Tired All The Time (TATT)

I should have said that I have pernicious anaemia and have been having B12 injections for about two years. But they don't seem to make any difference.

I have been exhausted for about 9 or 12 months. About 3pm I suddenly feel as if my batteries have run out and I have to sleep - 30 minutes in an armchair doesn't fix it, I have to lie down. I usually sleep for three hours.

I've had a chest Xray, abdominal ultrasound, full range of blood tests and am now awaiting a spirometry test. But still the problem persists - the house is like a tip but there's nothing I can do about it. GP says my blood tests are normal - including thyroid - and he seems puzzled. I wonder if he thinks it's psychological.

A new symptom is aching thigh muscles particularly if I walk uphill.

It seems I'm spending half my life in bed and it's really getting me down.

Thyroid problems affected me quite badly. Treatment was very effective.
DSis suggested B12 tablets if I was TATT and if they helped at all, said I should enquire about injections-which she already has.

Thyroid? A sister of mine (70s, active, not at all overweight) had this problem and it was found to be down to her thyroid. She was given meds and the condition improved a lot.

Thankyou for your reply.
I have had more blood tests, including thyroid, and had my heart checked out. I eat quite a good diet with lots of fish and veg and I am not overweight. I was quite fit, rode my bike, swam 3 times a week and hiked with my husband 10-15 k at the weekends.
The only explanation atm is the vaccine and my doctor is not ruling that out. I don't care what caused it, I just want my normal life back. so it is good to hear that that is possible.
As you say, this is a tiredness that is like no other, sleep makes no difference, and I just want to get back to normal.

Yes, it did come on quite suddenly because I had a heart attack and had to start taking PPIs to mitigate the effect of the anti-clotting medication I was taking. I was already taking high dose metformin, which is known to cause B12 deficiency. It was a very different kind of fatigue from usual tiredness.

I felt better almost as soon as I was given B12 injections and my red blood cells were back to a normal size within weeks, when I had another blood test.

I don't know whether blood pressure medication can cause microcytic anaemia, but I would have thought you should have had more blood tests, including thyroid, B12, folate and a diabetes test, to try and pinpoint the cause of fatigue. Blaming the vaccine sounds like guesswork to me. Vitamin B12 injections are the standard treatment.

Disclaimer: I'm not a medic.

growstuff

The only medication I take is BP medication but been taking that for a few years. Did yours come on gradually or suddenly?
The strange thing with mine was that it truly was like being run over by a double decker the day after my vaccination. I did ask my doctor if it was connected and he said " maybe". I will ask him about a possible connection with my BP meds though.
Have the injections made you feel " normal" again?
Sorry for all the questions

It might be motivational tiredness if you need a new knee etc. I do feel tired now I’m 70 but if something happens to motivate me I suddenly feel energetic. But I look around at all the things I need to do but struggle to because my arthritis has got much worse recently and a wave of tiredness comes over me.

The reason I asked is because I had macrocytic anaemia a couple of years ago. It means that you have abnormally large red blood cells, which can't carry oxygen efficiently - hence the tiredness.

In my case it was caused by a Vitamin B12 deficiency, not because I don't eat food containing B12, but because the medication I was taking (metformin and lansoprazole - a proton pump inhibitor) were affecting absorption of B12. I needed to take the medications, so the only solution was B12 injections.

I assume you've had full blood tests since the tiredness began. Even if you have normal blood plasma B12, it could be that you're not getting enough if you're taking certain medications or you have some other conditions or you're vegetarian.

growstuff

Do you have anything to link vaccination with macrocytic anaemia? It's more likely to have been caused by a Vitamin B12 or folate deficiency or even a thyroid problem.

No idea whether there is a link or not TBH, I was fine beforehand though. I did 30 lengths in the pool the day before. I also had blood tests done a month before and they all came back as normal so I can only presume that I didn't have this condition previously? My husband and several friends also reported being " wiped out" after their vaccinations but they all seemed to bounce back fairly quickly. I thought I would do the same but I didn't.

Do you have anything to link vaccination with macrocytic anaemia? It's more likely to have been caused by a Vitamin B12 or folate deficiency or even a thyroid problem.

I am exactly the same. I was fine until my 2nd jab and from the following day absolute exhaustion set in. Just walking from the living room to the kitchen felt like I had just scaled Everest! It did get a little better but I've never got back to my previous energy levels and I just learned to live with it. Anyway I then had to go in for a cataract op [ my vision had also declined badly] and had a routine blood test which showed up Macrocystic Anemia which is a lack of B12. It means that the red blood cells cannot carry oxygen around the body efficiently resulting in severe fatigue. It's very treatable with B12 supplements and eating more fish etc.
I really wish I had gone for a blood test sooner as I wasted nearly a year putting up with a condition that turned out to be easily treated. Good luck and hope you regain your get up and go quickly.

Hi, no, I’m lucky enough not to be on any medication. (So far!)

I agree with all the above, you’ve been well advised. Do try getting the exercise in as strengthening will be useful for future knee op too. Good luck.

Are you on a statin? Statins can cause extreme tiredness.

Well, thank you all SO much for all that super helpful advice. I am going to try it all! The motivational - set times for exercise, drink more water, be more disciplined etc, and also the ‘get checked out by the GP’ advice. And great to hear that knee operations can be successful (I am a bit nervous about that one). Feeling much more positive and very grateful for people taking the time to respond. Will report back in a month!

It could be type 2 diabetes, I felt tired all the time and kept falling asleep. Blood test definitely needed.

I agree with others, blood tests including thyroid checks...

Hope you find the ussue

I was feeling like that for a long time, no energy, no motivation, probably a bit depressed and I’d spend ages just laying on the sofa, then I got Covid and it took me two weeks to get over the exhaustion. However, it seems to have spurred me into action and I’m taking more ‘pleasure’ in housework, going for walks and I feel so much more alive. I know you have pain but if you can create a start to more activity it may well help generally. A full blood test as suggested sounds a very good idea too.

I'm a bit like you, Millbrook, but I'm nearly 85 so it's probably normal. But not at your age, I don't think. It could be simple anaemia. If you can't see a doctor buy some vitamins with iron and try those for a few weeks. Do you drink enough water? That can make a huge difference.
I hope you feel better soon. And good luck with the knee op.
I've had both knees replaced and it was wonderfully successful.

You sound like I was before a blood test showed that I had hypothyroidism - always weary and lack of 'get up and go'. So I agree that if you can summon up the energy you should try your best to get up and go to your GP. It may well be some other deficiency or underlying cause, but until you find out, you're stuck with feeling low.

I wouldn’t even go to the doctor to start with, I’d commit to a week of eating healthily, going for a 15 minute walk however tired I was and however painful my knee (or if that’s impossible doing chair exercise I could manage for 15 minutes), and getting to bed on time. All those things make a huge difference to your energy levels. It’s much more likely that you have bad habits than that you’re unwell.

Opp, there's some punctuation in my comments that should not be there but I hope it makes sense all the same. My device has an annoying habit of inserting random fullstops.

I agree with the previous comments which won't happen overnight as that's just how things are. However, in the meantime can you motivate yourself that bit more each day - for example, set. yourself a target to walk around the garden a number of times or up and down your own road - just small distances to basically get. yourself out in the open. Surely, if there is some underlying medical reason and you do need medication it can't do any harm to have made those first few steps yourself can it?
I wish you well in determining what is wrong and sincerely hope it is nothing serious.

Get full blood check, could be iron, b12, vit D , under active thyroid, or even something like an auto autoimmune disease. Don’t let the Dr fob you off with depression, get the full blood check and good luck.