[RoseRodent]

I'm not sure if this is familiar to others with fatigue-type illnesses (I have several conditions) but I've always found that I could cheat my way around some of the times I felt too ill to do anything using a sugar rush. I'd use sweets and chocolate or some other refined carbs as a short burst to get me through an extra 20-40 minutes of being well enough to achieve something. It's not to do with peaks and troughs of blood sugar, my blood sugar is closely monitored. Anyway, that problem is meant to resolve itself after a few weeks of eating well but mine has never cleared up regardless of diet plan and I've been ill for 18 years.

I don't know what it is really but my body seems to convert the glucose into instant get up and go and try to get it burned off to avoid storing it. Other foods don't work, and I do find myself looking for foods that will get me by because it's really hard to achieve everything you need to achieve if you are asleep for 4 daytime hours every day. Then again since the boost it only lasts a max of 1 hour I can't adjust my calories to try to account for a choccy bar every hour!

Part of me says clearly I have to have that rest and I'll have to buckle down and have the sleep rather than try to cheat my way out of it using a bar of choccy, and the rest of me thinks it's unfair and I should be able to find something else that will keep the feelings of being dead on my feet away for a little while. I'm drinking way too much coffee because it's low cal and I sort of hope it's going to succeed in making me feel less awful, but it never does, and I really must stop drinking it, I don't even like it!

Anyone else have this? How did you cope with having to leave behind one of the few things that made you stop feeling dreadful, albeit temporarily?

[stellarosa27]

I don't have a fatigue condition, but I've found that fruit really helps when I haven't gotten enough sleep (where as before I resorted to chocolate bars, etc.)

Maybe try oranges or grapes ?

[fatmad]

interesting problem, my husband has chronic fatigue, but hasn't had a flare in years. When he was bad, nothing gave him energy. He is very sensitive to many drugs and chemicals, and that includes caffeine. So he can have a tea or coffee, and have good effect. It doesn't take much, and sometimes gets him too wired. Rose: does your problem have a name or diagnosis? Of course if you prefer to keep that private, I understand. Just curious.

[The Last Noel]

Beets. The first time I whipped some up in a vegee smoothie I swear I thought I was high on something. I was all over the place. I cleaned my whole house, took my baby walking around the block and was peeing out orange pee before I realized (epiphony!) that they should probably be carding people in the produce section.

This is coming from an ex-monster energy drink addict. BEETS!

Cut the skins off like you do with carrots and put them in the blender with some ice, carrots and frozen berries. You'll see what I mean.

[kaplods]

I have fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome. Most of the doctors in the midwest consider them virtually the same disorder. I have the official diagnosis of fibromyalgia (which one doctor called chronic fatigue with pain. In other words, if I didn't have the pain they would have diagnosed chronic fatigue).

As much as the pain sucks, it's the fatigue that has been more life-altering. I could work with a lot of pain. It wasn't fun, but I could function, and have a life. But at the worst, I was sleeping (unconscious, not depressed moping in bed, actually unconscious sleeping) up to 20 hours a day. Before I experienced it, I would have never thought that fatigue could be worse than pain, but sleeping your life away can make pain seem like the lesser of two evils.

For years, I did self-medicate the fatigue with carbs (and large doses of caffeine), and from what I've read it's likely that it backfired on me. What helped in the short-term, was devastating in the long run. From what I've heard in support groups and have read, a lot of people with fibro and cfids and related issues do poorly on high carb diets. The Zone and Southbeach were most often recommended. I aim at fewer carbs, but probably average pretty Zone-ish. (40% calories from carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat).

I have noticed that the energy "peak" that sugar and quick-release carbs provide has gotten shorter and shorter, and the resulting "crash" deeper and deeper. To the point that a small candybar seems to give me 20 minutes of energy followed by a two hour crash.

Ten years ago, it seemed like the reverse 2 hours of energy and a 20 minute crash.

It's come to the point that I try to avoid sugar and other refined carbs like the plague, but I don't always succeed. I do keep most "junk" carbs out of the house, but old habits die hard and on a bad day, I can use craisins or other dried fruit like candy (and the physiological effect isn't all that different either). Even fresh fruit I can overdo to the point that I feel sluggish.

I need the structure of an exchange plan. I'm not always perfectly on-plan, but it does at least remind me of my portion goals, and I can see at a glance (because I use a checklist/chart) if my day is carb-heavy.

I was using provigil as an energy booster for occasional use. Though my neurologist warned me to use it to make good days better, not to try to make a bad day tolerable. I experienced rebound fatigue if I took it more than 1 day in a row, but many people don't. Some people use it as a maintenance drug (daily - or daily during the work week). If I'd been prescribed it before I went onto disability, my neurologist said he might prescribe it for daily use, though he would recommend weekends off. He said that the research found that most people don't get immune to the effects, but in his experience, a small percentage of patients do. For chronic fatigue illnesses, he doesn't want to prescribe it daily "just in case" the patient is one of the few for whom it becomes less effective over time.

I've not used provigil in more than a year, because I've been able to manage with an afternoon nap and small doses of caffeine.

Some doctors (like my general practitioner) consider caffeine safer with fewer side effects than provigil, and some (like my neurologist) consider provigil safer with fewer side effects.

Caffeine won out for me, because it requires no prescription and is cheap.

I don't drink coffee though because I don't like it, and it usually has too much caffeine for me (200 and even 300mg of caffeine isn't unusual, and 150 is probably about average, at least as my hubby brews it). I tend to stick to tea and diet soft drinks that have around 50mg of caffeine or less.

For me a low level of caffeine throughout the morning and early afternoon, works better than a large dose. I'm trying to substitute caffeinated teas more and more for the diet sodas, because at least the teas have antioxidants and other healthy stuff besides the caffeine.

I don't have any trouble falling asleep even if I drink tea or soda right before bed, but I have trouble staying asleep and sleeping deeply, so I cut out the caffeine at least 6 to 8 hours before I plan on going to bed.

[tschaff04]

I am definitely buying some beets to try. I drink coffee, and that's what keeps me going throughout the day. One cup in the morning and I am good all day, but I hate the taste of the stuff. I hope beets work as well as the PP stated. lol