Anybody else suffering from extreme fatigue and/or chronic diarrhea?

I struggle with this same issue. 

Jan

I can't offer anything helpful, but I wanted you to know I'm thinking about you and hoping you feel better. My fatigue issues are for different reasons than yours, but I certainly understand the frustration and worry.

Hugs & Love, 

Alicia

Hi Eldri, 

Sorry to hear about your extreme fatigue and other symptoms.  I'm wondering whether your GP has tested your B12 level.  Many of the symptoms you report are associated with a B12 deficiency.  The following is from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-can-be-sneaky-harmful-201301105780

Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency symptoms

Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency can be slow to develop, causing symptoms to appear gradually and intensify over time. It can also come on relatively quickly. Given the array of symptoms a vitamin B₁₂ deficiency can cause, the condition can be overlooked or confused with something else. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency symptoms may include:

• strange sensations, numbness, or tingling in the hands, legs, or feet
• difficulty walking (staggering, balance problems)
• anemia
• a swollen, inflamed tongue
• difficulty thinking and reasoning (cognitive difficulties), or memory loss
• weakness
• fatigue

Also, in addition to diarrhea, a B12 deficiency is a potential side effect of Metformin.  See:  https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/metformin-side-effects

which states:

Vitamin B12 deficiency

A lack of this B vitamin can happen to anyone, but the risk is higher on metformin, especially over time.

Since you've been on Metformin for a while now, and your symptoms appear to be getting worse, if you haven't already ruled out a B12 deficiency, you may want to look into whether that may be causing or contributing to your issues. 

Good luck in getting to the bottom of things and feeling better soon!

TeddyandBears_Mom said:

Eldri, I started taking a

Eldri, I started taking a statin for the first time 4 months ago. I have experienced fatigue and muscle pain since about day 4. I don't know if you are on a statin, but wanted to mention this to you. I'm waiting for a call back from my GP because I don't plan to live like this forever. I'm looking for an alternative to the statin drugs. My high cholesterol is hereditary and they tell me no amount of diet and exercise will bring it down. UGH! Anyway, I hope you find out what is causing your fatigue and that you find relief soon.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

Cindi,

When you use a statin, it is important to take a CoQ10 supplement as well.  It is an enzyme vital to the production of energy in the body.
Statins cause your body to not absorb CoQ10, just like metformin prevents the absorption of Vitamin B12. This could very well
be the reason for your fatigue-statins are also known to cause muscle pain.

I had always had high cholesterol but never took a statin drug- I use the supplement Choleast by Thorne, which is made from
red yeast rice (which acts like a statin), which was recommended to me by my integrative oncologist.  You may want to try this
option instead of a statin or just start taking a CoQ10 supplement with your statin.  You can purchase the Choleast at www.thorne.com.

You can speak with your doctor about these supplement options.

Our body depends on  vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins and other factors so that everything functions properly- that is why
supplementation is so important to make sure we have adequate levels of these key building blocks of our cells.

Takingcontrol58

EZLiving66 said:

Thanks, ladies, I really

Thanks, ladies, I really appreciate all your advice. I've gone off the metformin for a month in the past to see if it made a difference - I'm on the slow-release, 2000 mg. a day - and it didn't get any better or worse. I take 5000 mcg. of liquid B-12 every night on the advice of my doctor and I think it has helped with the pain of neuropathy. I also don't take any statins - my cholesterol has always been good except when I was on chemo. I think the chemo destroyed part of my stomach lining as I've had problems with esophageal erosion since the chemo. Once when I was hospitalized with esophagus problems, my nurse asked if I've always had such extreme diarrhea - LOL! And, you'd think I'd be skinny as a stick, but NOOOOOOOO!!! I can pretty much eat anything I want and I don't gain weight but I don't lose it either. 

One of the things I have noticed but this has been my whole life is I'm better in the evening. The diarrhea is better and so is the fatigue. I had a job when the kids were little proofreading environmental health reports in the evening. I did it so we didn't have to get a babysitter. I could tell that was the natural rhythm of my life but unfortunately, most of the world doesn't operate that way.

