Always tired... (My journey to cure my fatigue)

**UPDATED**  1/9/2007        I have come to the realization that lab work is worthless.  What is a normal result?  You have a number from 1-10.  The doctor tells you, you're a number 3, so you're in a normal range.  But... what if YOUR normal results are suppose to be 7 or 8?  You would be on the low side.  I'm no doctor, but this doesn't make sense to me.  How can you accurately determine that someone is feeling one way from a test?  You can't.  Everyone is different.  One person level is different from another.  I believe I just need to find a doctor who is willing to treat symptoms, instead of lab work.  This is going to be hard to find, but it's just another steping stone to take on this journey to get my life back. 

Hello,

I've been tired for the past 4 months (Started getting bad in Jan of 2006). I use to workout 5-6 times a week, ate extremly healthy, didn't drink/smoke/do drugs, I was getting a good 7-8 hours of sleep a night

I've been to 2 different doctors. Have had blood tests done, Chest X-rays, 24 heart rate monitor, EKG... and they cannot find a thing.

My doctor thought it might be depression, because during the months of October through January, I was very stressed, but I've been like this before. He put me on Paxil, which did nothing for me but
make me more tired. I went off it after 10 days.

I'm always tired, every day...24/7. It starts after 20 minutes of waking. I usually have around 20 good minutes of energy (around 80%), then I crash. It never fails, every day.

I don't have headaches, or sorethroats (not one). I'm not feeling sick, just very fatigued. The back of my neck is sore atleast 5 days out of the week, and my lymp nodes under my jaw line seem to be a little swollen. the only
other thing that bothers me, is my lat muscles. They're sore to touch, but if I push them in, they don't hurts.... just grazing them seems to feel sore. Almost like they're bruised.

The only thing that makes not sense, is when I took a 4 days vacation to Florida, I felt better (on the last day). I left on a Thursday, and came back on a Sunday evening. I felt GREAT!!!! Monday-through Thursdays, but when Friday hit, I felt
horrible again, and was on the couch all weekend. During those 4 days of energy, I was able to workout again, I was eating great again, and felt awesome.

I thought it was something in my house, so I brought a Mold inspector through... he found nothing. I thought it might be something else in the home, so I left for 3 days, and didn't feel any better.

I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to read, but I have no idea why I feel so tired.









(TESTS I'VE BEEN THROUGH AS OF 1/2/2007)



-Blood tests : EBV/CMV, standard blood panel, Lyme disease (Twice through LabCorp)

-EKG and 24H Heart rate monitor

-Pulminary chamber test for lungs

-Accpuncture

-Therapy : 3 different types of SSRI's (Paxil, Effexor, and Prozac)

-Mold tests in home. Normal readings, house in great condition

-Allergy test (skin injections) common and foods 1 and 2

-Sleep study

-Dietary change (Multiple times)

-Quit using aspertame

-Candidia cleanse

-Humaworm (dewormer)

-Saliva Test : 4 x's Coritsol and DHEA-S  (BINGO!!!!  This showed the problem.  Low Cortisol all day).  Here are the results

-ACTH/Cortisol/TSH/t3/t4/Testosterone (Blood work).  All tests came back normal, however cortisol was borderline normal (5-25).. mine was an 8.

-24 hour urine test (Cortisol) -   Oh look.. another normal results.  My level was 27 (10-105)

Thanks!

Yeah, I thought about Lyme disease, but the only thing that doesn't make sense is why when I go away, I feel better.

I'm taking another vaction here in 5 weeks, we shall see if I get any better.

Well, I do sit all day long.

I work in the IT field, and my job is pretty much at my desk. I can do all my work from my chair.

The vacation was during the winter season, and felt great to get away. That's why for so long, I thought this was stress/anxiety issue...

I've heard of this.

I am by no mean ruling out Stress/axiety/depression.

I just got married in September, bought a house last summer, and during the Christmas season, money was very tight, and I was really stressed. We had a problem with
our taxes, and that really stressed me out beyond belief. I remember some nights falling asleep thiking about how I was going to get by. When we took our vacation in Febuary to Florida, money
was still tight, but I told myself and my wife that we weren't going to concern ourselves with that, we were just going to relax and have a great time. We did!

Hi:

Read your post, and I can remember feeling like you, tired, achy and just awful.  I was also into fitness as an instructor and had my own studio which I closed and sold because of cfs.

