I Am Tired All The Time And I Know It's Not Depression Related

[TimidZiggy]

I am tired ALL the time. ALL the time. IT is not depression related. Trust me. I am not suicidal. I don't think life is pointless/hopeless, I don't want to die. I've been depressed, I've been suicidal, trust me I KNOW what that feels like because I've been there before. This isn't the same thing. This is just being REALLY REALLY tired ALL the time for nearly NO reason. Whether I get out ALL day and do something physical or I do nothing it doesn't matter I am physically exhausted ALL the time. It doesn't matter. I've tried fighting through it and doing what people say like 'get out of bed and be productive' but it seems the days I do that I'm even MORE tired.

The doctors keep ignoring me, dismissing me, telling me I'm depressed. Yeah I'm depressed because I have no energy. Because there's 1000 things I want to do but I am physically exhausted to a point of having to motivation. I have no motivation because I'm tired, I'm not tired because I have no motivation. I have plans for the future. I have things I want to experience. People I wanna meet. Stuff I want to do but no one listens to me. NO ONE. They just hear that I'm tired all the time and go "You're depressed" but it's not that. I could not be more frustrated because there is no way I'm depressed to the level that I wanna sleep ALL the time. I have been showering regularly, cleaning regularly, getting out of bed, I love my job, I love my boyfriend I love my animals. Why won't ANYONE take me seriously other than shoving me off to a psychiatrist?

I've gotten a bunch of tests done. Endocrine, it's not hypothyroid, it's not a thyroid problem, it's not an adrenal problem. We know this already. I have IBS, been diagnosed with that. I have GERD. Diagnosed with that too. I also have tendinitis in my knee and carpal tunnel which cause chronic pain issues. I have nearly chronic sinusitis since getting an impacted molar removed (never EVER had sinus problems before that moment and I hear getting an impacted tooth removed can cause that but who knows) and I have (to a very mild level) gastroparesis. I am not anemic either, trust me they check that all the time. However I do seem to have a problem processing vitamin D correctly (but I also take supplements).

Since I got all my bottom teeth removed I have not been sleeping correctly. I have my top teeth still and I know that I tend to bite into my bottom gums when I sleep (mostly cause I've woken up causing myself pain and/or my gums are sore when I wake up) I've tried a mouth guard but I just spit it out in my sleep so that's not a solution.

I don't know what to do. I can't seem to get any restful sleep. Just now I WANTED To watch a movie and couldn't even stay awake through it. I need doctors to stop ignoring the fact that I have physical problems that are actually effecting my sleep but they take one look at my psych history, insist I'm depressed, and tell me to talk to my psychiatrist. Yeah. I've done that. 100 times. The psychiatrist tells me to go see my doctor. WHY WILL NO ONE LISTEN TO ME ABOUT THIS!?

 

[Forgetful]

I know how frustrating that is. 15 years ago I went through blood tests galore trying to find out why I was so tired all the time. I was finally sent to an infectious disease specialist when dx chronic fatigue syndrome. It comes and goes. There's nothing they can really do to help, so I have to take extra care of myself during those times when it recurs.

I don't want to scare you but you might want to get your sinuses checked first. My H had such a bad chronic sinus infection that it was cutting off oxygen to his brain causing him to be tired all the time. He required surgery.

I hope you find an answer soon.

 

[reddy4765]

I have the same thing: chronic fatigue syndrome. as snafu said there's no help for it, so it doesn't reallly matter if you see a doc or not. some of us have had some help with antivirals, etc, but there is no full recovery. not sure if connection with ptsd either, besides the general poor health outcomes of abuse.

 

[Ocean5]

Ziggy how frustrating to be sent from doctor to doctor. Test after test. Only to be sent back to psychiatrist (had another health issue with this experience.)

I finally (I think) figured out my extreme tiredness is related to medicine psychiatrist put me on. Side-effects & then withdrawals. Then put back on to prevent life threatening withdrawals.

Also recovering from a major virus that leaves you in bed for weeks, and from my own research learn of "Post-infectious Fatigue Syndrome." I think it's related to Chronic fatigue syndrome.

But I hate it always being blamed on depression. I've been depressed. I know what that feels like. This is different.

 

[Deleted member 29920]

This is what my mother was like for a long time and it turned out it was chronic fatigue syndrome or m. E. She took herbs from Chinese doctor which boosted her spleen energy and within a few years she was back to her normal energetic self. Been fine for eighteen years now.

 

[TimidZiggy]

At this point my friend, she has fibromyalgia, she said that's what all my symptoms sound like. Not that she's a doctor but she said she has all the same complaints I do. The same pain and things like that (though I agree it could be CFS as well) but no doctor will run any sort of test to check for anything. I don't really care what it is. Like for example I tried to get them to at least do a sleep study to see if I have apnea and I do have allergies/sinus problems as well as GERD (diagnosed and under the care of a GI doctor for many years now cause of that an IBS and gastroparesis) both of these things can cause apnea. Both are diagnosed. Yet my doctor ignores that I have these diagnosed issues and insists its depression.

