in iron. On the same date you said your doctor prescribed you Fe sulphate - good - it's the best-absorbable form of treatment for simple dietary anaemia or heavy natural blood loss - but you are post-menopausal so it's not "period" bleeding.
Blood loss from the bowels is not red but occurs sometimes as dark or blackish stools (poo) which needs clinical analysis of a sample to confirm or deny. It's called occult (hidden or mysterious) blood loss. YOU cannot say yes or no to this type of blood loss!
On JUNE 13th you said you had been started on Fe fumarate - bad news! If you have been regularly taking Fe sulphate for simple iron deficiency, including anaemia, you should should be at least temporarily "cured" by now. Were you tested after the treatment course? Also I remember at least one reputable specialist saying Fe fumarate was poorly absorbed if at all. I can't remember the reputable scientific/medical journal lreference though. Your doctor is now prescribing calcium and/or Vitamin D apparently. You should not be deficient in Vitamin D, given your outdoor lifestyle. But it's just posssible - if you are dark-skinned. Rickets was discovered in the
dark- skinned people of Glasgow on 1970-1990's. Anyway for dietary treatment, full-cream cow's milk is better than pills. But being fat-soluble it's in the cream. Aaaw, don't tell me - you only drink skimmed milk or are allergic to dairy products! - just like you don't eat red meat which provides iron and B-vitamins.
Did you talk your doctor into this Vitamin D treatment and he's giving you a low dose as a virtual placebo? Why no dietary advice from him? Did he say why your Vitamin D is low? Very odd all this business - but Vitamin D has nothing to do with tiredness.
You keep on talking about "tests". These should be blood tests taken by your surgery nurse/phlebotomist and sent to the local hospital for comprehensive testing of every possible cause of your problems by the clinical laboratory. You may even need biopsies if your condition is as serious as you are making it appear. Are these the tests you mean?
You talk about "mild" emphysema and "slight" asthma. No such things! You either have emphysema or asthma or not. If you have asthma have you had allergy tests? Sounds like self-diagnonis or friend's diagnosis because you are short-winded. The most likely cause, if they are real, is smoking. This can also make you tired through carbon dioxide build-up in the blood.
I wish you all the very best tamaris. Please, please give your doctor a severe talking to. Lay your illness on with a trowel to him, fake-cry if necessary, so that you get some serious quick action!
Luv,
SIQ.
I think that your best treatment now is a strict and scary talking to in order to get you to demand a full diagnosis from your doctor including referral to a specialist. I really sympathise with your awful suffering but here comes "cruel to be kind".
This whole business is loaded with confusion on AB and possbly between you and your doctor.
On MAY 29th you posted that your doctor told you that you were "low" in iron. On the same date you said your doctor prescribed you Fe sulphate - good - it's the best-absorbable form of treatment for simple dietary anaemia or heavy natural blood loss - but you are post-menopausal so it's not "period" bleeding.
Blood loss from the bowels is not red but occurs sometimes as dark or blackish stools (poo) which needs clinical analysis of a sample to confirm or deny. It's called occult (hidden or mysterious) blood loss. YOU cannot say yes or no to this type of blood loss!
On JUNE 13th you said you had been started on Fe fumarate - bad news! If you have been regularly taking Fe sulphate for simple iron deficiency, including anaemia, you should should be at least temporarily "cured" by now. Were you tested after the treatment course? Also I remember at least one reputable specialist saying Fe fumarate was poorly absorbed if at all. I can't remember the reputable scientific/medical journal lreference though. Your doctor is now prescribing calcium and/or Vitamin D apparently. You should not be deficient in Vitamin D, given your outdoor lifestyle. But it's just posssible - if you are dark-skinned. Rickets was discovered in the
dark- skinned people of Glasgow on 1970-1990's. Anyway for dietary treatment, full-cream cow's milk is better than pills. But being fat-soluble it's in the cream. Aaaw, don't tell me - you only drink skimmed milk or are allergic to dairy products! - just like you don't eat red meat which provides iron and B-vitamins.
Did you talk your doctor into this Vitamin D treatment and he's giving you a low dose as a virtual placebo? Why no dietary advice from him? Did he say why your Vitamin D is low? Very odd all this business - but Vitamin D has nothing to do with tiredness.
You keep on talking about "tests". These should be blood tests taken by your surgery nurse/phlebotomist and sent to the local hospital for comprehensive testing of every possible cause of your problems by the clinical laboratory. You may even need biopsies if your condition is as serious as you are making it appear. Are these the tests you mean?
