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.

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.

This is a common scenario, more so than you think. In fact, almost 300 people search the phrase «why am I always tired» in Google every day. And if you add related phrases such as «why am I so tired» and «tired all the time», the number is well more than 1000.

One may think that this is an easy question to answer, but if you have spent some time online looking for answers you know already that it is not. You have a problem and you are looking for an answer (a cure even) but everywhere you look there is another easy answer to find from someone eager to give (or sell) it to you.

The fact is, there are MANY possible causes for tiredness. There are many different medical conditions and situations that share this symptom, and finding a whole bunch of possible answers really does not help you find YOUR answers.

This is a very frustrating situation. And it was my situation for years. I was tired all the time, but I did not get any straight answers (not even from the doctor). In the end, I had to burn out completely – spend 7 months out of work and 2 long years of recovery – before I could find my answer; post viral fatigue.

I would like to help you find out why you are so tired all the time. And I’m not saying that MY answer is the same as YOUR answer. I’m saying that I would like to help you along your way so you can get back to living your life as you want (and should).

I don`t want ANYONE to suffer what I went through. You have my support. And you will find your answers.

More later on how to do it.

SO, I HAVE BOUGHT THE PROGRAM AND TESTED IT

The core of the End Tiredness Program is to establish high quality sleep habits. They claim that incorrect sleeping habits are the most common cause of tiredness. And that by establishing high quality sleep habits it is likely that you will immediately experience an increase in energy throughout your day.

I agree with this. In my experience, many people suffering from tiredness do so because they UNKNOWINGLY get insufficient levels of high quality sleep. And it is the QUALITY OF SLEEP that is important here, not the quantity.

Your body goes through cycles of 5 different sleeping stages during the night, and scientists agree that only 2 of the sleeping stages are essential for your rest and well-being. But most people only spend half of their sleeping time in those two stages, and those very important sleeping stages are also easily interrupted.

It is also extremely important that you allow your body to complete each sleeping cycle before waking up: By interrupting your sleeping cycles your body’s recovery process is also interrupted and you will fill tired, drowsy and sometimes cloudy throughout your day.

MY RESULTS SO FAR

I have spent one week using the program’s techniques to identify my sleeping cycles and increase my quality of sleep. And I DO feel more awake. I will check back to this post later on if for some reason I am not happy with the long term results.

Apart from ensuring high quality sleep, the End Tiredness Program also addresses some other common causes of tiredness, and how they relate to your quality of sleep.

If following the high quality sleep principles do not help your tiredness, you can use this section of the program to point you in direction of what else may be causing your tiredness. But first and foremost:

I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TRY THIS TO SEE IF YOU GET AN IMMEDIATE INCREASE IN YOUR ENERGY LEVELS FROM ESTABLISHING HIGH QUALITY SLEEPING HABITS

There are 3 main reasons why I would like to make this recommendation:

1. The content appears to me to be high quality, and very useful for immediately testing one of the most common causes of tiredness. On their website, the program reports an improvement in 98% of their test subjects in two weeks.
2. The program is popular on the web. Meaning many people buy it, and I can’t find any bad reviews of it (please let me know if you do).
3. And the program has a money back guarantee (they will give you your money back if you are unhappy with the program, no questions asked).

BUT I ALSO HAVE SOME WARNINGS

Don’t think this is an easy cure-it-all solution for tiredness. I have never seen such a solution and I will be extremely surprised if one does exist.

To get benefit from the program you will need to put in some effort yourself. First by reading through the eBook, and then by implementing the principles in the program.

Ensuring high quality sleep habits may not be enough for you. In that case, this is only a first step in finding out what is causing your tiredness (and what is not causing your tiredness).

Finally, and very importantly, if you think there may be a medical condition causing your tiredness, the thing you should do right now is to contact your doctor and get your health checked up.

That’s all from me this time, talk to you soon again.
Kristian

Introducing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:

Chronic fatigue syndrome is one of the newer illnesses recognized in the medical profession and it tends to be something that many people think they have prior to discovering something else is wrong with them. The general description is feeling tired and exhausted most of the time, but there are actually a variety of other symptoms which must be present in order to officially have a diagnosis of the syndrome.