It seems like A TON of people go through this, you guys did, I have friends who were tired and just told they were depressed. Are doctors getting lazy or do they just wanna avoid lawsuits by shipping tired people off to psych so we don't end up accidentally getting suicical under their care?

I don't deny I have anxiety that messes with my sleep patterns but I have pills to take to help me sleep. I don't deny I'm depressed but only because I always feel like crap. It annoys me that doctors just wanna ship everyone off to psych now instead of doing their jobs.

 

[nay.elizabeth]

I suffer from PMDD and I put emphasis on SUFFER. During this time, I am so exhausted, walking up stairs to my bedroom is a chore, grocery shopping is torture, going to the bathroom to pee is painstakingly tiring. My body aches, one would think I had the flu.

I also have Fibromyalgia and when I'm stressed or eat an allergen or when my PTSD flares, it triggers my IBS and fatigue as well.

I bad a battery of tests done as well a few years ago; family practitioner, ob/gyn and an endocrine specialist... All things came back normal. It sucks when people don't understand how debilitating the exhaustion can be and how humiliating and frustrating it is to have no relief!!! If Lyme was the culprit at least we'd have a reason, right??

 

[TimidZiggy]

There are still a huge host of things they won't check me for that I could possibly have. I'm really skinny and they already know from tests I have problems absorbing certain nutrients (no it's not celiacs been tested three times for that) it's basically right now some undiagnosed malabsorption issue. However, my GI Doctor is lazy I'm going to have to switch but I basically have crap insurance so the best doctors aren't available to me. I used to see my GI doc at one of the best hospitals in the country but my insurance stopped paying for it. Since then I've been kicked around to very third rate GI doctors who don't speak much English or they don't listen to me. Anyway because I'm so skinny any specialist I see, any of them, insists I have anorexia which I don't and is utterly rediculous. I'm 30 I'm not just going to suddenly become severely anorexic with no history of that. They completely discount unintentional weight loss as a symptom and insist I did it on purpose. Because I guess now anorexics are in the business of complaining they are too skinny cause yeah that's totally a symptom of anorexia.

At one point I was a healthy weight, something happened, I dropped 60 pounds in like seven months. No clue as to why or how. I loved how I looked at that weight I would have never intentionally tried to lose 60 pounds. They don't seem to care or think I'm telling the truth.

I also have a severely restricted diet now because of what we know triggers my IBS. In my charts my allergies are all written. I can't eat eggs and I'm very limited on dairy. Ever since my last oral surgery I've been unable to eat anything healthy because dentures suck and anyone who tells you they don't has to be lying or can afford way better ones than I can. I'm focused now on trying to get implants but that's thousands of dollars I also don't have and I'm too sick to hold a full time job. There are several very physical reasons why I'd be tired and feel sick all the time. It's not only depression and when you are in a state where you are literally pissed off because you want to do an activity you used to love but have no energy that's not depression. Depressed people don't want to do anything they don't care. Ugh I wish someone would just help me.

 

[joeylittle]

@TimidZiggy - I think the clearest answer is one you wrote yourself - that you can't get any sleep because you bite at your gums, which is painful, but that you cannot keep a mouth guard in (you end up spitting it out).

Can you give the mouth guard another go? Or some other solution so that you aren't able to wake yourself up? Lack of sleep will continue to create greater and greater exhaustion.

 

[sun seeker]

Just off the top of my head, it looks as if you have several conditions that suggest chronic inflammation. How is your diet? There are anti-inflammatory and alkalizing foods and spices that just might help. Don't know if you've already tried that.

 

[Pilgrim]

I have this same problem, and it goes WAY beyond frustrating to be dismissed by everybody all the time, and told 'it's all in your head'. But finally, thanks be to God, I know WHY now. I have Lyme Disease. And another tick-born illness, babesia. Now, FINALLY, at least my symptoms make some sense, and have a name. (Although a lot of doctors will dismiss Lyme & company (other parasites you can get from ticks when they bite you), just as easily - and sometimes even aggressively. Lyme is highly politicized and there are few things in this world that people in the medical and science fields get more angry about. At any rate, if you want to you can do a search for 'lyme disease master symptom list', and it will tell you some 11 pages worth of possible symptoms that Lyme bacteria can - and DO - cause. It's a wide variety of things in every different body system, but Lyme affects different people in different ways, unique to each individual person. But if you decide to get tested for it, I would highly recommend going through IGeneX laboratory in california. The quick test often done in your doctor's office is well-known for false negatives. Although the opposite political forces say there are too many false positives. It's worth checking into. Sincebeing diagnosed and starting treatment, I am beginning to feel like I am NOT just going to end up wasting away lying in my bed until I die, bc I'm too weak and exhausted to do anything else. I hope that helps.

 

[TimidZiggy]

Just off the top of my head, it looks as if you have several conditions that suggest chronic inflamma...

Yeah I have IBS, GERD, joint pain, post nasal drip, gastroparesis, all of them diagnosed but no one wants to help me treat the symptoms of any of that. My diet is extremely poor now cause of my teeth but I'm too poor to afford a good solution to this in the moment. Basically I'm very poor and so my diet is poor leading to poor sleep and there is nothing to do about it other than suffer while I slowly go insane.