Well, it has been a long time since I’ve jumped on the Works for Me Wednesday Train. Like over 6 months long time! So here we go!
Lately every afternoon around 2 or 3 I’ve been feeling exhausted. And not your typical “gee, I’m a mom” type of tired, but that “I can barely keep my eyes open” “it feels like moving my limbs is too much work” type of exhaustion.
At first I thought I was just overtired-after all, I had just come off of a 2 week stint of stage managing a community theatre production that required me to be out of the house every week-night from 6-11 (then the 3 show nights we all headed up the street to a little local tavern until-well, lets just say as a mom of a 3 and 5 year old I haven’t been up that late for 3 nights in a row for a LONG time). But it didn’t go away.
Then I looked at my diet-I had given up sweets for lent and I wasn’t eating large amounts of carbs or anything prior to the sleepy spells that would lead me to believe it was a drop in blood sugar. . .
Next I thought maybe I had an ear infection or something. There had been a few miscellaneous ear twinges and I was starting to get paranoid-the day before while reading to Buddy on the couch I couldn’t make it all the way through “The Hungry Caterpillar” without closing my eyes for a few seconds. Since I had Princess in to the doctors office last Thursday I asked the Nurse Practitioner about it and she took a peek in my ears (free of charge-isn’t she a sweetie) and said there was a tiny bit of fluid and to take a decongestant, but nothing to worry about.
So why was I so exhausted?
Yesterday it hit me.
Maybe I was anemic! Can you believe I took a woman’s multivitamin yesterday morning and felt 10X better! Geez-what an easy fix (and a heck of a lot cheaper than a visit to the doctors) and it took me almost 2 weeks of suffering to figure it out.
Now obviously if you try this and it doesn’t work for you, make sure you get checked out by a medical professional. I am not, and never professed to be a medical professional! But vitamin pills are cheap, and doctors appointments are expensive, so it sounds like it is worth a quick try for a couple of days next time you feel completely overcome by fatigue.
NOTE: For those of you new to my blog, in an act of shameless self promotion I would like to direct you to the following recent post that consolidates some of my best frugal tips and tricks into one place for your browsing pleasure: Welcome to Making Home Visitors.
Don’t feel bad about it taking 2 weeks to figure out. It took me months to figure out that I was getting anemic at the end of each cycle. Just after a cycle finished, I’m exhausted like you talked about. Duh! When I figured out what was going on, a simple vitamin and increased proteins did the trick.
I’ve been feeling very exhausted lately, more than the normal mommy tired. I need to start taking my vitamins again and see if that helps, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m low on iron, and other things. Thanks for the reminder!
As I was reading down your post I was thinking….she needs iron! And lo and behold….you were there first!
When I get like that I take a course of iron and am up performing again in no time!
I think a lot of us don’t get enough iron. I’m a big believer in vitamins. And you can always find some sale or coupons to buy them cheaper! BTW, don’t forget your calcium and vitamin D!
Everytime I see my doctors, they always ask if I’m taking my vitamins! It really does make a difference, even with good nutrition you need that extra boost.
FYI: I was feeling very tired and had begun to get weird rashes ande dry skin. If vitamins don’t do the trick ask your doctor to check your thyroid. I ended up finding out that my thyroid had quit on me! I am much less tired now that I am on synthetic thyroid meds.
Hello!
That is such a good tip! It is just amazing how much vitamins and minerals contribute to our well being.
Personally I feel really run down if I do not take a B vitamin suplement. I take the Nature’s Choice one; it is great because it is time released.
I just popped over from Rocks in my Dryer, there are so many neat tips to learn!
Take Care,
Trixie