Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: KaraShannon on April 12, 2023, 01:10:07 PM
-
Hi all
I thought I'd start a 'Knackered' thread for those exhausting days when we can't function, or wading through mud.
So we can support each other ;D
I am having one of those days. I've done well in the past two weeks, functioning on all cylinders and considering I'd just got over the skin infection, I've done well.
But today I've crashed. I worked over easter so I'm allowed, but it's at the level of I can't really move.
So I'm not even pottering about, but here and there I'll get up and put something in the bin. Not a lot else happening.
You're all welcome to use this thread for these days. :)
-
Great idea! It's always good to know you're not alone.
Similar story here - worked over Easter and had a really physical day yesterday too, but today I feel cold, tired, and leaden. I'm self employed, so after managing to get a full morning of work behind me I just had to stop after lunch and go to bed. I'm looking at the clock now wondering when I can crawl back in!
I'm trying to listen to my body more and be as productive as possible when I can, knowing that there are days when things are really hard and I just need to sleep. My husband has struggled with long covid so we're trying to be as understanding of each other as possible, which really helps.
-
Oh good thread!!!
Crashing fatigue is well known in peri-menopause, I remember Mum would suddenly leave the kitchen, sit down and sleep. For hours. I got quite irritated .......... I don't think that she realised what was causing her sudden sleepiness.
VitD daily may well ease some tiredness. In recent months my brain has felt really tired, in that it never wants to wake up. After breakfast I found that I was much better, so decided to begin VitD tablets. Within a week I felt different.
Keeping hydrated can help. Listening to your body, when I feel tired I have to sleep. My brain says 'sleep' and that's it! We went out for a few hours on Sunday and walked miles, I slept as soon as we got home. It rarely stops me sleeping through the night.
-
I'll be back to this soon, when I'm knackered again, it's happening regularly at the moment. ;D
-
Oh KaraShannon
Sign me up for this one.... Wading through mud is exactly how so feel. I am so glad you set this thread up. If I could have some energy back I know I would feel better physically and mentally.
It breaks me when I might have a few decent days and then crash back down again.
Leaden heavy limbs. Am walking like I am 100 years old.
So reassuring to know I am not alone in this. Finding peri very hard atm.
Will up vitamin D to a higher strength. Whilst I do rest more ,I find myself fighting this as I am No longer a person I want to be.
G.p appt next week to discuss hormone, luckily a g.p who has an interest in women's health.
This thread came just when I need it most
Hugs to all
-
Hello ladies.
Count me in though I am 66 so perhaps that explains some of it.
I am also taking vitamin D as my levels were low and fatigue is one of the symptoms.
It is so frustrating to feel tired every day and I am so envious of my baby grandsons other Nanny who seems to have energy to spare. She is younger than me at 60 but she swims every day, often in open water, enjoys a good hike and then comes come to knit baby clothes! She lives much closer to my daughter and her husband so she often turns up for a few days to help with the baby. The woman has even done the overnight shift. Talk about Super Gran! I am more like Supine Gran, often laying down and too tired to bother with anything lol.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest ladies.
Wishing you all well and take care.
K.
-
Lovely to see responses, I'm so exhausted at the moment that I can't even take my hire car back, I might have to pay for a few more days
And this fungal infection on my leg is kind of bothering me, it's not getting worse, but it's still the same and I think the steroid cream is making me feel weak and shaky (which I don't get even though often fatigued), I can't think of any other reason and I've had steroids before for asthma and there's a tell tale feeling in the throat I get. I'm getting that, it's not horrible, but it makes me think the steroid is getting into my system a bit, but the weak feeling I don't like, I've never had that before.
-
Hello ladies.
Count me in though I am 66 so perhaps that explains some of it.
I am also taking vitamin D as my levels were low and fatigue is one of the symptoms.
