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Could weight gain be exacerbating my fatigue?

Kirby profile image
18 Replies

I have put on 2 and half to 3 stone since going on Paroxetine 4 years ago (only a very small dose) and I wondered whether the weight gain might be a factor in my fatigue. I did have fatigue problem before the Paroxetine but don't know it was as bad as this. It is hard to know what is fibro, what is side-effects of drugs and what is my age. I am nearly 53, an age when people often put on weight leading up to the menopause.

Thanks

Kirby x

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Kirby profile image
Kirby
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18 Replies
rosehip profile image
rosehip

I am 56 and always slim and since xmas ive put a stone on and i think carrying that extra makes alot of differance . And i got diagnosed in march so its the less exersise and eating to much as i dont burn it off anymore xxx

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to rosehip

Hi Rosehip. I was always slim too, I have never been this weight before and I think it's mainly the drugs with me. I used to be able to eat anything! xxx

jazher profile image
jazher

Hi kirby,

I know that having any extera weight wont help anything but i have been a size 18 with fibro and me and i have been a size 12 and i have always felt the same what ever size i am. I am back up to a 18 again but i am loosing weight now as i am not happy but eating healthy hasnt even helped me and i have been doing it for 3 weeks.

Hugs, kel xxxx

Kirby profile image
Kirby

Thanks Kel. Sorry to hear you're loosing weight because of unhappiness :-( rather than healthy eating. I know that healthy eating doesn't help me lose weight either! I used to be a size 10 but now I am lucky to fit into a 14, but usually 16 or 18 too. Though I will say the sizes of all got smaller! Take care. Kirby xxx

Betty67 profile image
Betty67

Before I was ill I was very active and I put on 6 stone. I always say it was my illness that made me fat not that being fat made me ill, but the other day I went to move a bag weighing 15 kilos and just moving it a foot made my arms, legs and back hurt. Easy to test this put a large bag of potatoes in a sack and carry it around for a day or two. It is going to make you tired. I have since lost 6 stone and sorry to say that I am still tired but not as much as I was when I was at my heaviest.

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to Betty67

Thanks, Jac. Yes me feeling is that carrying more weight is bound to make you more tired, though maybe doesn't explain everything. xx

Betty67 profile image
Betty67 in reply to Kirby

Yes I agree Kirby, I know people who are a lot bigger than me with far more energy and people smaller with less and although I don't think losing weight will be a cure I am sure that if I do it sensibly it won't do any harm.

I also found that one of the pain killers I was given caused weight gain which after further investigation discovered it was because it increase appetite! I therefore have stopped listening to my body as to whether it is hungry or not because of these false positives. I monitor everything I eat and use that to decide whether to eat some more or not.

Yesterday I had coffee with my next door neighbour who is 93. 5 years ago when I was my heaviest she had to help me get home, yesterday (bittersweet) I had to help her. She has aged in the last 5 years but 5 years ago I could not have helped her so that is an improvement.

Jac

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to Betty67

That's an amazing, if rather ironical story, Jac,

Betty67 profile image
Betty67 in reply to Kirby

Also this week having coffee with another neighbour who has ME. She was first ill when she was doing her A levels and although pass did so with a low score and was unable to go to university as planned. Still accepted but not well enough. Taught music part time for a while but has never had a job and now 18 years later is still living with her parents, unable to leave home.

I became ill in my early 30s and am so grateful that I was able to enjoy my youth even if I went straight to old age. I have been married for over 25 years and have two grown up and healthy sons. Really a great deal to be thank full for, even though it broke my heart that the youngest said that he can never remember me playing ball with him. I did just not often or for very long.

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to Betty67

Yes, I tried to enjoy my youth but had huge anxiety problems from childhood. I somehow bumbled my way through adolescence and young adulthood, trying to deny underlying health problems which I now think are all related to the fibro and pain amplification, including and especially anxiety and phobias! I used to really want children but I sort of knew I wouldn't be able to tolerate the pain and also the stamina needed every day. I really admire people who have been able to have and enjoy their children with fibro. I wasn't actually diagnosed with fibro until two and half years ago. I hadn't heard much about it before then!

Betty67 profile image
Betty67 in reply to Kirby

Yes did not have a great childhood either, not the place to go into it but was seriously attacked when I was young (stranger went to prison).

I also found out after a car accident that I do feel pain more than the average person, a wonderful superpower to have :-) would have gone for being able to fly if given a choice.

I got to together in my 20s and was fit and healthy when I became pregant the first time. Became ill during the pregancy and was told not to have any more children but had a very happy accident and our youngest arrived 5 years later. My husband looked after him, we had a nanny for the eldest and used a day nursery. My 5 year old child changed more nappies than I did. Both boys know how to look after themselves, the youngest was making roast dinners when he was 13, although Aunt Bessie did help a little.

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to Betty67

Hi Jac

Sounds like you've had your share of trauma :-( but glad that you've come through it and have some positives in your life now :-) It's wonderful to have supportive family :-)

The tabs to reply in are getting narrower and narrower. Just noticed! X

Betty67 profile image
Betty67 in reply to Kirby

Yes, I had notice that but not sure that if I just responded to the initial question whether I would get a email and if not how easy to respond! Anyway will bite the bullet and post twice!!

Betty67 profile image
Betty67

Yes, I had notice that but not sure that if I just responded to the initial question whether I would get a email and if not how easy to respond! Anyway will bite the bullet and post twice!!

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to Betty67

Got them both, Jac :-)

Betty67 profile image
Betty67

That;s good, although part of me was tempted to carry on down the reducing path and see how far we could get ;-) .

I have lost a stone since the last time I had coffee with my friend who I saw yesterday, rather strange reaction from her, she wanted a cake but then did not want to eat it in front of me. Other people eating things I am not does not bother me at all and in anycase my husband's lamb curry in more my type of thing. However she did ask if I had lots more energy and sorry to say I do not but I am I am improving and my mood is improving. When I see myself in a mirror I like what I see.

Talking about the menopause touch wood don't seemed to have been too badly effected, only a few hot flushes and if there have been any other symptions I probably put them down to Fibro / ME.

Kirby profile image
Kirby in reply to Betty67

Yes, I wondered if it would carry shrinking until there was one word or one letter left per line!

Your friend obviously thought you might be tempted by the cake - obviously a friend who's not so au fait with your tastes!

I've not started the menopause even though I'm 53 (on Monday) but my sister who has many similar symptoms to me sailed through the menopause! I think it's because people with fibro and other health problems are so used to pain that maybe to them, the menopause is a breeze compared to all their other ailments. Well, it's a theory anyway.

Betty67 profile image
Betty67

I agree about the pain. I once had bad toothache but did not notice as was on so many painkillers for the pain in my legs.

Talking about another friend, who I am also glad I did not listen to Feb 2011 she was one size bigger than me. Trying on the size 24 blouse was my last straw and I started dieting, very slow progress and the next time we went shopping I was a size 22 but my friend had gone from 26 to 28, and it may be realise that although I had not improved much at that time I had not got worst. Very proud to say that the last blouse I bought was a size 16.

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