Why Am I Always Tired? Is It Hypothyroidism?

Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) is a common answer to why am I always tired. And if you are always tired, this is one that you need to check out. Here is what you need to know:

WHAT IS HYPOTHYROIDISM?

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body does not produce enough thyroid hormones. The thyroid gland’s main function is to keep the body’s metabolism running at an appropriate level. This means the level at which your cells burn/use energy, and it will typically rise in correlation with energy demand.

If your body does not produce enough thyroid hormones, the level at which your cells can use energy will remain low even if their energy demand is high.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE HYPOTHYROIDISM?

The condition can be undetected and is extremely subtle as it imitates many other conditions – symptoms can creep up unnoticed and often be ignored. If you aren’t exerting yourself too much yet feel mysteriously fatigued and tired all the time you should have this checked.

Some of the symptoms are: Feeling constantly fatigued and weak, difficulty in losing weight and increased weight gain, discoloration and paling of skin and skin texture, loss and drying of hair, feeling cold when others aren’t, muscle aches, pains and cramps, depression, constipation, decrease in libido, feeling irritable, suffering from menstrual changes and memory loss.

Most patients have a combination of these symptoms, some can suffer more from one particular symptom than another and often there are no symptoms other then tiredness. But your doctor can quite easily find out if you have  an underactive thyroid by checking the thyroid hormone levels in your blood.

HOW CAN I RECOVER FROM HYPOTHYROIDISM?

In most cases hypothyroidism is treatable and the most popular and effective medication is a simple thyroid hormone pill which is called Levothyroxine. This is a pure synthetic hormone that is taken every morning and adds to your level of thyroid hormone normally secreted by the thyroid gland.

The pill has different strengths which are matched to the condition of the patient. The dosage has to be monitored and adjusted and should be checked regularly to ensure that the correct level of Levothyroxine is applied. Too much or not enough medication will cause your symptoms to persist, or change, but not improve.

After starting medication it is also possible that you feel an initial improvement in health and energy, followed by a worsening a few weeks later. This was the case for me. It turned out that my metabolism was low for a reason, and my body could not supply the energy it needed with its increased metabolism.

If this is the case for you as well, you will have to dig even deeper to find your answer to why am I always tired.

Why Am I Always Hungry And Tired? Here Are Five Typical Causes And What You Can Do About Them

Hunger and tiredness are two symptoms that often coexist. This was the case for me when I was always tired: I was very hungry even if I had eaten just one or two hours earlier, and I always had to eat right before I went to bed at night in order to fall asleep. If not I would become hungry again before I could sleep and I had to get up to eat.

Are you asking yourself why am I always tired, and more specifically why am I always hungry and tired? Let us look at what the causes may be and what you can do about it.

WHAT KIND OF FOOD DO YOU EAT?

Meals with a high content of processed flours, simple carbohydrates, and sugars will cause your blood sugar to rise quickly. Your body will then release insulin into your blood stream and cause the sugar to be absorbed into the cells and used for energy. But if the rise in blood sugar is too fast, a lot of insulin will be released and your blood sugar levels will quickly fall below normal. Your body may interpret this as lack of available energy and cause you to be hungry even if you ate not long ago.

To test if this is the case for you: Reduce the amount of simple carbohydrates in your meals and add protein and fat that takes a longer time to convert to blood sugar. This will give your body a more stable energy supply.

DO YOU EXERCISE A LOT?

For a long time I was not able to find out what caused my excessive hunger. But when I stopped working out for a period it disappeared. This was a clear indication that my body’s energy consumption had been higher than the energy supply. When I stopped working out, the amount of energy my body needed was lower and my excessive hunger disappeared.

Normally, this problem can be solved by eating more and eating the right foods to support your body’s restitution between workouts. But keep in mind that there may be a medical condition causing your body’s energy supply to be low even if you eat a lot.

A good way to test if over-consumption or under-supply of energy is the case for you, is to take 10-14 days off from your workouts and see if the hunger disappears.

IS YOUR METABOLISM TOO HIGH?

Your thyroid gland regulates your body’s metabolism (and energy consumption) by producing thyroid hormones. Your levels of thyroid hormones will rise naturally (and so will the energy consumption) if you work out or do any other strenuous activities.

But your thyroid may also be producing more thyroid hormones than normal, even if your body does not need it. This is called hyperthyroidism and can easily be checked by your doctor and regulated using medicine.

DO YOU HAVE STOMACH AND DIGESTION PROBLEMS?

If your body is not getting enough energy even if you eat a lot, then the reason may be that your digestion system is not able to absorb from the food the energy and nutrition that it should. If so, you will likely also be experiencing other symptoms related to your indigestion: stomach pains, constipation or diarrhea, excessive gas and stomach bloating.