It is so frustrating to feel tired every day and I am so envious of my baby grandsons other Nanny who seems to have energy to spare. She is younger than me at 60 but she swims every day, often in open water, enjoys a good hike and then comes come to knit baby clothes! She lives much closer to my daughter and her husband so she often turns up for a few days to help with the baby. The woman has even done the overnight shift. Talk about Super Gran! I am more like Supine Gran, often laying down and too tired to bother with anything lol.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest ladies.
Wishing you all well and take care.
K.
Supine Gran, I love it. But I understand what you mean.
My older neighbour is 87 and goes to keep fit once a week, and voluntary work 3 times a week. I mean I work, but she's retired.
When I asked her what she eats she said porridge every morning, and lots of calcium, yohurts and cheese... (can't see a connection unless they have lots of vitamin d)
-
On this the knackered thread, I will reply usually, if I don't it's because I'm knackered ;D
But I will come back and reply and interact I promise.
-
Hello ladies.
Count me in though I am 66 so perhaps that explains some of it.
I am also taking vitamin D as my levels were low and fatigue is one of the symptoms.
It is so frustrating to feel tired every day and I am so envious of my baby grandsons other Nanny who seems to have energy to spare. She is younger than me at 60 but she swims every day, often in open water, enjoys a good hike and then comes come to knit baby clothes! She lives much closer to my daughter and her husband so she often turns up for a few days to help with the baby. The woman has even done the overnight shift. Talk about Super Gran! I am more like Supine Gran, often laying down and too tired to bother with anything lol.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest ladies.
Wishing you all well and take care.
K.
Your post made me smile, it resonated with me. This is how I realised that we are all so different when it comes to our energy levels and that it didn't matter anymore to how I lived my life. I would at one time look at my sister-in-law and feel absolutely exhausted at how she went about her life, I thought at one time I should be the same, but nope not for me, way too exhausting!
It's all down to genes and I have the tired ones! ;D
-
In the past, it has been suggested that I have CFS, ( not chased a diagnosis, as then the danger is that any ills are blamed on it as with IBS), which has worsened as I’ve grown older. I retired early as a result. I try to pace myself. If I do too much, I pay a price. Some, it does seem like I am wading through mud. Now I’m retired, I can just do nothing if need be. Fortunately I have perfected the skill of being lazy! I hope to fly to the USA on my own to stay with my son at the end of the year. The journey feels an enormous thing to do, energy wise.
-
Oh good thread!!!
Crashing fatigue is well known in peri-menopause, I remember Mum would suddenly leave the kitchen, sit down and sleep. For hours. I got quite irritated .......... I don't think that she realised what was causing her sudden sleepiness.
VitD daily may well ease some tiredness. In recent months my brain has felt really tired, in that it never wants to wake up. After breakfast I found that I was much better, so decided to begin VitD tablets. Within a week I felt different.
Keeping hydrated can help. Listening to your body, when I feel tired I have to sleep. My brain says 'sleep' and that's it! We went out for a few hours on Sunday and walked miles, I slept as soon as we got home. It rarely stops me sleeping through the night.
Did your Mum's fatigue improve over time CLKD?
I hope mine does. I am sat with a messy house, and lots to organise workwise, house wise, it all has to be done and only 5 years ago I'd have just blitzed. I literally struggle atm.
-
Oh KaraShannon
Sign me up for this one.... Wading through mud is exactly how so feel. I am so glad you set this thread up. If I could have some energy back I know I would feel better physically and mentally.
It breaks me when I might have a few decent days and then crash back down again.
Leaden heavy limbs. Am walking like I am 100 years old.
So reassuring to know I am not alone in this. Finding peri very hard atm.
Will up vitamin D to a higher strength. Whilst I do rest more ,I find myself fighting this as I am No longer a person I want to be.
G.p appt next week to discuss hormone, luckily a g.p who has an interest in women's health.
This thread came just when I need it most
Hugs to all
Sarah I have a GP appointment next week. If I'm lucky they will test my testosterone (I was told only if the GP agrees!) and oestrogen levels.
I hope this is just peri and energy returns a bit. I find rest helps to some extent, if I keep going and pushing I will 'crash' after two weeks and no one will get anything out of me. At the moment I'm resting, today and yesterday but I'm not recovering yet and that always bothers me. Hopefully soon I will feel recovered.
