Fatigue?

Hi there,
First of all, I'm new to this site and to this forum, though I am excited to have found it.

My question is: Does anybody here experience intense and chronic fatigue all the time? At first I was diagnosed with BP, now it's schizoaffective disorder with bipolar depression. I get fatigued on a daily basis, though sometimes it passes and I feel fine, only to have it inevitably return the next day. I am curious if BPers suffer from this terrible exhaustion too ... or if this symptom is related to my 2nd diagnosis, the schizoaffective disorder...?

My pdoc has no idea what is causing my fatigue, which I've had for years. She thinks it may be a symptom of the schizo part of my diagnosis, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. With meds, I don't experience hallucinations or anything, though sometimes I have delusional thinking.

Please tell me if you do have really bad fatigue. I feel so alone with this symptom!

I too experience Chronic Fatigue. My doctors think it is due the all the stress I have been under for years, wearing my body down. It is mostly due to the PTSD though so I am not sure about its link with other disorders. With the PTSD my body has been in 'fight or flight' mode, producing adrenaline for too long without respite. There is a theory that this fatigues the body and leaves too many chemicals in our system than wears a body down. Stress is the main cause so reducing stress as much as possible is the key to reducing this type of fatigue. Since I have been able to reduce my stress, and paced my activities to what I can manage without exhausting myself each day I have begun to feel better and have more energy. I hope that makes sense.

I also deal with Chronic Fatigue. The only times I hadn't was when I was on Provigil or Ritalin. If your pdoc is okay with something like that it may help you a lot. I know it really helped me.

could be the strong dose of seroquel??

I also suffer from chronic fatige. Probably from the chronic stress i experience although at times that i didnt have stress i also had it.
I tried to fight it by going to the gym but that exhausted me even more. Dont know what do fo. I hope youll find something that helps.
Take care!

I have chronic fatigue , I have Bipolar I and Fibro. They feed off each other in my case.

You are on a pretty steep dose of Seroquel and then Klonopin and a dash of Effexor to top things off , that's a chemical mixture that kind of all fight against each other, So your medications could be a possible part of the issue . Are you able to get regular exercise? I know who wants to exercise when they are tired right? but it does help.

Side note .. when was the last time you had a full physical exam with blood testing? Thyroid and hormones can easily make you exhausted. Request getting your Vitamin D levels checked also.

How are your sleeping habits? good sleep hygiene? as in go to bed at ____ and get up at _____ every day , even on days off. Some people need 11 hours some people need 5 or 6 a night everyone is different.

Welcome to PC

Hi Sima. I read all the responses & especially liked Christina's. All really good suggestions.

The reason I decided to respond to your post is that I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome several years ago. I now have mood problems and some other health problems, but one of the things that particularly points to chronic fatigue syndrome is exercise intolerance.

I don't know if you do any kind of exercise regularly. If you do and don't have negative effects from it, then this probably doesn't apply to you.

Most people with chronic fatigue syndrome get delayed bad effects after exercise. You can do a weight-lifting routine one day and feel somewhat tired, but then the following day you'll crash and feel kind of achy and flu-ish. Nothing but rest seems to get rid of that feeling.

You mention that your pdoc doesn't know what's causing your fatigue. Maybe you can get a regular doc to check out some blood levels for you and see if they have any ideas.

If you go to a doctor and tell them you are fatigued, you usually have to be emphatic about it and give them specific examples of what you can't or don't do because of the fatigue.

Fatigue is such a common symptom and it varies from "kinda tired" to "this is ruining my life".

I hope you get some answers.

I take 100 mg of Seroquel and it puts me on my *****.
If I have to get up early to do stuff, I don't even take it the night before. I'm not suggesting you skip your meds, I'm just saying that's some potent stuff.

Absolutely. I was always more tired than my peers in middle and high school, never tried out for sports or wanted to go out and do much. At 18 I went to several doctors for tests and was finally referred to psychiatry when everything came out normal.

Still suffering from chronic fatigue at 42. Diagnosed Bipolar 2.

I have two children and I have been catching myself from falling asleep while playing with legos and pet shops for years. Even before my children, I've always had fatigue problems.

I went to the doctor about it a month ago and he told me it was probably depression but I have been on meds before and I'm at the point where I don't want to go back if I don't have too..... Yet.

Anyways

Intermittent fasting. I've been doing for about 3 weeks and I feel awake all through the day. I have found when I over eat or just have normal size meal, within an hour I want to go to sleep. Made me rethink about food timing.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with chronic fatigue. I really appreciated hearing from you. Given all the responses, though, I'd like to address each of you with my comments, if that's ok.

To Wander I'd say it does make sense that stress could be a factor, as I am always stressed out no matter how much or little I do. I haven't had PTSD, but maybe something similar is going on with me, with stress out of whack and intense.

bpenniman: I've never heard of using Ritalin (or Provigil) for this purpose, though I doubt my pdoc would consider adding it as she feels I'm already on enough meds as it is. But I'll certainly inquire about it, thanks for the suggestion!

