Please Help! OT - Sort of..
 

Hey all. Sorry Ive been so MIA. I havent been dieting and now am concentrating more on my health rather than weight loss. I know they go hand in hand but I am not counting calories because I am trying to figure out what is wrong with me. My energy has been so low its scary. I am constantly tired, fatigued, and feel WEAK. Honestly, walking to the kitchen takes a lot of strength. Needless to say, I havent been running at all because of this. Just yesterday at work, I got back from lunch and 30 minutes later I had to lie to my boss and make up an excuse to leave for a little. I just drove my car around the corner to sleep in it for 30 minutes. ANyways, I have been doing some research and I have come up with 3 possibilities of what is wrong. I wanted to see if ANYONE can relate or knows of someone who feels this way. By the way, I have had all my hormone levels, thyroid levels, nutrition levels all checked. I am not deficient in any vitamin or mineral and all my levels are normal. I eat relatively healthy and used to exercise regularly (about a month ago - just havent been able to with this lack of energy).

Possibilities:

Sleep Apnea: This could be it because I wake up about 5-8 times a night. BUt I do not snore and am not overweight.

Narcolepsy: I have the daytime drowsiness, have had a few episodes of sleep parilysis in the past, and its possible my grandpa has this. BUt do not have the "sleep attacks" where you just fall asleep during the day out of nowhere. Rarely do I sleep during the day. BUT a huge indicator of narcolepsy is if you dream within a short period of time after falling asleep. And I do.

Alcohol binging on the weekends: I have for the past 2-2.5 months been getting drunk about 2-3 nights a week. On these days I drink probably about 2000-2500 calories worth of alcohol. I also only get around 4 hours of sleep on those nights. I am PRAYING that this is the case and my body is just trying to catch up with sleep. Does anyone know if alcohol can make you feel WEAK, tired and exhausted on a regular basis even on days when you arent drinking?

Oh also, about 2 years ago i had my wisdom teeth taken out. I was prescribed the wrong dosage of Oxycodone and long story short, overdosed and could have died. My mom thinks that maybe my body is reacting to the alcohol in a bad way becuase of this being in my past?

SOmeone please help! I cannot keep living life as a weak tired robot at the age of 24. I miss my energetic old self :(

You say you've had all of your various levels checked - was it recently? I mean, did you recently approach your physician and say, "I am suffering this recent onset of lethargy yet nothing in my life has changed"? Any other symptoms? Could it be mononucleosis? Lupus? Just brainstorming here...
Have you started drinking something with an artificial sweetener in it and maybe you're having a weird reaction to it? Are you taking a new multivitamin and you're allergic to some filler/additive in it?
As far as the binge drinking is concerned - I drank my face off for three years during grad school (ah...such great memories!) and I experienced no effects similar to yours; I was still an active runner, etc.
I will say this: if you're still suffering these symptoms, reapproach your doctor. S/he should work the issue until resolved. Maybe push for a sleep study.
Feel better!

It doesn't sound like you have the symptoms of either narcolepsy or sleep apnea. It could be the effects of alcohol combined with lack of sleep. What about depression, which can also lead to binge drinking and not sleeping well, could that be it? Or mono? Maybe the best solution for eliminating the cause would be to take a week or two off drinking and see if you have more energy? Hope you are feeling better soon!

I would say it is the alcohol. I know when I binge drink it can take me 3 or 4 days to feel normal again. Combined with the dehydration and lack of sleep the alcohol is, if not the culprit, certainly a big part of it.

OH gosh! Thank you all SO much for the responses. I really feel like I am in desperation for an answer. I am PRAYING it is the alcohol. I have NO problem eliminating alcohol from my life if it means feeling better and not feeling like this. I am not drinking and testing to see if thats the problem. Hopefully my sleep will become more normal and I will start to feel energy again. Maybe I should clarify exactly what I mean by binge drinking though.

There were several weekends I can remember in the past month or two where I started drinking friday night until 5 am, got about 3-4 hours of sleep that night. Then would drink all saturday and night only get a few hours of sleep that night and then drink sunday as well. I know that sounds bad like I am drinking away problems but honestly those weekends I drank like that were becuase of so many things going on that I felt I had to attend. For example, birthdays, bbq's, graduation celebrations etc. I realize most people can go out at night and have 4-5 drinks. I however have a lot more. So i PRAY this is the problem and its just taking my body some time to recoop from all that. I havent drank since this past Saturday so it hasnt been a full week yet but I still feel as lowsy as ever. ZERO energy or strength and so tired I cant keep my eyes open.

Anyways, for those of you who replied, thank you for your input.

Fatuburner I looked up mono and i dont think it is that becuase i dont have a sore throat or fever. And yes the tests I have done are recent!

Keep us posted, and if it isn't the alcohol at least you'll save tons of calories!