I have a young family and that comes first.  However, I went to a sleep disorder clinic because the medical doctors put me through a series of tests which came back negative.  I also have Ulcerative colitis, but it was in remission when cfs was finally diagnosed by the sleep dr.

I take xanax to help my mind calm down only before I go to bed.  My brain waves were so active at night I was'nt sleeping well.  After a period of time, it really can bring you down.

Another helpful thing was eliminated soda.  I think that was a big problem.  I also subscribe to "Eat right for your type"  which is eating right for your blood type.  Mine is A+ and I am primarily a vegan, but poultry and fish are acceptable in moderation.  You may want to look into it.

I found an MD who is really a wholistic doctor, and believes in the right foods and vitamin supplements and it has made all the difference to me.  I was in need of Vitamin B12 the most.

Anyway, I understand and I know you will feel better.  Please take care. 

How long have you been on Effexor? It can take some of the antidepressants 4-6 weeks to feel the full effects. If the Effexor doesn't make a difference in your fatigue level, check in with your doctor again and keep going until you get some answers.

Just PLEASE be careful with the Effexor. That stuff is worse than crack/heroin to get off of (from what I understand... the crack and heroin part). I was on it for 8 or 9 months, and all it did was make me into an emotionless zombie, and getting off of it.... the withdrawl effects from simply decreasing your dosage was bad enough I wanted to die... and this was for months. Go to petition online once, and look up Effexor, or even google it. There's THOUSANDS of people that had horrible experiences in which they shared about Effexor. Even my doctor (not the same one who put me on Effexor) said that stuff is evil and WAYYY overperscribed (the one who finally believed there was something wrong with me, and that it wasn't in my head and found out I have CFS/CFIDS). Heck, for my (mild) anxiety, he wouldn't even put me on Xanax because of the possible addiction problems, and put me on Lorazepam instead.

Now that's not saying Effexor hasn't helped anyone, but it's a dangerous drug and should be treated with caution. I'm on Provigil for my CFS, and I for the first time in my life feel like I'd imagine normal people feel after a good night of rest.

CFS can also be triggered by stress/anxiety... I had an anxiety attack 2 weeks ago and made it worse. I rarely have them anymore, but it's not fun.

Anyway, I do wish you the best, and if you don't feel comfortable with the possible risk factors associated with Effexor, I'd discuss it with your doctor asap.

Again, not meant to scare, but just a heads up on how dangerous that drug can be.

When I first started on Effexor, I was VERY energetic and was really happy... then it all went downhill from there.

I will pray though that this is actually helping you and you won't have to go through what I did. Good luck and keep us posted!

I'd also like to note that my lymp nodes under my jaw line haven't been swollen in over a week. I don't know if they were every really swollen from anything, but me constantly rubbing them.

I just happened to stumble on this Forum and read your posting.  I have had very similar symptoms - muscle soreness & fatigue.  I am currently in "remission" from depression.  I was on a few different antidepressants - one of them being Effexor.  I had a really bad experience with Effexor which lead to suicidal thoughts and a complete mental breakdown.  I was only on the Effexor for about one month before I "crashed".  I was determined that my symptoms were not entirely related to my depression (especially the fatigue).  I would literally feel like I was going to drop from all the fatique.  I switched doctors and the new doctor started by having certain blood tests done (SED rate, ANA, rheumatoid factor, c-reactive protein).  All these tests were slightly positive and the doctor referred me to a Rheumotologist who ordered further blood work to start ruling out things (Lupus, MS, Etc).  After all these months of tests, I was finally diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome which is an auto-immune disease.  This is the reason that I easily get fatigued.  Now I am starting to listen to my body more and take "cat naps"  during the day as needed.

You should have all of these blood tests done to rule out any of the auto-immune diseases.  I am very lucky to have found some great doctors who know what tests to do.

I hope this helps.

Wow... now tell me this isn't weird.

I'm getting ready to get into the shower this morning, and my wife says, "turn around for a second".

There is a black "X" on my lower back. It's about the size of a pencil head, but it's clearly and perfectly made X. It looks like it was tattoo'd on there, or burned in. I don't remember seeing it anytime in the past, nor my wife.

I don't know if this means anything, but I cannot find anything on this anywhere.

Anyone heard of this?

Not feeling any different really. I see my doctor again on Wednesday to go over how the effexor went. I don't really think it did anything for me.

That's interesting! I've never heard of that. Can you get that anywhere? I too am desperate!!!!!

Thanks for the post :)