Hi all! Today is my first day back, and seeing as it's about the 1800th time, I'm hoping to get it right. One major hurdle always seems to be my energy levels. There never seems to be enough hours in my day, as I'm sure you all agree, but even if I do go to bed early and leave things undone, I'm still exhausted the next day. I'm sure many have experienced this, is there any vitamin or supplement I can take to help? Would just a plain ole multivitamin suffice, or are there magic things I don't know about?
Last edited by RollTideRoll; 10-02-2014 at 04:15 PM.
I would ask your doctor about your thyroid. This may or may not be the case. I was ALWAYS tired. IT didn't matter if I had coffee, had vitamins, ate healthy, got rest. I just felt tired all the time. I had a check up with my doctor after switching to a new city and new everything. As part of the general check up, she ran my hormone levels and found out I was on the high end. I was medicated for it, and withing 3 days, I started feeling more energy. It was night and day. Other problems cleared up as well.
I'm not guaranteeing that is what it is, but if no matter what you do, you can't seem to shake the exhaustion, speak to your doctor. It may be other things as well.
I have been anemic in the past and now, when I feel super tired even after a good night's rest, I take an iron pill for one or two days...iron also is supposed to make you constipated, or so I've heard, so I don't take it longer than necessary but just taking one for a day or two really helps my energy levels
for me, i take iron IF i've felt super tired for more than a few days with no logical explanation....not just "oh I'm tired this morning"...but more prolonged, if that makes sense.
Story of my life. Go to bed tired, wake up feeling worse.
If you have no idea what is causing it then I would go to the Dr. After the worst week of sleep in my life I finally went. I had already had my thyroid checked a year and half ago so they ruled that out. I had no idea if I snored or kicked in my sleep. Which kicking means never getting into deep sleep and snoring obviously could mean sleep apnea. I wasn't stressed much, or worried about anything.
Melatonin made it hard for me to wake up, and same with Valerian Root. But you might want to give it a go. ZQuill knocks me out but I will have a nasty morning. I will not wake up on that stuff.
Have you tried good sleep practices? Not working out right before bed, not eating right before bed. Bed is for sleep only, no reading or anything like that. Are you on electronics before bed? I have a hard time mostly because I'm a night worker so I have to try and fall asleep in the middle of the day. So I did some research on electronics and the blue light they give off, which inhibits your natural melatonin production. The sun gives off this same light. so they have these amber sunglasses that block the light. I've never tried them. But if you are on electronics or watch tv before bed then you might want to look them up.
As of today (it's been about 3 weeks) my sleep is better. Much deeper, and if I wake to use the restroom, i fall right back to sleep, which used to take me a hour or more. I used to read or doodle in bed, I stopped that. I take generic Unisom the wal-mart brand. The one with Doxyamine Succinate. The other kind won't let me wake up.
I still wake up about 10 times a night, but I fall right back without much fuss. The Dr. wanted me to try these tricks out for a few months before sending me to a sleep study.
I would try the good sleep practices, and try not to stress about things undone. Maybe try the Melatonin or Valerian Root supplements if you want. But if after a few weeks things are the same, I would see a Dr.
Do you start feeling tired only once you start dieting? If so, make sure you're eating enough when you change your diet. You could try starting out by just logging your food without changing anything, to see how much you're eating normally. then slowly take the amount of calories down until you start losing weight. It's possible you're setting your caloric intake too low and your body is burning your lean mass.
But like other people have said here, you should also make sure you're getting enough vitamins and minerals, and get your doctor to run a few tests to make sure your system is working properly.
I had a huge energy boost when I started losing weight, but I think it was because I dropped a bunch of water weight I was carrying around, when I stopped eating so much salt. So maybe taking salt intake down a bit would help too. But you don't want to go TOO low because your body does actually need salt.
There are so many things you can try that might help. Don't give up!
I think that first of all, cutting down on food can really hit your energy levels hard. If you're used to eating x amount and suddenly you're eating x-1000, obviously you may feel a difference. If you generally struggle with energy whether you're eating less or not, you may want to examine your sleep patterns and maybe see a doctor to make sure everything is fine with you.
That said, I'm a HUGE believer in the power of supplementation and I think a multivitamin is just a basic start. I don't myself take any supplements for energy, I take stuff to help with my allergies, immunity and digestive issues though, but I have family members who do take energizing supplements. My dad swears by marine phytoplankton for an instant energy boost. He takes drops of the liquid version, which smells bad and I assume tastes bad as well, every evening in a cup of tea and he says it's easy to get up in the morning and go and be focused throughout the day. I think there are capsules as well though, which are probably a lot less unpleasant going down. Before this, he was taking CoQ10 and Ubiquinol as well (which defintely helped him get over serious, debilitating respiratory allergies as well as improving his energy) but he says the phytoplankton is better.
Also, a cousin of mine swears by Garcinia Cambogia which is supposed to be an appetite suppressing supplement that comes from some Asian tamarind-type plant. She says even though she doesn't really notice the appetite suppressing feature, she really notices she sleeps better and she feels this boosts her mood and energy, so that could be something to try.
I agree with some of the others who mentioned seeing your doctor. If you have insurance, an annual physical will be covered at no cost to you. Get some bloodwork down (thyroid, vitamins, thyroid, cholesterol, etc.) and maybe that will help pinpoint where the problem is. It also will serve as a nice comparison for before and after weight loss.
Do you only experience the tiredness when you are actively dieting?
Feeling tired all the time can be caused by various reasons. One of the most major is depression. Lack of sleep, as mentioned above and other major causes such as vitamin deficiency, insufficient calories and sleep apnea (major cause) which can be show up as narcolepsy as well for major causes.
But you ask if only if dieting... Heavy dieting requires vitamin and mineral supplements, no two ways about it. Vitamin deficiency can cause that tiredness as well as not eating enough. Good cardio-vascular exercise usually helps TREMENDOUSLY towards rectifying tiredness and actually gives way more extra energy than almost anything.
Good luck with this... and these are things I have had to contend with and sometimes when I do not take in sufficient calories is still the result. That is a road that has to be learned by experience.
As for my supplements, I take a good one a day vitamin plus a vitamin B complex with vitamin C and minerals. When I started taking them I noticed an immediate result in added energy.
B F R
Last edited by Big Fat Rooster; 11-02-2014 at 02:27 PM.
Heavy dieting requires vitamin and mineral supplements, no two ways about it.
I'm not sure about this.
I think even when dieting we should be eating enough calories to sustain our activities and functions, which means theoretically we should be able to get all our vitamins and minerals from food. I mean, I still take a multivitamin because I know I don't eat enough of certain things (like veggies), but if someone preferred to diet in a very natural, chemical-free way (which may rule out vitamins depending how strict someone was being) I think it could be done in a healthy way. It would just take a lot of work.
Definitely go see your doctor and have labs run before you start taking anything.
I recently had this same issue. I went to my gyno and she ran thyroid tests, electrolytes, cholesterol, and vitamin D tests. Thankfully my thyroid is fine but my cholesterol was high and my vitamin D levels were very low. Get it checked out by a doctor, then supplement. Good luck!
I had this issue, too, and it always hit really hard during fall/winter. I went to see a Doctor and he suggested a three month treatment of a Vitamin B complex. What can I say, that's what did the trick for me. I usually repeat it once a year when I feel my energy levels go low and it helps.
Of course, that's just what worked for me. Might be something else for you entirely.
I'm Always Tired!! Supplement Health?!
