Every so often, for no apparent reason, I’ll feel draggy and run down for a few days. No head cold. No stomach upset. No sleep disturbances, changes in diet, or unusual activities. I just feel like I’m hungover (without having had the fun of getting drunk).
So the question is, why do I feel this way? I do have multiple metabolic disorders (thyroid, B12 absorption, insulin resistance) but I feel they’re all well under control. Is it possible there are germs that don’t cause other explicit symptoms, but fighting them off wears you out anyway?
I had something like that happen to me about 15 years ago. I felt highly run-down and vaguely, slightly feverish, and it lasted for about 6 months! All the King’s doctors and all the King’s men couldn’t get me feeling healthy again. And nobody knew why. They seemed to think it was probably some virus or other, but none of them seemed very interested in trying very hard to figure out what it was.
I had a bout of that a few years back. I’m a super high energy person, so this was incredibly unlike me. They tested me for all kinds of things - mono, diabetes, heart issues, etc. After the third week, I started to complain that my mouth was burning. The sensation was very much like you’d just eaten something hot in both temperature and spiciness and couldn’t clear your mouth of it. Drinking water only made it worse. As soon as I said that, my doctor knew what it is - a Vitamin B12 deficiency. Gave me a supplement and in about 1 week I was back to normal.
Since you have a history of issues with B12, you might want to ask about that. It might not be as under control as you think.
Yes. poor oxygenation for whatever reason wears you out. Could be thick blood, could be thin blood, could be blocked arteries, could be damaged heart – or could be simple bacterial pnemonia. But the “few days” isn’t something I’m familiar with: all the things I listed are typically diagnosed when you’ve been draggy and run down for a few months.
When you say “a few days” with no other symptoms, I’m thinking not enough food, not enough water, or other metobolic disorders.
Not enough water is certainly a possibility. Though I always down a big insulated glass of it between bedtime and wakeup, there are days when I never drink any straight water in between.
Minor TMI, but if I recall correctly, aren’t you a woman of childbearing age? (And please forgive me if my crummy memory fails me. Again.) Could you be borderline anemic? I am, and I notice that draggy feeling every now and then, usually beginning about midway through a heavy period. (I take a multi vitamin with iron every day anyway, but that isn’t always enough to keep ahead of monthly loss. Pretty simple solution for me, though: I add a couple of iron-rich/fortified food servings at that point.)
I am indeed a woman of childbearing age. I’ve had iron tests in years past, and they came out fine. I also carry two hemochromatosis mutations … does that mean I can’t be anemic?
No idea! (But my first instinct is that being a carrier doesn’t mean that you have hemochromatosis yourself, just that your children would have a higher risk. But it’s a long time since I took a biology class!)
There are two different hemo. mutations that occur at the same location. I have one of each. So I have no properly functioning version of whatever protein that gene makes, therefore I technically “have” hemochromatosis, though I’m too young to be symptomatic. I understand that having one of each version, rather than two of one or the other, also makes a person less likely to *ever *be symptomatic.
I had hoped that was a free pass on anemia, but who knows. We recently moved and I need to get set up with a new doctor. I’ll mention it at the first appointment.