I also worry that too much rest just deconditions the muscles and will add to the problem :-\
-
Great idea! It's always good to know you're not alone.
Similar story here - worked over Easter and had a really physical day yesterday too, but today I feel cold, tired, and leaden. I'm self employed, so after managing to get a full morning of work behind me I just had to stop after lunch and go to bed. I'm looking at the clock now wondering when I can crawl back in!
I'm trying to listen to my body more and be as productive as possible when I can, knowing that there are days when things are really hard and I just need to sleep. My husband has struggled with long covid so we're trying to be as understanding of each other as possible, which really helps.
Sometimes you just have to rest Peana. ~As you mention feeling cold, just a quick check, have you had your thyroid tested? Underactive thyroid is known for causing terrible fatigue and coldness. I have that but I'm getting treatment.
Glad you and your husband are being understanding with each other, fatigue can affect even our personalities without us realising so it's good that you are both being aware of it. I wish your husband well. I do wonder if I have some long covid symptoms, as I've not been fully well since 2020 and I had a number of covid type illnesses then (before tests were available). I felt better in 2021, but feeling like that again lately.
-
Thanks for thinking of me.
I had my thyroid tested a few years ago and it was fine, but over the past couple of years since I've had tests for various things. GP thought I might have lupus or sjogrens, but although my results weren't 'normal' the rheumatologist didn't consider them abnormal enough to make a diagnosis, so I've just been keeping an eye on things and logging my symptoms. The conclusion is I've probably a mild autoimmune condition, but I'm able to manage symptoms if I listen to my body and keep and eye on diet and exercise. I've had problems with cold fingers and toes for a while now, and should get checked out in case of raynauds, but with the warmer weather they have been bothering me less and haven't changed colour recently.
It's a stupid mindset, but I feel I'm either too busy or too tired to go the the GP. I need to review my HRT in the next month or so, so I'll get around to it eventually. I'd love to lie on the sofa this afternoon and watch the gymnastics or the snooker, but the weather is lovely so the garden needs my attention.
Wishing everyone else well (and rest).
-
Hi Karashannon,
How.sweet you are willing to reply to us when you are having such a bad spell yourself. any form of chronic fatigue, whatever the cause, is as we know so debilitating. Add in the peri\meno symptoms, including Crap sleep and it's no wonder we all struggle.
I agree it helps to pace yourself, but obviously that's a hard thing to do for some with work and children etc.
I am definitely learning (the hard way) that some days I am so exhausted I simply can't achieve everything like I used to. a few months ago I could run up the stairs, some days now I am dragging myself up.
Luckily I have an understanding husband, and equally importantly, I am trying not to stress when stuff can't be done if I am on a bad day.
But that does hurt because it reinforces the person I have become. No win situation really.
So like you I will see my g.p and take a few notes so I cover all I need to ask, I too would prefer blood tests, not thought about testosterone. I have an underactive thyroid, and I understand levels can be affected by hrt.
Bloody minefield isn't it?
I send hugs to all, and Kara, thanks for your kindness to us all. X
-
Definitely knackered today and mojo has buggered off ! Anyone help me find it ? 🤣
-
I'm wiped out today.
I had cellulitis as you all know, I got over it and no sooner had I recovered, everyone needed me again. I worked really hard as well, and then I've got this fungal infection on the other leg (never had this before but think it might have been from 3 weeks nearly in bed when I was ill).
So I'm treating that, and seem to be getting somewhere.
Then I meet a friend in the street and they have a mask on, then they tell me (up close) that they have a cold.
Now I have a cold, and feel pretty under the weather with it. Covid test is negative, it's always negative. I've also got 3 spots on my back that are itching, but they are not getting any worse so I'll just watch and wait.
All very weird.
Plus I have a new neighbour who was banging on the wall at 4am this morning. I'm not sure why, I was asleep so I didn't analyse it too much, but I didn't go back to sleep properly after that.
