Sleeping for 24 hours

[whynotwhynot]

Hi there,

I have Hashimoto's and I'm on 2 grains of NDT and supplement with complex vit b, selenium, magnesium. I am gluten-free and mostly dairy-free.

Generally, I feel like my symptoms are fairly well managed, but I will sometimes experience sudden and intense fatigue, in which I will pretty much sleep a whole 24 hours, only waking to eat a little bit. During this period, it's impossible for me to wake up properly, let alone get out of bed. It might also look like sleeping about 16 hours for 2 days in a row.

This will happen once a week in 'bad' periods or as 'rarely' as once a month when I am better. I haven't been able to figure out a root trigger, though I suspect it might be food sensitivities. I am getting very frustrated. It is a really huge thing to be ambushed by, seemingly out of the blue.

I am wondering if anyone else has a similar experience. What seems to help?

[Cooper27]

I've got 3 ideas that might be worth looking into.

1: Please post your latest blood test results (including reference ranges), and any vitamin results.

2: Keep a food diary, and look at what foods you've eaten in the 3 days prior to a fatigue event

3: Look into cortisol testing to see if there's maybe an issue there.

I take it you've spoken to your doctor and had other fatigue conditions ruled out, like diabetes?

[whynotwhynot in reply to Cooper27]

I just posted my results in a response to PaulaV66

[whynotwhynot in reply to whynotwhynot]

The food diary is a very good idea! I think I might have late-onset food triggers and intolerances that make it hard to pinpoint without an actual food diary.

[Greenwall in reply to whynotwhynot]

I'd suggest keeping food diary to look at what foods you've eaten up to 10 days before fatigue event. Migraines can be triggered by food eaten 10 days earlier, and symptoms of migraines include fatigue and sleeping for hours as you have described. Not all migraines have headaches, as there are many other symptoms including diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, and utter fatigue.

[whynotwhynot in reply to Greenwall]

I didn't know that! Thank you so much!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

It could just be the fluctuations in symptoms that Hashi's causes. It would be interesting to see test results done during one of these periods, and test results done when you are more stable.

[whynotwhynot in reply to SeasideSusie]

I agree! I have long wanted to be tested every week for a couple of months to track fluctuations. I am convinced Hashimoto's, at least in me, is very erratic and acts far more like diabetes than a super stable and slow-changing disease. I wish they'd develop a little home kit for pricking your finger and testing your daily TSH, t3 and t4, so you could tailor medication much more accurately.

[whynotwhynot]

I haven't had any blood tests done in the last five months. (I have been away on fieldwork in South Africa.)

My last results are from end of November last year (the terminology is a little off, I am from Denmark, and I just copy-pasted my results):

[TSH]; 1,16 [0,4-4,8]

Thyroxin free [T4]; 13,1 [12,0-22,0]

Triiodthyronin [T3]; 2,3 [1,4-2,8]

Thyroidperoxidase-Ab; thyroid antibodies: 362 [< 35]

A month prior to these results, though, I had the following mismanaged results:

[TSH]; 5,8 [0,4-4,8]

Thyroxin free [T4]; 9,3 [12,0-22,0]

Triiodthyronin [T3]; 1,1 [1,4-2,8]

I literally changed nothing in my medication or diet or lifestyle between October 2018 and November 2018. Maybe NDT is just really erratic in my body. But it is the thyroid medication that, by far, has made me feel the best. Levothyroxine made me feel very sick (I was on Euthoryx and Eltroxine for about a year) and I quickly become overmedicated and hyper.

[soupybp]

Have you been tested for Epstein-Barr Virus, either new infection or reactivated? It is a little bit of a stretch, but not out of possibility. My daughter never presented with fever/sore throat...just sleeping in amounts you speak of. Her functional doctor was just discussing with us a relationship between EBV and inflammation/food sensitivities. (And note that there is relation between EBV and thyroid issues as well.)

[whynotwhynot in reply to soupybp]

I haven't been, no. I have heard of that connection, though.

What does treatment for EBV look like, do you know?

[soupybp]

Time. Supporting your immune system. Reducing triggers (if you can identify them) if you are having recurrent reactivation. (It is similar in idea to developing shingles years after chicken pox - people can experience recurrent shingles.)

Unfortunately, identifying this as the cause would be the knowledge that you aren't chasing something else...and trying to figure out what your body needs from you to stop the recurrence.

If you had your initial infection young enough (like my daughter), you may not have even noticed that you had it - may have seemed like a cold that made you extra tired. Older people really notice - I had my initial infection in my mid-late 20s...knocked me absolutely flat for two months, sore throat, fever, enlarged spleen, etc.

[whynotwhynot in reply to soupybp]

Thank you so much.

I ask this knowing full well that a path to healing is incredibly individual, but out of interest: What has helped your daughter?