tired?

[~invisible~girl~]

So I slept for like 10 hours on Friday night. Then I woke up at like 2 pm on Saturday, and I still fell asleep at 1 am last night (still in my clothes, with the lights on!), even though I'd only been up for 11 hours. Then I woke up around noon today (so I slept for 11 hours)... and I'm still sleepy!

I did the same thing last weekend - I slept for like 12 hours, and then could only stay away for about 3 hours at a time (even though I'd taken 10 mg of Ritalin, which I'm supposed to take, but normally keeps me awake as a side effect). I attributed that to having taken an overdose of something that's often used as a sleep aid, but that was a week ago now, and the amount I took shouldn't have done permanent damage or anything (people take more than that 'recreationally' all the time, and according to the medical literature, it was less than half the dose at which there starts to be a significant medical risk). And I've been tired all week as well, enough that I've had trouble pay attention in class, and I haven't been able to get any homework done and stuff...

I've noticed that I have some energy at least for like an hour or two after eating, which might be relevant. But it's not like I haven't been eating enough or whatever - it's just like for an hour or two after a meal I usually have enough energy to actually get something done, even though I've been eating probably more than normal.

So, um, wtf?

[Animad]

The fact that you have more energy after a meal makes me wonder whether your blood sugar is low because one of the signs of that is tiredness/ lethargy.

This can be ruled out by a quick blood sugar test at your doctors. Another thing is Anaemia but I wouldn't see that to have any difference with regards to your eating. This is very common especially in girls that have heavy periods/ you cut deeply or often so you lose quite a bit of blood/ you have a poor (such as most student's diets!) or vegetarian diet. If you're worried about this you can try taking Iron supplements at the recommended dose and see if that helps though the results will take a few weeks to be noticeable, may not happen because Anaemia is only one of quite a few possible causes, and they aren't a replacement for a poor diet.

Lack of routine can also lead to tiredness so maybe make sure you get up at the same time every day and do the same sort of things and se if that helps. Take regular breaks and snack regularly so that you always have a fresh supply of energy. Eating banana's may also help as these are a good supply of slow release energy so that you are likely to have energy for longer after you've eaten it than say you eat a bar of chocolate.

Are you in pain anywhere? That can be a cause of tiredness.

Many disorders also start with increased tiredness and it is a sign of both stress and depression. Try to give yourself time to relax from your course and not to let work build up on you if that is possible and try and reduce any commitments that you may have if you are finding things hectic. If you develop any other symptoms or your tiredness doesn't start to improve it may be a good idea to see a doctor.

[~invisible~girl~]

I thought about low blood sugar too cause of the food thing. I've been eating protein bars a lot as snacks, which I think should be fairly slow release energy (actually the people that make them claim are supposed to be a meal replacement, which seems ridiculous considering they're like under 200 calories, but that should be reasonably good snack).

I probably don't get that much iron from my diet cause I'm a vegetarian, but the vitamins I take pretty much every day supposedly have 100% of my daily iron requirement, so if I am anemic, iron supplements wouldn't help. I don't have very heavy periods, and I don't cut deeply at all, so I don't think that blood loss is likely to be an issue.

I'm not in pain or anything. If I had other symptoms, then I probably wouldn't think the tiredness was so weird cause if I was actually sick or whatever then I think being tired would be fairly unremarkable.

[~invisible~girl~]

Oh, and I might go to the doctor if this doesn't get better, but I really don't want to, as I'd presumably need to tell them about the OD, and also that I was taking technically more than the recommended dose of something for a while (I think that was okay because the amount I was taking is the OTC dose in most places, but because the FDA only approved half the dose that's used elsewhere, it would technically still be an overdose since I'm in the US), and the health center will almost certainly call my parents if they find out about that, since I've barely escaped having them call without that. So I really don't want to have to see a doctor if I can possibly avoid it.

[Animad]

You can still be anaemic and Iron Supplements work if you're on ones which are 100%RDA. I'm living proof of that and I'm on prescribed tablets and feeling 100x better even though that may not be anything to do with the anaemia!

Yeah, protein bars will be slow release as they have to be converted from the protein to specific sugars which takes a while and depends on the needs of your body. Though, if they make you feel better it may be worthwhile having them as snacks, see if that helps. Apart from that, I haven't got a clue really.

If you go to the doctors they don't have to tell your parents because you have a right to confidentiality. I've been going to see the doctors for various reasons for the past few years and no-one found out. This even led on to the doctors actually lying to my parents whilst I was in hospital for an op so they didn't find out I was seeing the psych there. As it wasn't a big OD then they have no obligation to tell anyone and you don't have to tell them straight off as that will have all cleared out of your system now and shouldn't have had a lasting effect.