-
Definitely knackered today and mojo has buggered off ! Anyone help me find it ? 🤣
There's a vitamin shot drink in waitrose called mojo ;D I bought one yesterday, it's not worked lol
-
Karashannon 🤣 what a shame ! Would be great if it worked -
-
So like you I will see my g.p and take a few notes so I cover all I need to ask, I too would prefer blood tests, not thought about testosterone. I have an underactive thyroid, and I understand levels can be affected by hrt.
Bloody minefield isn't it?
I send hugs to all, and Kara, thanks for your kindness to us all. X
Hope you feel better soon, yes we have to pace ourselves because anything else seems to just make it worse.
I'm too shattered to have my blood test today. I also have a cold and while the covid test is negative, I'm not sure as it's only just started.
-
Hi Karashannon. Yes rest is key ! I hope you feel better soon and the test remains negative!
-
Truly knackered today. Managed a walk\trudge at snails pace with husband. Cleaned bathroom and universe two rooms.... Now fit
for nothing. Completely drained.
Few weeks ago I could work the whole day and get a long second walk in as well. Now the smallest task wears me out.
Off to g.p appt on Fri so making a few notes. By time I get in there I brain fog will take over and I will forget things!
Cannot go on like this. Think I need to switch hrt.
Moany rant but hugs to all x😵
-
Truly knackered today. Managed a walk\trudge at snails pace with husband. Cleaned bathroom and universe two rooms.... Now fit
for nothing. Completely drained.
Few weeks ago I could work the whole day and get a long second walk in as well. Now the smallest task wears me out.
Off to g.p appt on Fri so making a few notes. By time I get in there I brain fog will take over and I will forget things!
Cannot go on like this. Think I need to switch hrt.
Moany rant but hugs to all x😵
Sarah T, how did it go with the GP?
I know what you mean about getting loads done and then fun stuff as well.
-
Not a great day, up during the night with stomach trouble. I don't think it's anything other than I keep getting IBS every so often, since start of 2020 and starting hrt. Never before.
It was worse in 2020 and can't helping thinking covid had a lot to do with it. It's gradually improved and 'episodes' a lot less over time, but the last 24 hours it's back. I can't seem to eat the usual healthy foods I've always eaten either. Having to rethink it all.
This week I'm going to eat very mindfully and with gut health as the focus and see if I can reign in these symptoms. If I can I'll know I've got to take more care. I did eat 3 curries this week, my friend couldn't believe that! I've always got away with that but this was a different curry that I'm not used to. Maybe that. What next. ::) ;D
-
IBS is a specific problem. = fast delivery/diarhhea, or like myself, slow transit. With very little variation.
Onions make me ill unless cooked for hours. Spices can affect the gut lining too so that particular curry may be causing digestive problems. What was in it? The expression is like 'to roast', 'to curry' ;-)
Garlic used to give me massive heartburn almost immediately. My gut has become used to it.
-
Hiya Kara,
Sorry you have had another bad week. I one of admire the dedication of three curries in a week! Like CLKD I have to watch a few several key ingredients now as I have a hiatus hernia.... So I can do cooked onions, but raw ones a no for me. Spices are a distant memory for me. I think it's a good thing to re- evaluate our diets, I have had to drop a few things, nothing I miss too much (except caffeine sob 😪 ) .
As for you kindly asking about my drs appt... Well,that week all hell broke loose. In the run up to my period I developed the worse pms moods I have ever been through. Broke down at the drs, I had the most severe and scary thoughts that were so shocking. She advised I had pmdd symptoms. And these moods were the utmost priority for me to sort out. Long story short. Have upped my patch to 100, can go to 125 if needed, to try to suppress my cycle, and have an option for anti anxiety meds for the luteal part of my cycle of needed.
This month, despite physical pms symptoms, my moods, though bad, were not suicidal in nature, so am optimistic I am on the right track.
BUT the sodding exhaustion along with terrible joint pain and muscle fatigue seemed worse instead! I swear you couldn't make all this up could you?!