Lack of sun exposure? vitamin D works for me sometimes! i just started taking it again in hopes of it working. and once i started feeling tired for day lengths of time when i stopped doing cardio workouts. i hate running in the heat and zumba is too expensive for my wallet though. but i think doing at least a half hour to an hour of pretty intense cardio a day gives me energy. walking doesnt cut it :( and when I drink, I get energy! i usually only sleep 4-5 hours and i wake up feeling awesome. i think its because i get better sleep. i also dont know if i have sleep apnea but i do have restless sleeps as i dream alot and they are not pleasant dreams.

so i am almost in the same boat as you just not as severe i believe so if you figure it out let us know

Agree with this. Drinking is the only factor you have full control over so try this first and see if it makes a positive change! I'm sorry you've been feeling so weak and tired lately...there's nothing worse than being too tired to live your life.

Intervention It isn't lack of sun. I try to get at least 20-30 min of sun 4-5 times a week.

Krampus Thank you for your concern. I am really beg. to think it is the drinking. I dont think my body can handle it the way it used to ever since the overdose. This is ok. Alcohol isnt good for the body anyways. I am perfectly ok with this. I will let you know how it goes. I am not drinking a single drop this weekend and havent had any since last Saturday. I will let you know how I feel Monday and that will tell me if its the alcohol!

Thank you again everyone for caring enough to respond!

Dianne- I think you should re look an option that appears to have not ben noticed. .....Depression. All of your symptoms are explained by depression , which can be brought on by serious dieting, which you have ben doing for a long time now. Of course the deputation could be caused by other things as well......


I really think you should consider this more

I have been experiencing incredibly crippling fatigue since January, and was shocked to learn I had mono because I didn't have the telltale sore throat, etc. or anything besides fatigue after an intense but short bout of bronchitis.

Whatever the culprit, I'd be surprised if you did not feel _significantly_ better after a couple weeks of cutting out alcohol and sleeping 8-9(?) hours consistently each night (and a possible "restoration" period during which you might need to sleep even more for a little while to make up for any sleep deficit your body is currently experiencing.) And seriously, I'm in my 20s and in general good health and in possession of a really high alcohol tolerance, but drinking seriously 3-4 nights in a week would definitely mess me up and cause me to fall asleep at work/school. I don't think you'd be all that unusual not being able to handle that much drinking, even as a young person.

If you are depressed, alcohol is probably exacerbating the issue.

[QUOTE=Dianne042425;3905581]Intervention It isn't lack of sun. I try to get at least 20-30 min of sun 4-5 times a week.

Just to throw this out there--when I was getting diagnosed with my thyroid disease, they also found out I had a Vitamin D deficiency. I asked if getting enough sunshine would help and my endo said that wasn't the same. I had to take a vitamin D3 supplement. Soaking all day in the sun wouldn't do anything for me. Just my .02. I'm sure other people feel differently, but I feel wonderful taking my D3 supplement.
I know you said your test results are current and you aren't deficient though, so you should be fine. Hope you feel better!

Couple of things to back up what others have said. Losing weight changes your metabolism and changes your reaction to alcohol. When I was in college, I used to be able to have hard liquor a couple of times a week and get no hangovers. I lost a little weight, got a little older, and then suddenly started no longer being able to tolerate my Long Island iced teas anymore! Sad day that was! :D Now, I still drink in extreme moderation, but I stick to wine or the occasional beer, and I match every drink with a full glass of water. Over time, I got less interested in drinking to intoxication, but I still like a good glass of pinot noir; I just make sure I'm careful.

Anyway, point is, your physiology does not stay consistent over time. (If it did, no one would ever get wrinkle creams! ;)) It almost sounds to me like simple sleep deprivation plus extreme--and I mean EXTREME--dehydration. Alcohol dehydrates you like crazy, which is why when you start knocking 'em back you pee a lot. I got super dehydrated during a run in the hot, hot sun a few weeks ago, and my symptoms were dizziness, sweating, heart palpitations, and a little nausea. I drank some cold water and went to lie down for about ten minutes and bam, all better! It's summertime; if you're drinking a lot and not rehydrating enough, then in the heat of the next day your body has no electrolytes to basically walk you around and allow you to function. Its need to just basically STOP is its way of trying to repair itself.

Water, bananas, rest, and less of the hard stuff should see you feeling much better in short order. :hug: If it persists despite drinking less or not at all, you should have your electrolyte levels checked at your doctor's.

It is possible to go to parties and not drink and still have a good time. I do, I parted company with alcohol some time ago and I still have a good time. I think I would go in for a physical just to be sure there is not something going on. Being so tired all the time could be a symptom of many things.

Wow. I cannot thank you all enough for making me feel better and helping me figure out what it is that is causing the extreme weakness. I know the feeling tired all the time is from lack of sleep. I dont sleep that well. And I cant tell if thats because of a sleeping problem or because of the exhaustion from alcohol. I tested myself this weekend and didnt drink besides 6 beers on sunday. I wanted to see how I felt without alcohol or very minimal. And it felt great to not drink. I am still very tired but the weakness has gone away a bit.

MKroyer I don't think it is depression. I have been depressed before so I can usually tell the difference. I have no more stress or unfavoring conditions than anyone else. So I really dont think it's that.. Thank you for the consideration though!

