Exhaustion?

I wasn't entirely sure which forum to place this one in so uh, I hope this is okay!

I feel like there was a topic about this but I don't know if it was on this site or not so uh sorry if there is a double up!

I'm almost too tired to write this ahaha.

Okay, so I have been back at uni for two weeks, and I am already so goddamn tired. I'm not too surprised because I find uni exhausting normally, but it usually isn't until mid-way through the semester. I think it might be the shock of going from sleeping in a lot throughout the holidays and spending most of my time by myself to socialising nearly constantly all day 4-5 days a week, and waking up early and being out until the evening on nearly all those days.

But I have never felt this exhausted before? I did start getting more and more exhausted last year as the year progressed, and I was so goddamn glad when the holidays started because finally, I can rest! But now I'm back at it and BAM exhaustion!

Like, I can barely keep myself focused in class or at work (my job is notetaking for other people at uni), and when I get home I basically collapse on my bed and I can't get myself focused or energised enough to do my homework or assignments, and I can barely drag myself into the shower or make myself food. My friends have all been commenting that I look tired, and one even made me go home when we were supposed to work on a group assignment because I kept not understanding what people were saying and getting confused and she could tell that I needed to rest.

I don't think this is depression (since I am sure someone will suggest it), because I have been depressed before, and this is not it. I want to do things, I am very much interested in life and my friends and uni and my job and my hobbies etc., but I just feel too exhausted to be able to do them, and it's frustrating and terrifying me.

Even today, my partner came over and literally all we did was drink a lot of tea and play video games, and we decided to walk to a nearby bakery to get some stuff to eat, and it was literally like no more than 10 minutes to walk there and back, and just that exhausted me to the point where I was having trouble focusing on stuff and processing what my partner was saying to me, and remembering how to do things. I'm still exhausted now! Like, why? I literally have not done anything that should make me feel this exhausted.

I've been taking melatonin because I cannot sleep very well, and that helps me actually fall and stay asleep, and I do wake up in the mornings feeling like more of a functional human being than I normally do, so it seems unlikely that it's related to sleep (aside from me not getting enough of it because of waking up early and me not going to bed early enough because I'm an idiot) but I could be wrong!

I'm not sure if it's related to being autistic? I've always had less energy than those around me and I've read in various places that that's common in autistic people, and I think that getting fatigued more easily is a thing. I've been having more trouble parsing speech and words, and talking to people is tiring me out even more than normal, and I'm having a harder time remembering things than I normally do. But that could all just be caused by whatever is making me feel so exhausted.

And it could also be a physical thing? I just don't know what's going on! I could also be coming down with an illness too, I guess? I should probably talk to my doctor, it could also be iron deficiency or an adrenal problem, possibly. (This is going to involve a blood test, isn't it? Urgh.)

Does anyone have any idea what the fuck is happening? Because I would like it to stop happening, I have shit to do.

 

I hate blood tests =.= Oh well.

I don't feel like I'm going to faint, I just feel really, really tired like my body is heavy and it's hard to think properly or move and I just want to sleep forever. Well it's not healthy, whatever it is .-. I better get my ass to the doctor.

 

This sounds a lot like what I felt like when I was anaemic. I was also depressed and burnt out at the time, but anaemia plus possible burnout? That would be my guess.

If it is anaemia, it's a relatively easy fix (depending on the cause) but it might take a while before you really feel well again. The upside is that you'll notice yourself starting to feel better pretty soon after beginning treatment and it's all an upwards slope.

Yeah, definitely get a blood test though.

 

I'd also recommend checking your a1c level (also blood test sorry) could be a low or high blood sugar thing (but I may be biased since I'm diabetic), blood sugar can often affect moods and sleep schedules so it doesn't hurt to cover your bases and check that out too.

 

Anemia, B12, and D deficiencies can all present like this. Depression can as well since I know mine doesn't start as disinterest that comes after I'm exhausted for a while so it is still possible. Sadly for exhaustion the tests are all pretty much blood tests. Vitamin levels and sugar tolerance levels are pretty common alongside adrenal and thyroid. Do you have any digestive issues? When my celiac disease is active and I'm malnourished it tends to present this way.