How do you describe your hypo related fatigue to your doctor? I want to make sure that he does just thinking I'm complaining about feeling a bit tired.
Please could you give examples of how being hypothyroidism makes you feel in terms of fatigue?
I'm struggling to put it in to words.
Thanks xx
Difficult to answer without using metaphor and a plethora of similes - I say it's like waking up every morning feeling like I've run a marathon the day before and no amount of rest ever results in feeling rested.
The problem I found with saying you're tired is that other people immediatley bit back with "Well everyone's tired!!!" or "You're always tired - I'm tired too".
Words never did it justice really but (and I'm sorry for reeling this out again...) Spoon Theory vocalised exactly what a struggle the fatigue is.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon...
H x
Not heard of spoon theory before.Clever idea.
I tried to vocalise it to my gp last week. So I wrote it down as even sleep doesn't refresh me. I describe it as crippling g heavy stinging eyes, brain fog where I can't think straight or concentrate on my family talking. I'm so crippled by fatigue I can't go out alone as I feel so weak and drained. It's as though someone's vacuumed out every ounce of energy I used to have and my eyes sting all day.
For me I felt as if I was carrying a sack of coal on my back or at least 4 full bags of supermarket shopping in my hands. Your Doc has probably not done either - so that won't be helpful - but you could try. After 2-3 pm I was done - started my own business so I could slope off everyday and sleep until early evening. It's fatigue like no other - and having had TB I know what fatigue is.
Wading through treacle.
When I was untreated, it was a big deal to even raise my arms above my head - such an effort! Sounds daft now, but it was one of the first things I noticed after starting treatment - that I could move limbs without effort.
Now that I am improving,with the help of T3,LDN & going GF,I only get really bad days when I overdo things ie use my reserves up.Tuesday was a total relapse day.
I felt like I could have done with being in a hospital bed,being nursed,not moving,just resting.
I go upstairs like a 90 year old,really slowly,sometimes pausing half way.I can tell when my battery is topping up when I start going upstairs more normally.
It feels as if my battery runs completely empty,but can only re-charge very slowly(like a car battery on trickle charge)
Unfortunately,I can no longer cope with stress or excitement without this happening,too.Not just physically overdoing things.
I believe my adrenals are damaged.
Tick off your clinical symptoms from here and you see will No.1 is top of the list of your symptom.
Like trying to tow a trailer full of shire horses with a mini. This is a farming area...
Wading through treacle for me too. Every movement was an effort. I would look at a gentle uphill slope and wonder if I could get up there. On top of that everything hurt, like I had run a marathon and had that 'day after' ache, but without the sense of wellbeing.
And it felt like my brain was full of treacle too.
Waking up was such a struggle. Its still not easy, but even once awake I would feel like it was the middle of the night, and all I wanted to do was get back to sleep. But I couldn't, of course.
I agree that 'tired' is no good. I think for doctors they hear that word all day, from people with all kinds of minor sniffles.
I try to use the word 'weakness' instead. It's nearly the same, but I think it captures struggling to walk, stand, etc.
To friends I often say it feels like having spent a day on the beach, having swam, dug sandcastles, run around, and when you lie down on the sofa at home and every muscle is exhausted. Or at 5am when you've been at a party all night to explain the emotional side - crying, confusion, etc. Then for each of these double or triple them.
Clutter sometimes quotes a figure that having a TSH of 25 is equivalent to being over the drink drive limit. Not sure I've got the numbers right, it maybe equivalent of something like 3 drinks. This certainly chimes with my experience, and I think it is like being a bit drunk all the time. But that exhausted, after the party kind of drunk, where all you want to do is get home and into your pjs, but you keep tripping over your own clothes, losing your taxi money, getting angry, Etc
dragging yourself to function simple tasks, falling asleep,no energy, aches and pains, like you are going downhill fast or too slow for your age...
Do you think Chronic Fatigue Syndrome exists?
How do you get your doctor to investigate further
How did/do you deal with the depression and hard times brought on by your condition?
so why do you think its your thyroid? ....
Confused - Hypo mis-managed or Chronic Fatigue??