So another drs appt (by phone) on 6th June to discuss this as I had to concentrate so much on my moods. A new low point...so bad fatigue wise my husband had to help me out of bed one day. And this week?? Am on a 7\10 fatigue wise which is fab for me.
Enough to drive a same person crazy... So not much hope left for me🙄. Mood wise better though, thankfully I keep a diary of symptoms to check for patterns. Will update you after appt.
Thanks for asking Kara, and good luck on clearing up your diet a bit to help the IBS, again, a food diary may help at times??
Take care xx
-
Such deep fatigue needs investigating. Whilst crashing fatigue can be cyclical, it shouldn't become 'normal'. VitD levels tested recently?
How is your diet? I was advised by NAPS to eat every 3 hours 24/7. To keep blood sugar levels even throughout the month. It took a while to get used to spreading out the requirements, I certainly noticed if I lapsed! After 3 months I got into the habit. When I let the puppy out to P in the early hours, she soon learned that there were biscuits on our way back to bed ;D.
Slow release foods: mixed dried fruits and nuts; bananas; porridge oats; crackers ........... I never put on weight !
-
I am speaking to my g.p next week. Underactive thyroid, low pulse, history of not absorbing iron all possibilities, so asking for bloods, vitamin d being one. I take a multi vitamin and minerals each day along with extra vitamin d and calcium. My diet is good I love dried apricots and a few nuts too, oats always seem a cure for all things for me. Bananas are back in my diet too. Rice cakes of dipping low. My weight has always been sluggish, I eat ok, exercise when my body allows but am still putting on weight. Up a dress size in last year....
My fatigue seems, from my notes, to be cyclical, on the week leading up to and including my period. I know thyroid and peri\meno hormones can conflict.
But thanks CLKD I am making some concise note to discuss with my dr. Appreciate your advice.
-
Possible effect of thyroid disfunction upset by peri?
Wouldn't our bodies know better >:( Nature being what She is !
-
Is this thread still going?
I read every post and can totally sympathise with every single one of you.
I’m not even 50 and post meno for 2 years. I have the odd day when I feel a bit more full of beans but overall, feel drained, tired and unmotivated most of the time.
I used to be a gym goer and a runner, now I can barely get myself out for a 10 min walk. I barely recognise myself.
I am on patches and have just started Testogel in the hope it’ll help.
How do you keep up with the home, work, keeping healthy? I just seem to need so many breaks I just keep up with the work (from home and because I have to). Nothing else gets done.
I am considering semi or full retirement asap to focus on my health. It would mean adjusting financially but seems the only way to just keep up with life.
-
Yep if you've restarted the thread.
Low VitD levels as well as thyroid function problems can cause intense tiredness. As can hormonal upheaval. How long have you been on an HRT regime?
Many find that during peri they have to cut back their working hours. Depending on your employment, R U able to delegate?
-
Hello Buttercup,
I have been on this thread a while back. My own exhaustion and in my case joint pain and muscle fatigue is still ongoing. I seem to have maybe 10 ok days each month, the rest of the time is hard. I too used to exercise a lot, even up to a year ago. This week me and my husband were doing our usual hours walk and I had to sit and rest three times.
Also.finding it hard to do daily tasks. I manage about a 1\4 of what I used to do. I do have an underactive thyroid but drs say last full blood count was ok in all points. Am in the process of working on an email to ask what can be going on Tbh I feel I am only able to live a restricted life. I cannot believe this can be down to peri in my case of meno in yours and that nothing can be done.
I would urge you to ask your dr for blood tests to eliminate anything obvious. It could be something that can be put right.
As for how to cope? I exercise carefully when I can, I eat as best I can and have learned that the daily jobs I thought were essential now get left. In other words, simple as it may sound, I try to take each day as it comes. Am fortunate I do not have to work full time.
Fortunately my husband understands this is a physical difficulty I now have as part of this hormonal mess.
I wish you well and if I find any answers that may help I will of course share.
