Why Do I Feel So Tired All the Time? | PYHP 031

One of the most common complaints we hear from patients is fatigue or feeling tired all the time. Unfortunately, fatigue is common, but a complicated symptom to treat.  There are many possible reasons someone can be fatigued.  

Conventionally, when you go to your doctor, fatigue is all the same.  There is no differentiation made; however, we see three different patterns of fatigue.  

Snooze Button:

Are you one of those people who keeps pressing the snooze button in the morning. You are so tired and you just can’t seem to get out of bed, so you keep pressing snooze.  Every nine minutes, your alarm keeps going off, and before you know it you have stayed in bed for an extra 45 extra minutes.  

Afternoon Crash:

Many patients mention they get really tired in the afternoon, usually between 2:00 to 5:00 pm. We refer to this afternoon drop in energy as the Thanksgiving Effect, which usually happens 30 to 90 minutes after lunchtime.  

Wire and Tired:

In the evening, after a long day, many patients will mention their minds feel wired, but their bodies are exhausted.  They want to sleep, but their racing minds won’t let them rest. The stress from the day sets up this vicious cycle of poor sleep at night and fatigue during the day.  Unfortunately, when we need to sleep the most, we often sleep the worst.  

In addition, this the 3 patterns mentioned above, below is a list of other possible causes of fatigue. This is also assuming that an underlying condition or diagnosis such as cancer or an autoimmune disease has already been ruled out by your doctor.  

• Medications: such as antidepressant meds, anti-anxiety and beta blockers. 
• Excessive amounts of caffeine and/or alcohol.
• Liver burden (meds, caffeine, alcohol, high fructose corn syrup)
• Iron Deficiency Anemia
• Insomnia
• Stress: cortisol
• Blood sugar/insulin imbalance
• Anxiety/ depression
• Hypothyroid, Hashimoto’s
• Allergies
• Autoimmune disease
• Cancer

Of course, fatigue is not as simple as a list. Fatigue is very complicated with many contributing factors.

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