Fatigue and tmi
 

I have a couple of questions for you lovely people :cool:

The first is, "Why am I so tired?"

Last night I slept for eight hours, as I have done for the last week or so. For about two or three months before then I hadn't slept well at all - at its worst I could only sleep for about four or five hours a night. But lately (partly due to medication) I've been sleeping longer and better.

But this morning in my meeting I was yawning all the way through, and then came home and had a long nap!

My guess is that there could be two reasons for this: the first is the amount of calories I'm taking in, and the second is my medication.

Calories: I've been keeping myself to about 1500 a day; this is based on the excel file the wonderful lottie sent me. In that I put my activity level as "lightly active". But I wonder if I'm not underestimating how much I do:

+ every day I cycle at least 5 miles, sometimes closer to 8 miles, and once a week, when I have to make two trips, the total is closer to 20 miles
+ I try to go for a run three times a week (doesn't always happen :o)
+ twice a week I have a session with my personal trainer :devil:

Should I be upping my activity level? And consequently my daily calorie intake?

Meds: I'm taking sleeping meds and an anti-depressant. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my doctor and will mention this to him - I think sleepiness is listed as one of the (dozens of) possible side-effects of my anti-depressant.

Ok, my second question is a bit tmi: I think I'm sweating more than I used to (how do we even measure how much we sweat anyway?). I'm getting used to the fact that I turn up to things with unsightly patches under my arms and not being so self-conscious about it (lots of people cycle where I live, so it's not like it's uncommon, but I don't think I notice it in other people much). But I do wonder if this is something my body does because I'm more active, or drinking more water (I'm drinking much more water now, you can see the difference in my skin), or something like that?

What do you think? :dizzy: Thanks for any input you could offer!

the sweating could also be an AD side effect.

Have you googled it? I know some drugs I've taken for my bipolar made me sweat like crazy.

Oh, good one. The pharmacist gave me a ton of info, so I'll have a more careful read-through. Thanks!

I think I would consider you moderately active... though this is something I have a hard time figuring out myself!

I spend way more time than I should sitting here at this computer, but I try to exercise 30 minutes every day and I keep up with 4 kids and try to keep the house livable.

I've noticed in the past that when I start working out, I don't sweat much, but as I get more used to it, my body starts to sweat more??
Maybe something to do with getting into better shape possibly?

:hug:
Linda

Yea, my sister looked at my post (I sent her the link, she doesn't read 3fc normally) and soundly told me off for putting myself in the "lightly active" category. So I guess that told me.

The thing is with cycling is that I never really see it as exercise - it's transport. I get sweaty doing it, but I don't normally consider it a calorie-burning thing. Plus it's very common here to just cycle everywhere, so my tendency is to include it in a "normal" lifestyle, which perhaps isn't the starting point of the people who make those activity levels.

That's interesting, I've never noticed that before. I'll ask my doc tomorrow. Thanks for the input :)

What kinds of food are you eating? Are you taking in enough nutrients? Are you drinking enough water? Are you eating frequently?

I noticed a marked increase in my sweating also when I began eating better and exercising. I think there is definitely a diet component to it (for me anyway) since it started before I started working out, when I was just sorting my diet out, though it did increase again when I started working out. I figured it was just that my metabolism had revved and my other body systems had to adjust. I switched to one of the "clinical strength" deodorant / anti-perspirants and that helped with the wet patches. It has slowed down now even though I keep exercising more and more and my food gets better and better, so I figure my other systems are catching up.

As for your activity level, I'm not very good at figuring these out either and I don't know all the choices on the scale you are using, so I don't know where you would fall, but I would certainly say it is somewhere above "lightly active". You do more than what I am currently doing and according to my body bugg system I am "moderately active".

Breakfast is a couple of slices of bread with fruit or a spread, along with a cup of tea and a couple of glasses of water.

Lunch is either a sandwich, or an omelette, or a small salad, or warmed-up leftovers.

Dinner is, well, something I cook (I know, it sounds really dumb). I hardly ever eat out, have just learnt how to steam veggies, cook small (really small) portions of things like rice and pasta. Dessert can be an ice lolly (mostly water), or fruit with yoghurt, or a small portion of ice cream.

I try to drink 2l of water each day; most days I get to at least 1.5l. I generally don't eat any snacks.

Thanks so much for this, hearing where other people come up on that scale is very helpful :) Also for your experiences as regards the sweating. Part of the worry is sitting here thinking I'm the only one :)

I upped my work out time and weights last week and I've noticed a marked increase in both my level of fatigue and how much I sweat. I worked out for almost 2 hours today, then went to next class, and literally, felt like sweat was rolling off of me the entire 90 minute class period.

**Edited to add**

I read somewhere, and maybe another lady or gent on here recalls this, but that as we become more used to excersize and become more fit, we actually become more efficent machines, not just in how we proccess food and our metabolism runs, but in ALL functions. We begin to hit fat burning zone quicker and are capable of staying there longer. For me, I sweat buckets more in fat burning zone while working out than i do when i do cardio, Just a thought

I took Prostiq for 6 months-side effect is increased sweating.Lottie is correct.I would guess medication related.

Sorry-typo.Meant Pristiq.

Hi everyone,

this morning I went to the doc's as he wanted to check up with me and how the medication's going (I've only been on my anti-d for a week, on a lower-than-normal dosage). I mentioned both of these, and we agreed they could be side-effects of my meds (which should subside after another week or so), or could be caused by my recent lifestyle changes, or a combination of both.

Either way, I expect things to get better over the next week or two, or at the very least that I'll get better at dealing with them :)

Many thanks to all who gave input and moral support and such! It means such a great deal. You guys are fantastic! :hug: