posted
My metabolism is starting to worry me. While it keeps me enviably thin (my bones even show a bit), I am finding it hard to get through the days. I burn fuel as quickly as I can get it into my body. Must eat a lot, and often. Sugars are deathly to me. One-half a glass of wine is all it takes to get me tipsy.
Today, I am suffering a strange fatigue and malaise. It started yesterday, not sure when. Came home from work and slept. My heart-area felt tight. Slept. Did do exercise 20 min with my neighbor. Ate good breakfast. Worked, but felt fainty, fatigued, heart-area tightness, and occasional torso/upper thigh muscle twinges the whole time. Went to Dr. Heart okay, they haven't reported back on the blood work yet.
What's wrong with me? Why am I so tired all the time? And why can't I ever get warm? Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
What's you normal diet? Are you a carb-lover? (carbs burn very much like sugar in your system, so you get that "down" effect after they wear off.
Low blood sugar? You sound like it -- low tolerance for alcohol, etc.
posted
Already have hypoglycemia. Eat meat and milk constantly. Avoid sugars. Crave salts, especiall CaC03. Not a sugar issue, as the aforementioned breakfast did not help.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
If you are hypoglycemic, I'm not sure it's a good idea to exercise before breakfast. I've been slowly reading some of Diana Schwarzbein's book that covers adrenal exhaustion as well a blood sugar issues. I don't quite know where you would fit in all that, but it goes a little further than the average carb discussion.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Do you get seasonal disorder? This time of year is particularly hard for a lot of people. Not sure it would explain the faintness and tighness in your heart, but a lot of people are fatigued most this time of year.
Also, how about your thyroid? Blood pressure? These are other things to look into, but I'm sure you have.
The warmness is probably just a consequence of being thin, but it could also be a circulation/blood pressure thing. Now that I'm pregnant, I've finally found out what it is like to be warm. I tell you, it is a wonderful feeling! Of course, even still, I feel chilled at temperatures below 70, that hasn't changed.
posted
This sounds exactly like what happened to a friend's wife. She was eating like a pig and losing weight. Turns out she had a hyperactive thyroid. They had to destroy it with radiation, then she was able to eat normally. Didn't have the "too skinny" problem after that (quite the opposite).
Get your thyroid checked.
Posts: 173 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
I agree with the folks above, sounds like it might be hyperthyroid. Here are some symptoms:
Fatigue Shoulder and thigh weakness Difficulty exercising Increased appetite Shortness of breath Faintness Anxiety/heart palpitations
Have you had any changes in your fingernails/hair? That's another symptom.
Also, not all hyperthyroid conditions require destruction of the thyroid: for some, you can just take medication. (This was the case with my cat.)
(If the thyroid must be irradiated, then they give you thyroid hormone supplements afterwards, just like they do to people who have HYPOthyroidism. I am borderline hypothyroid, but not quite enough for them to give me thyroid supplements, though I wish they would.)
[ February 20, 2004, 01:25 AM: Message edited by: Yozhik ]
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Not to sound like the only insensitive ass on this thread -- I understand that you can't have an easy time of keeping warm or comfortable if you truly do have an overactive thyroid -- but wow, I wish I had that problem. It takes a crapload of work to maintain my body, and even then, I'll never have the body fat percentages you do.
posted
Hyperthyroidism is associated with being hotter than other people, not colder than other people.
Hypoglycemia is sometimes a precursor to diabetes.
I suppose hyperthyroidism and diabetes are the top candidates for a chronic metabolic disturbance causing symptoms.
If your symptoms were stable for years and the new problems just started yesterday, however, it would more likely just be a weird viral syndrome. Lots of those around this time of year.
Yozhik, people with hyperthyroidism usually start by taking meds. However, if it doesn't go into remission, the radioactive iodine or surgery is usually recommended eventually. Then what happens often is that too much of the thyroid tissue gets destroyed by the intervention, causing resultant hypothyroidism. Then they basically get treated for hypothyroidism, which is very easily treated with medications.
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posted
(Theca, is it possible to have hypothyroidism when your blood test says you should be OK? Because I've got most of the common symptoms.)
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Hypothyroidism gets blamed way, way, way too often. The commonest symptoms of hypothyroidism are experienced by many people, especially women. A person with a normal, working thyroid gland with symptoms will NOT benefit from thyroid hormone and taking too much thyroid hormone leads to hyperthyroidism, leading to loss of muscle, osteoporosis, and other problems. On the other hand, many women have subclinical hypothyroidism and they MAY benefit from hormone. The powers that be recently revised the numbers considered "normal" for a blood test called TSH. What I mean is that some people had numbers once considered in the normal range, but with the new rules they are now OUT of range. So nowadays even more people are hypothyroid than used to be. I usually check a TSH and a free T4 and look at them both to decide whether to call someone hypothyroid, subclinical hypothyroid, or normal. If a person is subclinical by blood tests (close to out of range or barely out of range) I discuss the blood test with the person and go over any symptoms or signs then we come to a decision about a treatment trial. And if a person is pregnant, the OB/gyns very strict about treating the person during pregnancy, btw, even if subclinical.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
More than likely some weird virus, as I recovered yesterday evening. I still wonder about my metabolism, as it's not normal and I'd LOVE to be on Survivor. I'd know how to keep from going hungry because I know plants and I'm not afraid to eat grubs.
Except I'd have to eat every 4 hours. Bleah.
I do wonder if I'll die young. The mouse metabolism vs. elephant metabolism thing.
Anyway, so far I've never had abnormal thyroid stuff or anemia show up on my blood tests. I keep wondering, though, what the chemistry is of the metabolic cycle so I could narrow down what is going on.
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