Everything you need to know about dealing with fatigue

Oh God, I’m Tired! Before I was pregnant, I think I was lucky enough to not really know the definition of fatigue.

I thought I did. With Crohn’s, I have definitely had days when I’ve felt exhausted-especially when I first started Humira.

But now, I feel like I understand what it’s like more than ever! Because fatigue is not being tired when you didn’t get enough sleep last night or had a busy weekend. It’s a feeling that hangs over you, doesn’t shift and a constant state of exhaustion. Whether you have had 1 hours sleep or 11 hours, you just feel completely drained. Am I right?

It’s a feeling that seems to consume you at times (I find myself going ‘I’m just so tired’ on loop) and can also make you feel you ‘foggy’ (in other words, confused and not really with it-for more info, read my blog post on brain fog)

However, I am aware that whilst what I am dealing with is more likely to be related to my third trimester of pregnancy, many of my readers suffer from chronic fatigue (whether as part as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or a symptom of another condition) on a daily basis and in an even more debilitating form.

So today I thought I’d share some practical tips for managing with fatigue that might be useful.

Understand how fatigue can be linked to your gut (even if you really don’t think it is)

When we think of fatigue, we tend to separate it from our digestion-but it’s worth noting the two are often closely linked. For example, even when their illness is remission, many people with IBD and coeliac disease still complain of fatigue.

Interestingly,  recent research analyzed the poo of CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) patients in two groups: both those who also had IBS and those who didn’t- and in both groups found a marked difference in their gut bacteria-with clear bacteria deficiencies and overgrowths of some kinds in both groups. 

The type of bacteria imbalance was different for both groups, which not only suggests that fatigue might be linked to our gut bacteria but even if you don’t class yourself as having something like IBS, your fatigue could still somehow be linked to what is happening in your gut and the microbiome. 

It’s becoming easier to test your gut bacteria now-and I’ve personally blogged about the Atlas Microbiome Testing Kit and Thyrve Gut Bacteria Testing Kit. 

They are not as expensive as they used to be and it really could be worth giving a try to see if it helps pinpoint anything in your gut bacteria that could be worsening fatigue.

You might also consider increasing your amount of fermented foods (such as sauerkraut)  or taking a probiotic supplement.

I personally take Symprove-which I’ve reviewed here.

Rule out these nutritional deficiencies…

Fatigue can be such a big indicator of many nutritional deficiencies, so make sure you ask your doctor to check your levels of…

–Vitamin D (this is massively linked to your digestion and its so incredibly common as a deficiency in those with gut issues; more on this here)

-Iron. Obviously anemia is an obvious one-but have you heard of iron deficiency without anemia? I had this a while back-my iron stores were low but weren’t yet at the level to impact my hemoglobin and show as anemia.

You’ll need to ask for your iron stores to be tested rather than just your full count as it’s not done as standard.

-B12.Another common deficiency that can lead you to feel exhausted.

And supplement properly

If you are deficient in any of the above, I’d really recommend liquid-based supplements rather than the regular kind.

If you suffer from any kind of digestive issue, it’s likely you might struggle to properly absorb from regular supplements (and iron tablets can play absolute havoc on your gut); so look into sprays like Better You (you can read a review of their iron spray and get a discount code for them here) or drop form.

In severe cases, push for an injection/infusion from your GP-these are avaliable!

Look into graded exercise therapy

A while ago I worked with a personal trainer to write an article for MTV fit on exercise with chronic fatigue.

When you’re fatigued, exercise is the last thing on your mind so it’s really not helpful for people to say ‘what about a bit of yoga hon?’ Anyway, the article features lots of useful advice (read it here) and one PT explained that graded exercise therapy can be done with a specialist.

There’s a little more about it in here on the NHS site but it looks like a really useful solution to exercising with chronic fatigue syndrome and ME.

Look at how your blood sugar is balanced throughout the day

This is more of a personal recommendation. I’ve noticed my blood sugar levels feel really erratic lately and I know that’s because I’m relying on easy to cook meals and quick sugary things for energy (plus I am massively craving fizzy pop which doesn’t help!).

Your blood sugar levels rise and then drop sharply if you’re not eating regularly and your meals are not containing fibre, fat and protein (all of these slow the release of sugar into your body down). Balanced meals really do help! 

It’s much better to eat a fruit salad than it is a can of fizzy pop as although they both contain sugar-the fibre in the fruit slows the absorption down.

Similarly, you can add fat to things (like an apple crumble with apple, coconut oil or butter would be absorbed much more slowly than some sweets) to help this too!

Consider investigating your cortisol levels

Ages ago I wrote a really in-depth post about how stress affects your digestion. I know we often say ‘you’re stressed’ but it runs much more deeply than that!

Honestly, stress can massively impact your gut and fatigue. It’s all to do with how much cortisol your body releases when stressed and I really can’t be bothered to type it all out again (lol); so go read the post or have a look at this handy graph.

Basically if you’re in a constant state of stress, you’ll keep releasing cortisol constantly until you run out of it to release (that’s a bit simplified but you get the idea) so you’ll end up looking like graph 3! This is adrenal fatigue and you’ll need to do more research on it but it can explain why you feel so tired constantly-along with other symptoms. There are some companies which test your cortisol levels. Sarah from The Wee Foddie did a great post about how she discovered her cortisol levels were abnormal and how this was linked to her IBS.

Anyway, that’s my guide to what I’ve learnt about fatigue so far. I really do hope its useful and let me know if you have any questions or would like me to expand on anything below!

O