I'll let you know next week when I see my doctor if my labs tomorrow show anything abnormal.

Love,

Eldri

 

Eldri, I can't offer any specific advice about fatigue since for me, fatigue has always been tied to how well (or not) I'm sleeping, except during chemo when the drugs wore me out. Others have made some good suggestions. I hope you and your doctor can pinpoint what's causing your fatigue.

But I've always had trouble sleeping, dating back to high school. The only time in my adult life when I slept well and wasn't tired during the day was when I went back to school full-time for a year.

I found then that my natural sleep pattern was to stay awake much later than I normally did and then wake up later in the morning. I felt great that entire year and also managed to lose a lot of weight after I had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes during that time. But as soon as I went back to work full-time, I had to abandon that schedule and revert to the "usual" bedtime/wake up times. And I often struggled with days where I lacked the energy to do even simple tasks, although project deadlines usually forced me to keep going.

However, now that I'm mostly retired, I've let my natural sleep pattern emerge again and I'm having very few days where I lack energy or feel tired during the day.

So based on your past experience with an "atypical" sleep schedule, can you adjust some of your daily activities to better fit your preferred sleep cycle? For myself, I just don't schedule calls or appointments in the morning anymore unless I just can't avoid it. 

Eldri, I'm sorry you're going through this. It sounds rough and like your body is just getting worn out by everything.

This is a long shot, and maybe you've already gone down this avenue, but have you ever had food allergy testing? About 20 years ago I had developed asthma that wasn't getting better with medication and looked like it was on a trajectory for getting worse. I was also not sleeping well and feeling fatigued all the time. After exhausting traditional medical routes, I finally found my way to a naturopath who ordered food allergy testing for me. Not all doctors believe this testing is "real" and poo poo it. My results came back showing me to be highly sensitive to a number of foods I ate all the time. I cut them from my diet completely for 6 months (difficult cooking for 6 months, since it was such a long list of potential problem foods) and then slowly re-introduced them, one by one. Most didn't seem to bother me, but about 5 foods that were a constant part of my diet (bananas, eggs, etc) immediately made me feel exhausted or bothered my airways. I cut those foods out and my asthma pretty much disappeared, along with the fatigue problem. Today, I do eat bananas and eggs again, but I am very cautious about how many I eat in a week. I need no asthma meds.

The whole experience taught me a lot about the ways the foods we eat influence inflammation, fatigue, and other chronic problems we face.

Big hug,
Tamlen

takingcontrol58 said:

TeddyandBears Fatigue

Cindi,

When you use a statin, it is important to take a CoQ10 supplement as well.  It is an enzyme vital to the production of energy in the body.
Statins cause your body to not absorb CoQ10, just like metformin prevents the absorption of Vitamin B12. This could very well
be the reason for your fatigue-statins are also known to cause muscle pain.

I had always had high cholesterol but never took a statin drug- I use the supplement Choleast by Thorne, which is made from
red yeast rice (which acts like a statin), which was recommended to me by my integrative oncologist.  You may want to try this
option instead of a statin or just start taking a CoQ10 supplement with your statin.  You can purchase the Choleast at www.thorne.com.

You can speak with your doctor about these supplement options.

Our body depends on  vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins and other factors so that everything functions properly- that is why
supplementation is so important to make sure we have adequate levels of these key building blocks of our cells.

Takingcontrol58

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for this information Takingcontrol58. It is very helpful. I actually left a message for my doctor 2 days ago and still have not gotten a call back. I left her one 3 weeks ago too and never received one.... Time to find a new GP. I started using CoQ10 a couple of weeks ago. It did help some with the fatigue and surprisingly got rid of the constant headache. But, didn't help the muscle and joint pain at all.  I made the decision last night to stop taking the statin. I'm hoping that the side effects will all resolve soon since I have only been on it for, 4 months. Really appreciate the information on an alternative to the statin. I'm going to order the Choleast today!

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

Have you been checking your oxygen levels at rest and then when you are up and moving around? If your level drops too much then that could be why you need to take a rest after exertion.