You talk about "mild" emphysema and "slight" asthma. No such things! You either have emphysema or asthma or not. If you have asthma have you had allergy tests? Sounds like self-diagnonis or friend's diagnosis because you are short-winded. The most likely cause, if they are real, is smoking. This can also make you tired through carbon dioxide build-up in the blood.
I wish you all the very best tamaris. Please, please give your doctor a severe talking to. Lay your illness on with a trowel to him, fake-cry if necessary, so that you get some serious quick action!
Luv,
SIQ.
Dearest tamaris,
If it spurs you and your doctor into action, that's good.
On the point about the speed of iron-deficieny "cure" I was a bit over the top, assuming just a bit below desirable normal haemoglobin level. Don't be scared of speed on that - if you are severely anaemic it will take at least six weeks.
So that was bad of me - sorry.
Please believe that I am really trying to help and just stir yourself into real action my dear.
Make a long list of questions for your doctor including all your fears and arrange an appointment. Don't leave his room till you get answers. DON'T SAY THAT to him! But if he wants you to leave he won't tell you but use the old tactic of writing another prescription. Don't be fobbed off that way.
Chin up dear, all will be well.
Luv,
SIQ.
If it spurs you and your doctor into action, that's good.
On the point about the speed of iron-deficieny "cure" I was a bit over the top, assuming just a bit below desirable normal haemoglobin level. Don't be scared of speed on that - if you are severely anaemic it will take at least six weeks.
So that was bad of me - sorry.
Please believe that I am really trying to help and just stir yourself into real action my dear.
Make a long list of questions for your doctor including all your fears and arrange an appointment. Don't leave his room till you get answers. DON'T SAY THAT to him! But if he wants you to leave he won't tell you but use the old tactic of writing another prescription. Don't be fobbed off that way.
Chin up dear, all will be well.
Luv,
SIQ.
""the immediate help I offer is to say that daisya is talking rubbish - sorry daisya""
I am telling you what a consultant and also a GP told my OH that Vit D deficiency is rife especially for older people and that it affects everything from head to toe in the human body....and that is a quote from the two. Having read it up in the internet and knowing my OH went downhill with tiredness and feeling off colour which was most unlike him, his bloods taken were to test Vit D and found to be extremely deficient. A course of tablets has actually helped him feel much better, given him more energy and stopped him just falling asleep in the armchair he still has a way to go for levels to be tested again.
I know we all have our own opinions and are entitled to express them...I answered tamaris to the best of my knowledge of the problem she asked about and after getting back to this thread I can see that from bloods taken and her doctor's advice, it seems she is not only Vit D deficient but iron deficient too which is also a sign of the symptoms (ferritin levels can be low too which also causes lots of problems with general health). My OH is not iron deficient so that's why with his symptoms being similar to tamaris' I naturally mentioned vti D deficiency....
@ solvit... thanks for the apology but it was your opinion against mine... though at least I didn't say YOU were talking rubbish!
I am telling you what a consultant and also a GP told my OH that Vit D deficiency is rife especially for older people and that it affects everything from head to toe in the human body....and that is a quote from the two. Having read it up in the internet and knowing my OH went downhill with tiredness and feeling off colour which was most unlike him, his bloods taken were to test Vit D and found to be extremely deficient. A course of tablets has actually helped him feel much better, given him more energy and stopped him just falling asleep in the armchair he still has a way to go for levels to be tested again.
I know we all have our own opinions and are entitled to express them...I answered tamaris to the best of my knowledge of the problem she asked about and after getting back to this thread I can see that from bloods taken and her doctor's advice, it seems she is not only Vit D deficient but iron deficient too which is also a sign of the symptoms (ferritin levels can be low too which also causes lots of problems with general health). My OH is not iron deficient so that's why with his symptoms being similar to tamaris' I naturally mentioned vti D deficiency....
@ solvit... thanks for the apology but it was your opinion against mine... though at least I didn't say YOU were talking rubbish!
Dear tamaris,
I am not a medical doctor. I am a doctor (scientific i.e. Ph.D) in the field of biochemistry. In my company-profession, I was a research biochemist. My research concentrated on nutritional chemistry specialising in vitamin and iron deficiencies. With the same company I later moved to more general human biochemical research in healthy and certain unhealthy conditions. HOWEVER NONE OF THAT QUALIFIES ME TO USURP ANY MEDICAL DOCTOR'S POSITION NOR HAVE I TRIED TO SO SO. Please witness my earlier posts which ALWAYS advised you to talk to your GP.
Tamaris, I reluctantly provided my qualifications and relevant history because you asked a question which I think desererved a full answer showing that I am not a looney charlatan. I'm just another simple and honest ABer like you.
