Why am I so tired?

[erika24]

I've been constantly fatigued for over a year, and I haven't the slightest idea why. For most of my college life, I could wake up after a full night of rest and feel totally refreshed and ready to start my day. But during my last maybe two or three semesters, that stopped happening. I'd get 8-9 hours of sleep on my days off or days I didn't have class until the evening, but I'd still want to crawl back in bed and sleep more.

This continues now. I do go to bed late, but I get at least 8 hours of sleep each night. But I find I'm tired and yawning all day. It's not enough to make me unable to do things, but I absolutely hate feeling so wiped out. Occasionally I need to take a nap for a couple hours, but I really try to make myself stay awake all day.

Coffee doesn't help - I drink 2-3 cups a day and I still feel tired. I also don't exercise much because I just feel too darn tired to do so most of the time, and this is bad when I'm trying to lose 40 pounds.

I'm 22 and I work from home; I should be bursting with energy. Looking at a list of things that cause sleepiness, I can say a vast majority of them would not apply to me (mono, MS, fibromyalgia, diabetes, apnea, sinusitis, etc.), but hypothyroidism, anxiety, and anemia might (especially anxiety, even if I don't understand how it causes fatigue). I'm pretty sure it's not a heart problem since nothing has ever been found to be abnormal about my heart and there's no family history of heart issues.

I have symptoms indicative of hypothyroidism and anemia, but I had hypo ruled out a few years ago and I don't think obese women with light periods can get anemia. Is it possible I have chronic fatigue syndrome at 22? And why would I have it so young? Doesn't it usually strike older folks?

 

[Zulfiqar Z]

By staying up late you may be fighting your natural sleep pattern and your body is trying to tell you so.

Try going to bed earlier and get up earlier after a good 8-9 hrs sleep and see what happens.

 

[spytechnician]

I can relate to you! I am 23 and feel the same way. I tend to get enough rest and on days when I don't, I try to take a nap. I have no problem falling asleep most nights and sleep well through the night for the most part. For me, I find that waking up early is a struggle for me, even though I've been getting up at this time for 10 years!!! I would think by 10 years, I'd be used to it. If I sleep in and get the same amount of hours or even less, I feel fine. I feel very disoriented, confused, and dizzy every morning of waking up around 6:30am or earlier. It's a struggle!

Do you notice any difference if you go to bed earlier? I know I don't... if I go to bed earlier, I still feel the same unless I sleep in later. It seems that sometimes it's not an issue of having something that shows up in blood work/thyroid tests/etc. because I am the same way... everything turns out normal! A healthy diet and exercise helps me somewhat, but it's still tough to just get out there to work out.

You know... coffee USED to help me, but now I notice caffeine doesn't seem to affect me as much. I might feel some energy boost, but I still feel disoriented. I am wondering if an inner ear issue causing vertigo makes me dizzy and tired feeling. WHo knows!

Do you feel stressed a lot? I know stress can do crazy things to you and really wear you down. It's possible to not even feel all that stressed out, but your body still feels that way. My anxiety does wear me down.. I notice that when I'm feeling extra anxious, I feel pretty wiped out after I calm down! But... this isn't necessarily the cause either, because I know this doesn't happen to me ALL the time, yet I'm still tired.

Let me know if you find anything out! I really want to figure out what may cause this when everything else seems fine. It's very frustrating!! Other things you might want to check in to are sleep tests to see if you are sleeping deeply enough through the night. Just one other idea!

 

[Wasted Puppy]

I feel even worse waking up early because if I go to bed at a normal time in order to get a full night's rest, I end up tossing and turning for several hours and getting only a little sleep (how can I go to bed at midnight when I'm used to going to bed around 3?). OR, I stay up until my normal time, get up early, and I'm not worth a crap the next day.

While I haven't a real diagnosis, I think I do have an anxiety problem. Perhaps I am more stressed being back home, living with my screams-and-worries-about-everything mother and having far fewer freedoms than when I was in college. I was a bit wiped out in school, but it got worse a few months after moving back home. I do notice I feel tired when I go stay with out-of-town friends, but I can ignore it a lot more under those circumstances.

Unfortunately, I have no insurance and I can't get any kind of testing done. I haven't died yet, so I guess it's nothing that will kill me. The hypochondriac side of me worries it's a heart problem since I know fatigue is a sign of heart failure/disease. The rational side of me says it might just be anxiety, or perhaps even depression I'm not aware of since being back home is crappy.

Just once I want to wake up and feel refreshed again. Having an omelet used to really energize me in school, but it no longer helps me now. For all I know, I may have something as simple as a vitamin deficiency...I'm not too good at remembering my multi-vitamin. And it doesn't help when fatigue is a symptom of dozens upon dozens of things, minor and major.

Something else I notice is when I wake up in the morning, I feel a little odd. The hoarse feeling deep within the chest after having coughed a lot? I feel that right when I wake up in the morning. No pain, no breathing issues, no pounding heart, no nothing...just kinda feels like I was coughing. It goes away after a couple minutes, though. Weird.