Tired of being tired - any suggestions?

For months I had been so tired, I was almost falling asleep constantly. Couldn't focus. Grumpy and lifeless.

Lately I've been a little better - here's what worked for me.

1. Blood test showed I had low iron. I'm on supplements now. Big boost in energy a few days later.

2. Completely cut out coffee after being addicted for years. Now if I have a coffee I feel awful!

3. Instead of coffee, I have either a decaf coffee or a green matcha tea.

4. Turmeric supplements with black pepper. I like to add this to my green matcha for a nice flavorful drink.

5. Magnesium supplements. I took these every night for a couple of weeks, now I only take them when I've had a stressful day or feel like I will have trouble sleeping. Our magnesium depletes when we are stressed, and cptsd causes us to be low key stressed constantly...

6. I eat quite healthy in general. I'm fairly lazy with cooking and I don't like making big meals, so I have boring, quick meals. My rule of thumb is a carb (potato, rice or quinoa), a protein source (any meat, egg or cheese) and vegetables (often boiled from frozen for speed). For months my dinner was a microwaved potato with cheese and a small salad. Boring, but it worked.

7. I don't exercise but I try to leave the house once a day in the morning. Not even for a walk, just for a change of scenery. It gives me something to look forward to.

8. If you can afford it... Get EMDR. Working through my triggers has lifted some of the stress I feel every day from old trauma trapped in my body. That shit wears you down.

9. Vitamin d supplements. I also just got a SAD lamp for Xmas!

I hope these tips help you :)

If you find a form of working out that you enjoy, that could help alot. Also, therapy to deal with the traumas raised my spirits significantly

B12 can help. You also might want to get blood tests for b12, vitamin D, and other vitamin/mineral deficiencies.

I have an eating disorder rooted in the same trauma that caused my CPSD. It's kind of a chicken-egg problem, you know? Like which came first? But I started taking a multivitamin and drinking an Emergen-C every day. The vitamin D and B vitamins really help. I can actually stay up all day instead of waking up after 4 hours of sleep, tossing and turning the rest of the night, then falling asleep as soon as my husband gets home. It helps keep me from drinking coffee in the afternoon when I drink that Emergen-C with lunch so it helps with my insomnia too.

I'm sorry to hear. I've been there, I think. Constantly fatigued, all the time, for at least a year. I never felt mentally clear, ever. I was sleeping 8-10 hours every night and still needing a 1+ hr nap every single day. It was horrendous.

I felt so, so shitty about myself. I'd been trained to think that if you couldn't do something, it's because you're lazy. I felt ashamed and guilty constantly, which definitely compounded the fatigue.

What helped was my counselor who was so empathetic to my fatigue, and validated that I wasn't lazy, if I was tired then I was tired. You can't change feeling tired. And there's a good reason for it, because if there wasn't, then you wouldn't feel tired!

You deserve so much compassion and kindness in handling this. Chronic fatigue is hard to manage for anyone, let alone someone with CPTSD. It sounds like you're really suffering and that always deserves compassion.

I eventually realized that my sleep, although it was 8-10 hours, involved multiple nightmares every night, including waking up drenched in sweat and with massive adrenaline. That was probably a huge factor. I started taking prazosin and that massively helped reduce my nightmare wakings.

I'll also suggest seeing a psychiatrist potentially? I did and was diagnosed with ADHD and started medication for it and it is night and day. I don't need to nap now, I can feel refreshed when I wake up. I have mental clarity. That won't be the case for everyone, of course, but a psychiatrist can help rule out anything else.

Hey there, check out the low histamine diet. It's been a game changer for me. Coffee and tea are one of the baddies.

I really empathise with the negative self-talk of being lazy or useless if you need more rest, but you know it’s nonsense right?

If you were recovering from cancer, nobody would expect you to maintain your work and activity schedule, because you would quite rightfully be shattered. Same thing here. You’re recovering from something which is if anything more pervasive to your system than cancer, and you are allowed to rest.

36F here! Your post was super validating to read and I'm honestly surprised I don't see more of this discussed on this sub. I'm also slim and in a healthy weight range so everyone just assumes I am fine. Blood pressure is always healthy.

I've had chronic fatigue all my life...since at least middle school. I hated gym class and sports because exercise never energized me but wiped me out. My parents didn't seem to notice and attributed my dark under eye circles as genetic.

I quit coffee at 24 and now I am noticing even a little chocolate in the morning gives a huge boost to my waking anxiety the next day. Alas I am addicted to chocolate so it's a day to day struggle to not eat it.

I've never been addicted to alcohol but slowly tapered off it for several years. I had 1 drink this year and no intentions of resuming.

Tomorrow I am going for a follow up appointment with an integrative medicine doctor. We're going to review a saliva cortisol test. She thinks I have severe adrenal fatigue and I do too. Apparently adrenal fatigue isn't considered a real condition by the traditional medicine community so don't know how much help a regular doctor would be on this.

I've been super health conscious as an adult and the one thing I didn't take seriously was stress management. I beat myself up about not being able to handle a "normal level" of stress instead of just saying "well that's all you can handle and so we will work with that and slowly build your strength."

It wasn't until I went No Contact with my mother earlier this year that I realized the chronic fatigue was something that warranted care and attention. I had totally internalized the beliefs that:

a) that's just who I am and

b) I'm lazy and not trying hard enough based on my parent's neglect and blame around my fatigue.

When I can manage to cut out sugar (eeeeespecially chocolate) I notice a drop in my anxiety the next day.

I read the book Tired But Wired by Ramlakhan and it had a lot of great tips for someone who already did a TON for better sleep hygiene. Black out curtains in the bedroom and a wake up light instead of alarm have been staples of mine for years.

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3 days ago I started meditating seriously again. I do it 30 min 3 times a day and yesterday I slept through the night for the first time in months! I usually wake up in a panic at 4 am so this was a major victory.

I also notice in just 3 days the meditating is making me calmer and less irritable and judgemental.

My sits aren't super deep and I am easily distracted by thoughts but I think back to a conversation I had with a very trauma informed therapist that does somatic body work. He said that if you are in real danger (e.g. a bear chasing you and you're running for your life) you must focus all your energy on escaping the danger. If you are having an emotional flashback to being in danger and you suddenly stop and smell a rose, your body realizes the danger isn't real...you would never smell a flower when a bear was coming after you. So for me I think meditation is the equivalent of smelling the rose. It's telling my body and nervous system that I am safe and there is no immediate threat and it's helping retrain me to calm down.

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This comment got a bit long and rambly! It's literally my main focus right now though so I am happy to share what I am learning with another! I hope you get the peace and energy and vitality back too! We're too fucking young to be so tired and haggard like this!!!!

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