The possible causes of this are plenty: food allergies or intolerances, parasites such as worms or fungal infections such as candida.

ARE YOU ALSO THIRSTY ALL THE TIME?

Being hungry and tired all the time is also a symptom of diabetes. But if you have diabetes you will also be thirsty all the time, you will frequently feel like urinating, and you may be loosing weight. If you have any of these additional symptoms, you need to get tested for diabetes by a doctor.

HERE IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO RIGHT NOW:

Make an appointment to see a doctor to find out if there are any medical condition causing your excessive hunger and tiredness. Start with an open question about why am I always tired. Then make sure your doctor tests your thyroid hormone levels to see if they are too high or too low. And ask him or her specifically about testing for parasites and allergies.

Why Am I Always tired? The Typical Answers

“Why am I always tired?”; Do you often find yourself asking this question? If you do, then you should start paying more attention to what you are feeling. Now if you’ve tried searching for the answer to the question, then you may already know that there is not only one thing that can cause your tiredness. If fact, tiredness is a symptom of many different health situations and conditions.

To give you an idea of what can be causing your tiredness, I have compiled a list of typical answers to “why am I always tired“:

Insomnia:

Insomnia is a condition where you find yourself having trouble getting through a whole night sleeping. As a result you are not getting enough sleep, or you are not getting enough high quality sleep. Specific symptoms to look for are problems falling asleep and/or waking up during the night.

Sleep disorders / Sleep apnea:

Sleep apnea is a condition that causes people to actually stop breathing for a few seconds every hour during sleep. When this occurs, the important stages of sleep are interrupted, and when you wake up the next morning, you will usually feel as if you didn’t get any sleep at all.

Food allergies and intolerances:

If you are allergic to specific foods, or intolerant, eating these foods is activating defense mechanisms in you body that drain a lot of energy and may leave you feeling extremely tired. Eating meals with a high content of processed flours, simple carbohydrates, and sugars may also cause a surge of energy followed by a crash in energy and extreme tiredness.

Iron Deficiency Anemia:

Your body is extremely dependent on iron (hemoglobin) in your blood to transport oxygen to your cells. If you have iron deficiency anemia, your iron levels are so low that your body’s cells are not getting enough oxygen, causing you to feel very tired.

Hyperthyroidism – Overactive Thyroid Gland:

Your thyroid glad regulates use thyroid hormones to regulate the metabolism of our cells – they control how quickly our body burns energy, makes proteins, and how sensitive it is to other hormones. If your levels of thyroid hormones are too high, your body burns energy faster then you are able to gain through your food. Much like a car on full throttle will quickly burn out the fuel available on the tank.

Hypothyroidism – Under active Thyroid Gland:

Too low levels of thyroid hormones also causes tiredness. Even though you may have enough fuel available in your body, low level of thyroid hormones causes your cells not to use the fuel that is available. This may be compared to a car running on low throttle even if the gas tank is full.

Urinary tract infection (for women):

Although most women associate a urinary tract infection with symptoms such as burning or urgency, an infection may be hidden and depleting you energy levels with no other symptom than tiredness.

Undiagnosed heart disease:

If you have undiagnosed heart conditions then overwhelming fatigue may set in after ordinary tasks — such as vacuuming the house, doing yard work, or commuting from work each day. This may be your heart’s way of sending out an SOS that it needs medical attention.

Parasites:

If you have parasites in your body, those parasites release toxic waste into your body, and this waste acts like a type of poison. The human body isn’t set up to handle these kinds of toxins and as a result you may feel tired all the time and have include flu like symptoms.

Stress and anxiety:

Stress or anxiety causes your body’s fight or flight response to be activated, even if you not facing any physical danger. It this state, your body burns much more energy than normal. And prolonged periods of stress and anxiety may cause you to feel depleted and always tired.

Melancholy and depression:

Your mental state has a huge impact on your body’s energy levels. You may have experienced that when your are feeling happy and joyful you are also feeling extra energetic. The same holds true for feeling sad or depressed, but then your energy levels are extremely low. You do not need to be depressed to experience a fall in energy levels.

Chronic fatigue syndrome:

You may have chronic fatigue syndrome if your tiredness have persisted for months and if you do not feel rested even after getting adequate amounts of deep, restorative sleep. Some symptoms that may be accompanying your tiredness if you have chronic fatigue are fever, sensitive lymph nodes, sore throat and joint pains. Variations of chronic fatigue are called ME, post viral fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

The long list of typical causes for tiredness makes it difficult for you to find YOUR answers. But you can find the cause of your tiredness and recover from them if you know what types of causes you should investigate first and what actions you should take to eliminate them. Some you can eliminate immediately to see if it has positive effect on your energy levels. Some causes your doctor may easily be able to diagnose. And some causes you may have to diagnose yourself.

Stay tuned with my blog and I will help you do it.