Gtech I too actually thought it was Mono but I dismissed it because I dont have the sore throat. But I made an appt. with my doctor for next week and Im going to have him test me for that! Do you still have it? Are you feeling better?

Kat This makes me feel so much better. I have been getting frustrated because I have been talking to some coworker and other "elders" about this and how I think its the drinking and all of their responses are the same "No, I highly doubt its that. You are young and resilient. When I was your age I would drink that much if not more and be totally fine the next day". It started getting frustrating because they were making me feel like I was either one - falling a part at 24 or two - it was another serious condition. So thank you for sharing your personal story with me. I really think its the alcohol. And then I think its the disrupted sleep I get. Once I really catch up on sleep, I think I will feel much better :)

Bargoo Yes I agree you can have fun without drinking. But growing up in a high school where everyone started drinking at the age of 15, hard core, it's almost habit now. Its almost like how peanutbutter and jelly go hand in hand, growing up in my high school, party and alcohol go hand in hand. Didnt even think twice. BUt I assure you, I could give up alcohol in a second if it meant keeping me healthy and preventing me from feeling so weak and tired. I am an adult now and have no excuse for reckless behaviour!

Thank you again everyone. Ill keep you updated on how Im feeling and what the verdict/outcome is!

Hope everyone is doing well with their weightloss journey :)

As far as I could tell, my ex-boyfriend had sleep apnoea. He was 20 at the time, rail-thin, didn't snore, he just kept stopping breathing all through the night. He was also a borderline alcoholic. So I wouldn't discount sleep apnoea just yet. He wasn't aware that he was stopping breathing, though, I was the one who kept on being worried by it.

When you say that you keep waking up through the night, do you have any idea why? Needing to urinate? Does this happen more in the summer, and if so how dark is your bedroom? I'm far enough north that we only get 4-5 hours of true darkness midsummer, and I often get woken up by even a small amount of light. Good website on sleep problems here, by the way.

There are oodles of potential reasons for fatigue, and a doctor will need to go through quite a lot and still may not find a diagnosis. The alcohol is certainly standing out as a possibility right now, though. Remember that student drinking is usually at such high levels that alcoholism is considered perfectly normal in the student communities, and even slightly less drinking than your average student can still be way off into the problem drinking range. Binge-drinking 2-3 nights per week is considered problem drinking and may be considered alcoholism.

You also sound too tired to be safe to drive. Sorry to say that, and I know it's a right pain, but it's better than having a car crash. People with untreated sleep apnoea past a certain level aren't permitted to drive, and frankly I think the regulations should be tighter and specifically include other medical conditions which cause that much fatigue. If you're this exhausted, get buses, taxis or lifts for a while. It may be pricier, but your life is worth it.

Something I really hope you don't have, and probably haven't been ill long enough to be diagnosed with (usually 6 months minimum), is CFIDS. It's a neuro-immune disorder which causes extreme fatigue amongst other symptoms, including alcohol intolerance. I've had it for 14 years and am severely affected. Hopefully you don't have it, but to be on the safe side, you should start resting more, because if you do have CFIDS then running yourself into the ground by drinking lots and working when exhausted will make you substantially, and sometimes irreversibly, worse. Meanwhile, go to some CFIDS websites, as they usually have great lists of other medical conditions which can cause chronic fatigue, and get checked out for everything on those lists.

Thank you so much for caring enough to write all of that out. I do agree that today's students/teenagers "acceptable" drinking is borderline a drinking problem. I know this because I grew up in a high school where it was normal to start drinking as a freshman; heavily. Luckily I have a strong personality and will power and am able to stop. I have stopped drinking for about 1.5 weeks and am starting to feel MUCH better. I think my sleeping problems are from 9 years of drinking. And binge drinking. I think if I keep my drinking to almost non exsistent, I will find that I start sleeping better and getting my energy back.

Im sorry to hear you have been having to deal with CFIDS for son long! I looked up a website on CFIDS though and while I do have a lot of the symptoms, I still believe my problem is a result of lack of sleep and heavy drinking. If I dont feel 100% back to myself again in about a month of this, then I might reconsider getting checked. So thank you for the consideration and trying to help me out! Ill keep yall posted :hug:

:hug: So glad you decided to curtail the drinking! :hug:

I didn't want to go "all Mom" on ya - so I didn't respond with what I was thinking! :lol: Here's to good health and a long and glorious life!!

hah thank you for your concern. I got enough mom talk from my mom when I told her about my problems lately. Shes not a big drinker at all and was surprised/upset to hear how much I have been drinking. Eeeekk! Yes, seriously, CHEERS to being healthy and FEELING healthy! :hug:

I totally agree with the others -try cutting down on the drinking. By isolating that one factor you will get a fairly definitive answer.

And, to make you feel better, I have gone through the same thing recently. I had all the same tests - thyroid, vitamin deficiency, etc. I get so completely drained that I almost feel like I'm going to pass out.

I've decided that with the help of 3FC and diet (forcing me to be healthier in food and habit) I will feel better. If not, I am not going to let it go. There has got to be a reason. So....I completely understand your situation.

All the best and feel better!!!