Never ending fatigue

sherye · Newbie Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 5

I have been fighting with never ending fatigue for almost 2 months now. It is funny how I have always considered myself a healthy person, but it seems that fact is not a big deal for menopause. Now I wake up tired even after 10 hours of sleep, I am nervous the entire day and you just might imagine how this affects my family, we engage in fights over trivial things (mostly because of me being jumpy). Should I consider taking some medications?

savina · Newbie Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 6

Well, this is a phase in womans life that will pass, but that does not mean that you have to suffer. Medicaments can help with dealing with symptoms, depression can be beaten. Still, of you do not want to take drugs, perhaps a therapy session might ease your life a bit. Still, I think that meds are the easier way out of trouble. It was for me, at least. I have been offered a hormonal therapy also, but I refused that, I heard it increases risk of cancer.

50_the_new_black · Newbie Joined: 08 Aug 2008 Posts: 12

Hi Sherye,

I too have menopause-induced fatigue, though I notice mine more after eating and in the morning. I used to have so much more energy than I did before it came along and changed my life. In my situation--and it could be true of you--it seems to be adrenals, but there may be a thyroid component there too so I am looking into that as well. I don't know what makes you feel jumpy. It could be adrenaline.

I get an adrenaline peak in the middle of the night--it wakes me and puts me in such a wide-awake state that I can't get back to sleep for hours. This of course has made it impossible for me to have a real job, so I work out of my home--fortunately I can do this.

I have done some reading into this--when estrogen levels drop, the body replaces estrogen with adrenaline, as adrenaline substitutes in as a hormone replacer and is a hormone itself. So some women will get these tremendous surges of adrenaline that will make them feel under attack--sort of a flight or fight response. For instance, when I wake up from the adrenaline rush It's often as if I have had a nightmare where something is going to attack me, but there has been no nightmare. I wake up feeling that flight or fight response. It's a bit crazy making because at first I realize that nothing is wrong and then I begin to wonder if something is wrong with me and then I realize it is adrenaline that is doing this to me. Menopausal women are in a kind of war zone if you will. I often wonder if this is why so many menopausal women start to want to devote themselves to careers. The adrenaline could be driving some of this.

On the other hand many menopausal women just want to retire from everything and sleep. All this extra effort on the part of the adrenal glands can burn them out. They are tiny little glands to begin with and they already have a major role to play in our bodies producing so many of the hormones that run our bodies. Menopause is like the straw that broke the adrenal gland's back for many of us.

If you have any of the following you might want to consider your adrenals as a factor in your tiredness:

Adrenal insufficiency symptoms include: weakness, lack of libido, allergies, dark circles under the eyes, muscle and joint pain, dizziness, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, food and salt cravings, poor sleep, dry skin, cystic breasts, lines of dark pigment in nails, difficulty recuperating from stresses like colds or jet lag, no stamina for confrontation, tendency to startle easily, lowered immune function, anxiety, depression, and premature aging. Some of these symptoms are similar to those of low thyroid.

I got that above information from:

thyroid-info.com/articles/shamesadrenal.htm

I can't tell you what to do about it because I am just learning and reading all about it, but you might want to look into what can help support your adrenals. I would google adrenals to begin with and talk to a doctor and a nutritionist. A friend of mine who is an acupuncturist told me fats play an important role in helping with fatigue. Unfortunately many of us menopausal women, as we notice we are putting on more weight more easily may start to eat less fats, thus contributing to a vicious cycle. There is a book, called The Nutrition Almanac, which is amazing in its scope of the nutritional value of a lot of different foods. I highly recommend it as a resource.

Never ending fatigue

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