-
@CLKD I had all the blood tests to check thyroid, anaemia etc. All normal. Not checked vit D or B12 but I take a vit D supplement most days and eat animal products/nutritional yeast. I would say my diet is pretty good. Hardly any alcohol ever and little processed stuff.
I am self-employed so can make my own hours but obviously that comes at a financial cost. I find it so hard to focus tho. (Could be due to job boredom too to be fair)
@SarahT Yes as you say I’ve scaled everything back too. I just don’t like the person I am becoming, sluggish and struggling to be active. I wish I could go back to being the person who looked forward to the gym and who couldn’t possibly sit for 2 hours on the couch due to lack of energy and motivation.
-
I do understand. I do not like this person,a half person,I have become. Whilst I do try to accept this I also fight it! Because I just don't want to be like this.
I do too much when I know that shouldn't, and then become shattered all because I just don't feel this can be right. I know we all change throughout our stages in life, but it is very difficult to see others about us able to live active lives and know this is now we were a short time ago. Reality is I do not want to accept it as I feel I am giving in.
So on a stronger day I wildli write an email to my gp. It has taken me a while to get other peri symptoms under some form of control, and this exhaustion and joint pain is next. Hrt whilst helping me in some ways has done zero to help my exhaustion. I need ( deserve) a better quality of life.
Could you go back to your gp and explain despite blood tests, just how bad and impact this is having on your life?
-
As well as asking for a referral to a dedicated menopause clinic, not a gynae.; to get onto a waiting list. If by the time the appt arrives, if you feel better, you can cancel.
-
@SarahT Yes I have also wondered if I should just accept it as a normal part of ageing. It is indeed the one “symptom” I cannot shift.
@CLKD My GP is very uncooperative. He wouldn’t agree for me to have my hormone levels checked. I was tempted to go private but the cost is steep.
-
We don't have to accept anything these days. Also, 1 shouldn't have to pay for a menopause clinic - GPs don't know everything . There are waiting lists for NHS as well as in the private sector. Let us know how you get on.
-
I must catch up with this thread soon.
Off out for my walk now, but thought I'd put my head around the door and let everyone know I'll be back to this as well.
-
>wave<
-
;D
-
Also Buttercup: hormone blood tests are reliably un-reliable ::)
-
Yes, just to make things even trickier. I have to start somewhere though, I’m thinking. I know people go by symptoms but fatigue can be everything and anything. 🤷🏻♀️
-
I remember my Mum having crashing fatigue, she would be cooking the evening meal, suddenly switch everything off, sit down and sleep for several hours.
-
:( she must have been wondering what was going on.
-
We never discussed it :-\. This was in the 1970s.
-
Is this thread still going?
I read every post and can totally sympathise with every single one of you.
I’m not even 50 and post meno for 2 years. I have the odd day when I feel a bit more full of beans but overall, feel drained, tired and unmotivated most of the time.
I used to be a gym goer and a runner, now I can barely get myself out for a 10 min walk. I barely recognise myself.
I am on patches and have just started Testogel in the hope it’ll help.
How do you keep up with the home, work, keeping healthy? I just seem to need so many breaks I just keep up with the work (from home and because I have to). Nothing else gets done.
I am considering semi or full retirement asap to focus on my health. It would mean adjusting financially but seems the only way to just keep up with life.
Buttercup, how are you getting on now?
I absolutely sympathise. I'm at home today, need to work from home but I'm struggling so much to just move. I have moved house so I have a lot of things to sort out too and I just cannot move my body easily. Like I'm old, and I'm far from it yet and this has happened so suddenly since 2020.
Today is going to be wading through mud and the worst thing is when I feel like this, the clock seems to go so much faster.
-
Today I am Knackered ;D
I'm not sleeping well at the moment. I have loads of stuff to move in my living room since my move, heavy stuff.
Not a problem but a relative is visiting just for the day mid week and she has a beautiful home. She's a totally non judgemental person but I would like it to be nice for her because I know it's the sort of thing that's inspiring to her.
Only so much I can do though