Gray Rider, Disorder7 and Christina: I neglected to mention that the horrible fatigue pre-dated my use of psych meds -- I refused treatment for the first four years of my illness. What's really astounding is that anti-psychotic meds are the only thing that improve my fatigue condition. Without them (I've been noncompliant a few times in the past), I'm so exhausted that I can barely get out of bed... or shower.... One time, I lost 45 pounds (from 125 lbs) because I couldn't feed myself. I was on the bed for months eating only corn chips and chocolate (my estranged husband would bring them in)... and I developed bedsores and couldn't shower for four months -- all because of the fatigue!

Anyway, the anti-psychotic meds at least get me out of bed, so I'm able to dress, feed myself, shop for groceries,,, the basic stuff. Seroquel in fact has helped the most... it just doesn't completely get rid of the fatigue, unfortunately.

To pearlys and jo_thorne: I am able to exercise quite a bit, actually, with walks, an active style of yoga, and indoor cycling every day. I feel better when I exercise, so I guess it's not Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The fatigue hits when I feel stressed out or anxious or upset and seems to be connected with my emotions, getting worse when something emotionally upsetting occurs (like after my cats died last year and I just collapsed for months).

To Christina: Yes, I've had full physical checkups -- they tested my thyroid, pituitary gland (to assess cortisol levels) , iron levels and Vitamin D levels. Everything was fine there, though your suggestions would seem to make sense.

violet66: I just want to say that I'm sorry you still have the chronic fatigue after so many years... I can totally relate.

Butternut: I just wonder if your falling asleep in the daytime could be related to a sleep disorder, like sleep apnea or something...? Just putting the idea out there.... :-) I appreciate your sharing.

Well, I think I've responded in an unconventional way. I hope it's ok to do this? I don't know how to incorporate your previous quotes in this post. But thanks again for all of your comments! I remain hopeful that something will work to reduce the fatigue for each of us. :-)

I'm tired all the time. Could be my sleeping schedule, could be the bipolar, or anything else! I struggle waking up in the mornings regardless of how much sleep I have. I struggle more with motivation throughout the day.

I take 200mg of Seroquel and it knocks me out. It is not the reason I'm crappy in the morning because I was before I started meds, However 800 is a lot and could be a contributing factor.

I hope things get better!

Sorry! I didn't see your comment about the meds until after I had posted my comment!

Violet, are you anemic? Maybe iron supplements would help you out if you are.

I see that you are on effexor... I have a long history of being prescribed every SSRI or SNRI prior to getting the correct dx of bipolar... man, what those serotonin inhibitors can do to me... they were almost always used in conjuction with another med, but the common theme was the serotonin... if I was depressed, I would be virtually incapacitated and overwhelmed by every day life. I wouldn't even take care of my hygiene... I was just sooooo tired. Conversely, if I happened to be in a good mood, I would float into hypomania and mania.

I'm not saying that this is your issue, but it is my anecdotal theory.

Oh, and anemia and lack of vitamin d can really deplete any desire to do anything. Once again, anecdotal..

Sima,

It's good that you exercise. I couldn't help but notice that two of the types of exercise you do are ones that lots of people with CFS/ME can tolerate once they're in the "chronic" stage of the illness.

I don't know about the cycling. I used to several types of sports/exercise that made my heart rate go up high, and those are the ones that I can't tolerate anymore. It seems like as long as my heart rate doesn't go over about 130 while I'm exercising and I don't do too much, that I don't get the next day "crash".

I don't know how fast you cycle.

There are types of mitochondrial dysfunction that people can get. I don't know that much about it. Some people with CFS/ME have mitochondrial dysfunction and some people have mitochondrial dysfunction that is a different type of illness. You occasionally hear of former Olympic athletes being diagnosed with it.

I hope that you are able to find out what it is and get some help for it.

No, I've been tested. My energy seems ok when I'm hypomanic so I suspect it is depression related.

Interesting... I'll look into that, thank you! Its normally only when I've been sitting for longer then 10 minutes, but I see my doctor this month. Thanks

manicbeara013,
Wow, you sure had a terrible reaction to the serotonin inhibitors -- I've never heard that they could actually cause fatigue. In my case, I just started the Effexor in January (was off the ADs for about a month)... and it took care of my panic attacks that I was getting since September. The AD's don't tend to make me exhausted.

Oddly, it's the anti-psychotics that seem to help relieve the fatigue best... just not well enough for me to pursue goals or accomplish anything. My pdoc won't prescribe more than one anti-psychotic at a time and says that there's nothing that can be done about the fatigue. All the physical causes have been checked out -- no problem there. So it remains a mystery that can't be solved, though I will inquire about Ritalin and see what my pdoc says about that.

Thanks all for your replies. It's helpful at least to hear everyone's thoughtful comments and I don't feel so alone. :-))