Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Personal Experiences => Topic started by: bramble on April 29, 2013, 10:21:50 PM
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Ladies,
I know we have had this topic before I am sure. I am 60, eat well and healthily, drink decaff coffee, eat loads of fruit, take vitamins (EPO, Vit B, Omega 3, garlic), am doing all the right things really. Am fairly active. But here is the rub. I get tired easily. After a few hours in the garden weeding or cutting back, I am tired. Always seem to be sitting down having a rest. Am on a fairly high dose of beta blockers (for racing heart) but these have been cut down slightly in the past few months. I feel OLD! Is this normal? Am I getting old? Go down to the co-op and see women much older than me bustling about with loads of energy. Where are they getting it from? and what can I do differently? Use it or lose it they say but it is a catch 22 - tired so I don't do as much as I used to, but the less I do the less I can do. I don't know how all you ladies with families to look after manage it when it takes me all my time to look after myself!! Help!
Bramble
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It could be the beta blockers. I am on a very small dose for anxiety. If I were to take more than my 10mg a day I would not move.
I don't have the energy that I used to either. It seems to come in bursts and then goes very quickly. I can never make up my mind whether it's energy or motivation I lack.
Once I get going it's not so bad.
I really don't have a lot of choice. There are four of us and I go to mum's three times a week to "do" for her.
By the time it comes to the evening I am wiped and well ready to sit down.
I do think that our energy levels drop as we get older. And as for the ladies in the supermarket.....they may go home and flop for all we know.
Maybe someone will be along with a great idea.......
Honeyb
X
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Me too and I am 51. I did have an hysterectomy 18 months ago but recently I asked my oncologist about the fatigue as it was getting me down i wonted to do so much and was being held back by this fatigue - even last night I ended up sleeping for 12 hours. She said it was a very normal part of menopause and although it was stressful not really harmful - i like you have not found any aid that seems to make any difference - when the fatigue comes on nothing will help other than resting, again like anxiety it does seem to have longer gaps between bouts. If anyone as any sure fire tips for relieve from fatigue it would be great to hear them. x
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I don't really get body tired but I get sleep tired. (if that makes any sense).
I could quite easily have a nap most afternoons. I'm 52.
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Every day I struggle, especially in the morning. Feel like I'm jet lagged half the time. I seem to ache from shoulders to hips. Massaging doesn't seem to work. I swim 4/5 times a week but still feel the same. I have every sympathy with you bramble & HB.
I'm actually going to mention it at next gynae appointment in a couple of months as getting nowhere with GP. They just do bloods and say nothing's wrong.
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Jet lagged is a very good description CG. I am mystified as to what can be making me so fatigued compared to how I was say three or four years ago. The only difference to then is I am a bit older, early fifties, and been going through the menopause and on HRT for two years now. Mornings are a write off mostly and I seem to spend most of the day yawning. It's not a lack of sleep issue as I can happily sleep for twelve hours given the opportunity yet still wake up feeling as if I'm hungover. If it is a 'normal part of menopause' then does it ever stop? I wish there was an answer. I don't know how you can manage a few hours in the garden Bramble, I find now when I go out there I have to sit on the bench every fifteen minutes or so. I feel proper old! :(
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2317950/Is-reason-women-feel-totally-clapped-out.html#comments
Just read this today, made me think ::)
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Have been on vit d now for a few months has done very little for my energy levels I'm afraid, still searching for the cause. I think I read that in meno your thyroid levels can go awry I am sure this is cause in , mine unfortunately last blood level was still in so called normal range .. There is some debate at the moment that these rates are set too high in the UK and I agree. I am going to see if I could try a smalll amount to see if it lifts this chronic fatigue dont know if GP will agree but running out of ideas and its v v frustrating.
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I am suddenly so very tired all the time too. I'm 48 and been peri-menopausal for about 4 years maybe. Getting out of bed at 6.45am is no harder than it's always been, but by the time I leave for work at 8.15 I'm yawning again and could readily go back to sleep, and I'm struggling to stay awake in the afternoon if I have a desk day at work. Added to this I'm attempting to change over from contacts to glasses, and finding that really stressful, tiring and headachey!
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And me I'm fatigued on and off some times worse than others, I have ms and was putting it all down to that, but the thyroid does play a part, in it can go haywire especially if HRT is started, last year I had a bad spell and had my thyroid tested, it was about 9 it is said the normal range is 0.1-5.5 but as I found out not everyone feels well in the same range, I didn't feel well until my reading was 2.5 and looking back at my records five years back I had a routine thyroid test and it was 2-5 so my doctor treated my symptoms rather than numbers and am currently on 50mg of thyroxin but recently I've felt similar signs of it returning and have just had another blood test the results of which I should get shortly.
I have been on HRT for nearly two years and am 47.
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Do you understand the thyroid readings Smokey? They're beyond me. I got my results yesterday. One was 3 and the other 18. I am on 125mg thyroxine.
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I also suffer from the 'tired all the time' syndrome. I can easily sleep 10 - 12 hours at a stretch, can't remember the last time I woke up feeling refreshed and although I do appear to live a normal, active life it is a constant effort. GP has done range of blood tests (all negative) and tentatively suggests it could be my lifelong depression but it's only in the last few years I've felt this tired so I'm blaming peri-menopause :-\
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I have been reading a lot about anxiety recently and one of the recurrent themes is how tired it makes you.
If your body is in flight or fight mode for a good part of the day everything is working too fast therefore you become very tired.
I think that for those of us who suffer anxiety and extreme tiredness there is a good chance that the anxiety is what causes it.
There are parts of the day especially in the evening when I feel calm that it's then I am drained .
Honeyb
X
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Milliemoo it is very confusing, I understand the first number, which I think is the main one to concentrate on I'm not too sure of the rest I have read about it but I just doesn't sink in, I'm going to phone gp today to see if my results are back. Funny thing is I feel a bit better since having test done and is making me think it's all in my head maybe I could just think myself better!
The brain is a very powerful tool.
Have you had any other thyroid tests that you could compare with your latest one of 3 as I read somewhere a person is at their best at 0.1-0.3
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To be honest Smokey I thought it WAS 0.03 or 0.003 - something like that. But when I looked on the thyroid foundation website the readings they gave were nothing like that so I assumed I mustve got it wrong.
I dont have any other readings. With my old dr I just trusted her to know what she was doing. New dr now who doesnt seem as well informed, at least about HRT (see the other post I made yesterday under in reply to the one about the Major Hot Flush).
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I've just got my results back and im now even more confused as they are 0.19 surley I should be feeling good, well this week I havnt felt to bad maybe they have been fluctuating and when I was feeling bad they were high but when I had my test done this week I was feeling not to bad.
I have changed my time of thyroxin to 4am to make sure it doesn't interfer with any supplements etc.
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Smokey, Could it be the MS?
Also, it's warm(ish) at the moment which can cause problems with feeling wiped out.
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I really don't know Limpy, I thought I had the not doing too much under control, but now im not so sure.
The heat so far doesn't seem to effect me with the Ms, I seem to be able to lie in the sun for hours as long as my head is in the shade. Just as well as I'm off to Kos in the morning for 12 days of Luxery in 5 star hotel on the beach, perhaps that's what I need plenty of sunshine, good food and lots of rest!
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Have a lovely time.
Enjoy the luxury, rest, food, wine and sun........
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Thanks Limpy, I'll certainly try.
How is your pain now? Did ou decide on any painkillers?
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Have had a brief go with Amitriptyline again.
Didn't get as brain dead this time, but while the headaches were a bit better, the pain along right hand side seems to be worse. Will see GP on wed to see if she has any suggestions.
Enjoy Kos