Feeling very tired all the time

Hi Treeswaving,

Sorry we aren't able to move this reply to a new thread. Are you able to start a new one? Let us know when it's done and we can remove this one.

Take care,

Avi

Hi treeswaving,

Until this gets moved onto another thread, here's some of my coping mechanisms for anxiety:

- essential oils .eg lavander in an oil burner

- stress ball, putty etc.- especially to have handy when somewhere stressful

- mindfulness practice- daily

- warm fabric bag (microwavable)

- reduce sensory input eg. close curtains and lie down in a quiet place when I feel my mind starts to 'run' ie. too many thoughts

I found these out by thinking of what sort of sensory things I like, these soothe me a lot and in turn help to quieten and balance my mind.  However counselling I received helped me to identify my sensory needs in the first place.  If cbt is making you feel like a failure then maybe it isn't with the right therapist.  However I don't think it would ever be easy to do such a programme.

Hope this helps.

thanks, great replies as always on here.

I have now made an appointment to see my doctor- no I haven't ruled other causes out.  I was raised with the 'mind over matter' mentality but increasingly realise that this is not always possible.

The 'total load' idea makes sense, although it can sometimes be hard to really understand the load and weigh it correctly.  For example, I may be struggling with a recent change in my work environment (perhaps just the transition or noise level or lighting or something- hard to say what it is or if it is unrelated). 

I am considering looking for another job in which I may be able to cope better.  However without being able to say exactly why I suddenly find myself struggling I can't predict it would be any better in a new job.  Which brings me to the area of 'reasonable adjustments'- but again adjustment of what.

can i ask how you manage the associated anxiety that goes with your asd?

am a female with asd and my anxiety is a huge issue.

tried with limited improvement various antidepressants.

now taking pregabalin. helps a lot, but doesn't resolve it all and i'm not sure it's a long term solution.

trying cbt but finding it very upsetting and not much help. maybe it's just too early in the program, but it just makes me feel more of a failure.

any suggestions on how you all cope with your anxiety greatly received.

sorry. that was meant to be posted as a new topic

. didn't mean to post here and hijack this topic.

many appologies.

hope the forum moderator can move my post to a new thread.  treeswaving

Hello!

 Also, you can get chronic fatigue syndrome after a cold/virus. It's just your body recovering from having to work extra hard from battling it. Colds can take a while to recover from even when the actual virus/symptoms bit has gone. And if you've had to work/carry on while you had the cold, it can take longer to recover. Worrying about it too can make you tireder- but easier said than done- i'd worry myself into an early grave. I get chronic fatigue at times in my life and all though i feel mentally/emotionally ok, my body is knackered and it takes a while for it to reajust again. Hope you feel less fatigued soon. And as the other posts have mentioned, maybe have a chat with your dr too. Are they a supportive/understanding dr?

Good point, thank you. I have a niece on medication for an underactive thyroid. Not common, but possible, and particularly relevant to me as it was one of the multitude of avenues that was explored with me in the past, so you'd have thought it would occur to me.

Guess I'd kind of assumed that because it's common, and Belles had talked about being 'out of balance' it was the usual issue and that she'd ruled out physical causes.

A good, timely reminder not to make assumptions!

While I agree with what Codger's said, if you are having real, unexplained tiredness a trip to the doctors might be in order. It could also be the aftermath of of the cold, or it could be something else. I've recently been diagnosed with a vitamin deficiency and started medication for an underactive thyroid: a few months ago I really wasn't coping with life, now I feel a lot better, have a little more energy and am getting things together again.

I can see what you're saying, and your thinking is logical. I'm fairly sure that once I'm getting sensitised, pretty much any part of me can be overloaded because things will turn themselves over in my head, and I think that whilst it's happening that all sides of the particular issue will get chewed to death. That's usually the point where I just want my head to shut up for a bit and give me some peace. Never happens, of course.

Perhaps you hit the nail on the head when you say 'highly influential on one another' because while we think of these things as separate issues, in reality we are holistic creatures.

Put it like this. I've repeated to newbies what others have also said - we are each a mix of different traits, and each trait has a greater or lesser effect on us. Couple that with our ability to be sensitised, and pretty much anything can touch us off. We all know that we struggle to find a 'one size fits all' answer to some things, simply because we all process differently according to what we're trying to process.

Perhaps, then, it's about being aware of the total load we carry, rather than trying to keep individual bits separate and controlled, although how we might do that is betond me at the moment. I must admit to being a bit like you when 'something' is getting to me and I can feel the build up starting, especially if I'm convinced that, at the time, I'm doing OK.

Anything there make sense?

I am trying to separate emotional overload with physical overload, as I thought that they could be treated as 2 entities (albeit highly influencial on one another)... no?  I feel that my emotional load is so much lighter, and my physical load has stayed the same, so surely this should equate to the overall load being lighter...?  Or perhaps I am adjusting to a new way of functionning which is adding to the load... confused.

I'm not sure that we ever really get away from this one. I don't know about your normal pattern, but mine seems to constantly follow a sine wave. I think that the sheer energy usage of getting through a day can leave us drained enough to be vulnerable, and that might be an interesting debate about the power of the mind.

I'm not sure that it's reasonable either, to compare one state with another. Feeling emotionaly strong doesn't necessarily mean that you can't catch a bug or suffer some mental torment because of some careless remark or failure. I don't equate them at all, but again, we could be talking about the different ways that males and females process stuff, and I can't claim any expertise there.

My tiredness level directly relates to whatever load I'm carrying, although I have to say that the straws that break me tend to be lighter than they used to be. I'm certainly a lot more prone to catching anything going these days, and there's supposed to be a proven relationship between mental state and immune system function - something like we're depressed, so our immune system is also depressed. Give me back my youthful vigour...