If I was you I'd see how it goes, wait a week, if it gets better then good, it may have just been a blip because of stress or whatever. If it gets worse/ stays the same then consider more about seeing a doctor especially if you see more symptoms. The reason why I asked if you were suffering from any pain was just in case that was the reason for your tiredness rather than a symptom of anything.

I take it you've not started any new medications just before you started feeling more tired that you are still taking now?

[~invisible~girl~]

The health center absolutely will tell my parents, confidentially or no. I just had that conversation with my therapist on Thursday. Basically, I told her I've thought about killing myself (and had the means to do it), and she talked to the director of the heath center, and they decided they had to call my parents (they wanted to after I went to the hospital for an OD at the beginning of the semester), and I only got out of that by agreeing to give my therapist the pills I had, and check in with her by email every day until I next see her. The reason for that is schools have actually been sued by the parents of students that killed themselves because the school knew and didn't tell the students' parents (even though the students were adults and were supposed to be protected by confidentiality), and parents have actually won these lawsuits, so now if college/uni health centers think a student is a significant danger to themselves, they usually do call their parents.

Isn't taking more significantly more than the RDA of iron supposed to be dangerous? According to my vitamin bottle, "Accidental overdose of iron-containing products is a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6." So I'd assume that means that overdosing on iron supplements is probably not a great idea for adults either.

My semester is over in 4 weeks, so I could see a doctor at home at that point, and someone who's not affiliated with my school presumably wouldn't tell my parents anything (provided I can convince my mom that I am in fact too old to go to a pediatrician, even though supposedly they'll keep seeing me until I'm 22 if I want). If nothing changes, is there any reason not to wait that long?

[Animad]

I'm taking over the RDA of Iron because it's prescribed to me, however, if it isn't you shouldn't take over that. There may be a medical reason why I'm anaemic so I'm on Iron tablets. But yeah, it is damaging to take them if you don't need to; thats why I've bought Vit/Min tablets without Iron in so I don't dose myself even further. However, some problems which may not even be diagnosable or whatever can mean that you have Anaemia with even the normal RDA Iron.

No, not yet, it doesn't matter, you can wait longer but if you develop some other symptoms then go earlier. I think it's really bad that they ring your parents with anything because it's not like you're living with them so it's not just like they keep an eye on you! Here they can tell someone you live with if you are a significant danger to yourself which I've been told is actively seeking suicide; there's been discussions about it with me and my doctor as I was worried about my parents finding out everything. Even though I see a doctor at uni who knows about my SI, he can't tell uni unless it gets really bad and has something to do with the course. If you tell them you're wanting to commit suicide and have the means to do it/ a plan I would have thought it would make more sense to tell the people you live with, not your parents that can't do anything about it!

KimA

[~invisible~girl~]

I think part of why they want to tell my parents is that I live on campus, so I guess they're somewhat more responsible for me that if I was living elsewhere or whatever. The school outside the heath center was involved from the start though, cause a few months ago I ODed on something and ended up calling an ambulance, which then since I live on campus, the school legitimately had reason to know about. But it's nothing to do with wanting my parents to watch me (although my therapist really wants to tell my parents before I go home for the summer) - it's just a matter of liability.

Of course, this sort of thing is exactly why doctor-patient confidentiality exists in the first place. I'm supposed to be able to tell my doctor anything that's relevant to treatment without worrying they'll tell someone unless it's absolutely necessary for safety reasons, not because they're worried they could be sued by parents who don't grasp that I'm no longer a minor.

[Animad]

Yeah... It just seem a bit strnage because when I lived on campus in my first year of uni and they only called parents if totally necessary. In fact I don't know of anyones parents being phoned. I had fits in the middle of college and my parents were only contacted when one of my mates took my phone and rang them from the hospital!

By the way, if you are still taking the anti-histamines then it will be worth stopping due to their sedatory action. If you still need anti-histimines you could try a non-drowsy form such as Clarityn.

[~invisible~girl~]

I haven't taken the antihistamine in over a week. And I had to give the bottle of it to my therapist on Thursday as one of the conditions for her not to call my parents, so I don't even have them anymore. But when I did take them a few weeks ago, the point was to help me sleep, so there wouldn't be any reason to take them now anyway, but the non-drowsy ones would kinda defeat the point...

[Animad]

Yeah, I just wondered whether you were taking them for any other reason that's all.