Luv,
SIQ.
I am not a medical doctor. I am a doctor (scientific i.e. Ph.D) in the field of biochemistry. In my company-profession, I was a research biochemist. My research concentrated on nutritional chemistry specialising in vitamin and iron deficiencies. With the same company I later moved to more general human biochemical research in healthy and certain unhealthy conditions. HOWEVER NONE OF THAT QUALIFIES ME TO USURP ANY MEDICAL DOCTOR'S POSITION NOR HAVE I TRIED TO SO SO. Please witness my earlier posts which ALWAYS advised you to talk to your GP.
Tamaris, I reluctantly provided my qualifications and relevant history because you asked a question which I think desererved a full answer showing that I am not a looney charlatan. I'm just another simple and honest ABer like you.
Luv,
SIQ.
tamarisk -
This is some of what I have been told about vit D deficiency and found on the internet.
Why you can be deficient - a person doesn't consume the correct levels of the vitamin over a period of time from the foods containing it - their time in the sun is limited or restricted - the kidneys cannot convert it to its active form easily as you get older - the digestive system cannot absorb it easily for several reasons including crohn's or coeliac disease - immune system problems etc.
Some of the symptoms of low vit d in the body can be - fatigue, general muscle pain and weakness, high blood pressure, poor concentration, headaches
Now I read that a team at King's College London have said that low levels of vitamin D, was linked to a worsening of asthma symptoms. Apparently they say their latest research shows the vitamin calms an over-active part of the immune system in asthma.
So tamaris, I think that you did the right thing in seeing your doctor and going by the blood test re your vitamin D that he is doing what a lot of GP's are doing when faced with similar results.
IMO I would not heed the advice of those who say vit D deficiency is nothing to do with your symptoms because the doc has advised you that it could be and believe me I'm sure it is the case for my OH and a friend of mine who had exactly the same as you and who is now much better for the tablets. I hope they will work for you - let us know eventually as I know they will take a while to help.
This is some of what I have been told about vit D deficiency and found on the internet.
Why you can be deficient - a person doesn't consume the correct levels of the vitamin over a period of time from the foods containing it - their time in the sun is limited or restricted - the kidneys cannot convert it to its active form easily as you get older - the digestive system cannot absorb it easily for several reasons including crohn's or coeliac disease - immune system problems etc.
Some of the symptoms of low vit d in the body can be - fatigue, general muscle pain and weakness, high blood pressure, poor concentration, headaches
Now I read that a team at King's College London have said that low levels of vitamin D, was linked to a worsening of asthma symptoms. Apparently they say their latest research shows the vitamin calms an over-active part of the immune system in asthma.
So tamaris, I think that you did the right thing in seeing your doctor and going by the blood test re your vitamin D that he is doing what a lot of GP's are doing when faced with similar results.
IMO I would not heed the advice of those who say vit D deficiency is nothing to do with your symptoms because the doc has advised you that it could be and believe me I'm sure it is the case for my OH and a friend of mine who had exactly the same as you and who is now much better for the tablets. I hope they will work for you - let us know eventually as I know they will take a while to help.
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-- answer removed --
Dear daisya,
Thank you for your submissions which as you will guess come as a complete shock to me. Believe me, I come on AB to be educated as well help where I think I can. You have admirably demonstrated how out of touch I am in the Vitamin D area in particular. You have stimulated me to look into it further - separately from this discussion but for my own education. Thank you ever so much for your information.
I know it must be difficult for you to accept my humblest apologies for dismissing your views in so lightly. However I am sincerely sorry my dear. Also I apologise with equal sincerity for my arrogant rudeness - to be rude is bad but to be rude and ignorant together is horrible! Sorry, sorry and sorry again.
With love and best wishes to you, your "other half" and to tamaris whom I misled on the Vitamin D subject.
SIQ.
Thank you for your submissions which as you will guess come as a complete shock to me. Believe me, I come on AB to be educated as well help where I think I can. You have admirably demonstrated how out of touch I am in the Vitamin D area in particular. You have stimulated me to look into it further - separately from this discussion but for my own education. Thank you ever so much for your information.
I know it must be difficult for you to accept my humblest apologies for dismissing your views in so lightly. However I am sincerely sorry my dear. Also I apologise with equal sincerity for my arrogant rudeness - to be rude is bad but to be rude and ignorant together is horrible! Sorry, sorry and sorry again.
With love and best wishes to you, your "other half" and to tamaris whom I misled on the Vitamin D subject.
SIQ.
