<p>My sophomore daughter has been feeling exhausted for the last couple of weeks. She does tend to burn the candle at both ends but since this tiredness has hit her has been going to bed early (as in before midnight) and getting a good amount of sleep every night but it is not easing her tiredness. We drove her to a friend’s wedding in another state this weekend because she is so tired we did not want he driving and she slept through the night after the wedding then about 6 of the 9 hour drive back. She has big black shadows under her eyes. My 1st thought was mono - but she has no fever or swollen glands. Does not feel sick - just really tired. Any thoughts? I am thinking we’ll see how this week goes then have her go to our family Doc Thanksgiving week.</p>
<p>I think at the point where it disrupts her life is the time to seek medical attention. It could be as simple as being anemic which is simple girls that age may easily be. I know it was a problem with me at that age.</p>
<p>I did wonder about that as a possibility. Other than the whole ‘female’ issue she has been going through a not eating red meat thing - in fact poultry is the only meat she will eat (not sure why as she was always a steak lover) but says her vitamins have iron. Hopefully that is what it is. I guess we need to figure out when to get her a Doc appt.</p>
<p>I felt that way for about a month earlier this fall. I’m suspecting some kind of flu or cold or a sequence of them. There was a lot of coughing at work, kids reported others coughing in classes and I just assumed a bad streak of illness combined with the usual demands of life.</p>
<p>Energy levels are back to normal and I find that working out more helps quite a bit.</p>
<p>Maybe sleeping for a day or two, getting some kind of warmer and wetter environment (as opposed to cold and dry), better food, a little exercise may help. College life can be very demanding and illnesses floating around can feel a lot worse with so much work to get done.</p>
<p>Keep in mind we absorb only about 30% of vitamins/minerals from supplements.</p>
<p>If you think the tiredness is suspicious (or at least not normal) for your D, I’d say now.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take much to run the labs. A CBC with diffs can check out some issues.</p>
<p>Lots of young girls who won’t eat red meat get anemic. My son had a girlfriend who was so pale and had such dark circles around her eyes, that I knew immediately she was a vegetarian. Also is she taking enough water with her vitamins? I know it is hard to absorb iron. I tend to be a bit anemic myself, and have taken the liquid iron for better absorption. </p>
<p>I would check on this ASAP. As a mom whose kid was dxed with leukemia, I get jumpy about these things.</p>
<p>I’d say now too and also get her on some heavy duty iron supplements.</p>
<p>She might want to ask her doctor about checking her thyroid function (the tests are not that expensive), that could also be a cause of fatigue.</p>
<p>If thyroid function and anemia are ruled out, she should possibly consider a sleep study, especially if she has any other odd sleep symptoms. I’m due to have one next week, because I’ve also been having problems with excessive tiredness and other sleep-related problems, for a couple of years (and have already had my thyroid function and iron levels tested, to no avail - they were normal).</p>
<p>If you decide to get an iron supplement, ferrous gluconate is best (the brand name I use is Fergon). When my ferritin level was so low that the doctor was amazed that I was still standing, he suggested this, and it worked wonders.</p>
<p>Ditto on her having a blood test and being checked for anemia - especially if she’s had any recent change in diet (like the no red meat change) recently. She also needs to make sure she’s hydrated properly - sometimes a change in schedule or activities can adversely affect this. I suggest she stay off the iron supplements until she can get tested since that’s just in a week so that the test can yield valid results.</p>
<p>Adrenal gland exhaustion may also be a factor. Most traditional MDs do not believe in this condition - some do - you can find info on line.</p>
<p>The adrenals help the body regulate stress - lack of sleep, high stress, etc. can all affect the adrenal glands. One of the signs of adrenal exhaustion is sleeping for many hours (8+) and then still feeling exhausted.</p>
<p>Good luck in finding the right answer for your D.</p>
<p>This has been happening to me lately and I even have been taking huge naps getting a lot more than 8 hours a sleep daily rather than what I used to get, around 6-7. Im hoping it will pass, if not then I will get it checked out, some days its worse than others.</p>
<p>Amazingly enough I searched Google Books for “adrenal gland exhaustion” and found 57 books popped up. This condition appears to be receiving some notice at long last.</p>
<p>I love Google Books!</p>
<p>do check it out. My D just did-- turns out her thyroid was way off. I wish we had looked into it sooner.</p>
<p>When I was a vegetarian teen, was told to cook in cast iron, especially things like chili, tomato sauces which cause a little more iron to go into the food. Very easily to assimilate, unlike iron supplements. </p>
<p>But yes, check it out medically.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom - not to be rude or anything, but my first symptom of pregnancy was extreme tiredness. And I slept all the time. No N/V at all, just no energy.
Don’t know about the dark circles - I hope I was glowing :)</p>
<p>Do something ASAP. It probably isn’t serious, but it be very, very, VERY serious.</p>
<p>I get anemic from time to time and was told that even when you start taking iron supplements, it takes several days to weeks for the iron to increase. So if you choose that route, give it a few days.</p>
<p>When I’m anemic, I get ALL the symptoms… restless legs, getting winded when climbing a flight of stairs, pica (eating ice), etc. It became easy for me to diagnose once I recognized the pattern.</p>