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Medcial and Health blog

This blog is a special collection of new medicine articles about many health topics.

Fatigue, feeling unwell, sleep problems

I'm a 30 years old mum of an 18 month old girl, about to go through a divorce. I'm working part time (20 hrs/week) and have mym mum living with me helping looking after my daughter and around the house. I am physically fit and healthy. However, recently - over the last few months - I have felt overwhelming fatigue, often dizziness and general feeling of being unwell. I have had problems sleeping, and when I do sleep I do not feel rested. Regularly I feel too week to go to work or do anything. My hands (and often my whole body) tremble most of the time (to start with I put it down to irregular meals and low blod glucose but this is not the case). I have low blood pressure - usually 90-100 over 60ish, but my pulse gets quite high - around 85. I have had panic attacks as the result of feeling unwell and constantly worry I might have another one or feel very unwell / faint at work (hence the racing pulse I presume). I have had some blood tests done and they show nothing. However this fatigue and feeling unwell are stopping me from living a normal life and I am desperate to find out what causes it and most importantly, how to stop it and cope. The symptoms are getting worse despite my situation improving - amicable divorce, more sleep, new partner. Additionally for the last week or so I have been waking up with my right hand numb - "gone to sleep" (I had this with my legs and arms before in the past year), and have tingling in my little finger and arm, which also feels weeker than normal. I have also had headaches, the "normal" types that paracetamol gets rid of, and also sharp shooting ones, especially on my right side. I realise that my higher level of stress (due to divorce) and sleep problems are probably making things slightly worse, but I am convinced thay are not the cause. I had similar symptoms about 3 years ago with dizziness and headaches and a shorter and less intense period of fatigue. The dizziness never disappeared completely and I haven't felt "normal" since. Before then I used to go to the gym / aerobics classes 3-4 times a week, now I can barely manage a short walk with my daughter. What can this be? And what tests should I have done? And what can I do to help myself in the meantime? I am taking vitamins and magnesium as well as Chinese herbal ginseng medication.

Answers:


Hi Ola,
I'm sorry to hear that you've not been feeling well. You say you have had blood tests done that reveal nothing. Do you know what was tested for or what has been ruled out? Have you seen any specialists or have you just seen your primary care physican? With symptoms as nonspecific as yours it can be very difficult to get a diagnosis. I'd definetly recommend you go to your doctor who can look at the big picture and possibly refer you to an appropriate specialist. Or if you feel your doctor is not taking you seriously, it may be time to consider getting a 2nd opnion. From your description, things like chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia come to mind, but those are diagnoses of exclusion, so the appropriate testing needs to be done before that diagnosis is made. There are also numerous other conditions that share the symptoms you've mentioned, so a proper workup is warranted. Keep at it, and I hope you get some answers soon. Please keep us posted and let us know if you have any further questions.