Re: Help with fatigue

NewShinyCDMember

It's been a little over one year with my jpouch, and so far so good. Well almost.

One thing that I've been having trouble with is fatigue. And it seems to have been getting steadily worse. February of last year I went to my GP and he did a blood test for iron, vitamin D, thyroid, B12, and a bunch of other stuff (I'm still iffy about the results because the blood was drawn in the afternoon after I had already been active for most of the day and ate). Everything came up fine except vitamin D. So I starting taking supplements. Felt a little better but still had some fatigue but I decided to ignore it.

Fast forward to March of this year. I started doing the C25K program with my wife. Felt good. Some days I felt perfectly normal and other days I had some fatigue.
I got up to week 7 and was able to run 2 miles without stopping and only had two more weeks of C25K. I ended up hurting my leg so I had to take a break before I started running. That was three weeks ago and ever since then my energy levels have been going to crap.

I've been having more headaches/brain fog, what seems to be slight vertigo, I can't concentrate at work or with anything really, and I don't have energy to do anything.

My diet hasn't changed. In fact, I've been eating better since my wife wanted to eat healthier to lose weight. I definately make sure to drink plenty of water. I take a multivitamin and vitamin D. I don't think it is pouchitis because I haven't had any pain or frequency issues.
Edit: I forgot to mention, in the past year since my j-pouch I haven't gained or lost weight despite working out and eating a surplus of calories. So I'm not sure if that is good or bad...

I'm kinda getting frustrated because it's affecting my ability to work and do normal stuff. I would schedule an appointment with my GP, but he doesn't know a lot about j-pouches which I think it has something to do with the fatigue. Does GI doctors deal with this type of problem?

6/19/132:21 PM

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dgtracyMember

i guess my question is if there is a better time of day to have your blood drawn...do levels become altered as quickly as soon after eating..or having an active day vs sitting on the couch till appt time..I would be interested in this as well, though my j pouch isnt that old at all i end up being tired alot right now..could be because of not sleeping like i would like though.

6/19/132:34 PM

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Jan DollarModerator, RN, retired

Sounds like your fatigue improved with more activity, so I wonder if that is your key. I know that with my enteropathic arthritis, the more active I am, the more energy I have and less pain I have. You do not have to run to exercise.

If your labs have checked out fine, other than the vitamin D (which is becoming an epidemic of sorts in regard to deficiencies), then I don't think you can blame it on diet, at least in regard to deficiency. I would still take the vitamin D, and have that rechecked in a few months. Turns out I need to take 4-5000 IU per day to stay in the normal range. So, don't assume 1000 IU is going to do it for you. For me though, it did not help in the fatigue/pain department.

Reducing carbs improved my energy levels too. But, I do have type 2 diabetes (diet and exercise control). Still, you could easily have prediabetes or even just carbohydrate metabolism disturbance that is not diagnostic. This may or may not be related to your j-pouch, as it is common in the general population.

The main thing is that if you do not do follow up lab work, the initial lab work is fairly meaningless. Plus, you really need to do fasting labs to get a good baseline. So I suppose you did not have fasting glucose or a lipid panel done. Those labs that you mentioned do not matter if you are fasting or the the time of day.

Other common causes of chronic fatigue are Epstein-Barr virus, mono, that sort of thing. I presume your GP did liver and kidney screening labs, but those did not need to be fasting. If he did a HbA1c, that would check your average blood glucose, and that does not need to be fasting either.

The final thing to think about is chronic depression, as that can cause the symptoms you describe. You do not need to be sad to be depressed, and it can be a real drag on everything you do. It sneaks up on many of us. Sometimes just realizing it can be the problem will lift some of the "fog."

Hope that helps some. It can be a real pain sorting these things out.

Jan

6/19/132:37 PM

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