The problem with diagnosing yourself with this syndrome is that fatigue symptoms are shared by many other illnesses and medical conditions. That is why you need to consult with a doctor if you suspect your symptoms do match those of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms:

Chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms that everyone is familiar with include extreme tiredness that doesn’t get better even when you get in adequate amounts of deep, restorative sleep. Many people identify with that symptom, but there is much more to chronic fatigue syndrome.

This chronic fatigue must continue on for a matter of months with most doctors refusing to treat it until five or six months have passed without the fatigue letting up. The fatigue must also be severe enough that it interferes with your daily life in some aspect.

Besides being tired, symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome include difficulties focusing or concentrating mentally and a variety of physical symptoms, including:

• Fever
• Sensitive lymph nodes (neck, armpits, or both)
• Sore Throat
• Muscle pain
• Joint pain

Many people report experiencing headaches that are stronger or longer lasting than headaches they may have experienced prior to developing chronic fatigue syndrome. Some also get light headed when they stand up quickly or feel sick after exercising or participating in sports.

Comparing Your Symptoms:

If you are just feeling tired without any of these other symptoms, then chances are you are not suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, but may have other medical conditions that need to be dealt with.

If you have at least 3-4 of these other symptoms, then chances are you could be suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome but will need to consult with a doctor to know for sure. In order to officially be diagnosed your symptoms should have started occurring about the same time that you started feeling tired all the time and they should be ongoing for six months or longer.

Before you go in for medical treatment try to regulate your sleep schedule so you are going to bed and waking up at the same time every night. Set your bedroom up so you can get deep, restorative sleep without interruption from the television or other distractions. If you continually wake up feeling exhausted or as if you haven’t slept at all, then chances are you do need to seek treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome.

Poor Food Choices

For many people feeling tired after eating is simply a matter of the foods chosen. If you are eating meals with a high content of processed flours, simple carbohydrates, and sugars, then you will experience a small surge of energy followed by a crash in energy a couple hours later.

This is the easiest problem to fix because you can simply adjust the foods you choose to eat. Switch simple carbohydrates for complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and vegetables. And stay away from sugary foods as much as possible.

Food Allergies or intolerances

Some people just cannot physically handle particular foods. One common sign of an allergy is feeling very tired within a half hour of eating those foods. This is different from the typical energy crash you may experience after eating simple carbohydrates or foods that are filled with sugar. A food allergy may likely cause fatigue right after eating, within a half hour in most cases.

Other symptoms that typically warn of food allergies include constipation or diarrhea a day or two after eating particular foods (or rotating between diarrhea and constipation regularly) and excessive gas and stomach bloating.

Try to cut out foods that could be causing the problem for a week or longer. You cut out one food group at a time until you figure out what is creating the fatigue. There are also allergy tests that can be performed if you are convinced the problem is a food allergy.

Nutrient Deficiency

If you are deficient in vital nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are needed for your body to function at maximum capacity, you will experience more fatigue in general. This may start out as being very tired after you eat, but you will soon start noticing that you are fatigued a lot of the time even when you aren’t eating.

Another big sign of nutrient deficiencies is seeing undigested particles of food in your stool when you use the bathroom. This is a sign that your body simply is not breaking down the food and absorbing the nutrients into the system as it should. This may also be a symptom of leaky gut syndrome.

Leaky Gut Syndrome

This is a condition where the intestinal lining passes more than just beneficial nutrients into the body. It gets worn down over time and becomes overstressed, thus reducing its capacity to work properly.

Besides feeling tired after eating, many sufferers will experience a wide range of gastro-intestinal side effects from this condition.

Overeating

If you put too much food in your body at once it can give you a sluggish feeling as your body tries to process all of it through your system. If you think this may be the reason you are feeling tired after eating, consider counting calories for awhile as an exercise in relearning proper food portions.

Try to give your body well balanced meals rich in nutrients for a month and see if you start feeling less tired after eating.

Note that the main difference between many of these problems is the length of time it takes for you to start feeling tired after eating. If you are experiencing tiredness after eating as well as a general exhaustion at other times of the day, there could be other things causing your fatigue. Then make an effort to find out Why am I always tired?

Why am I so tired in the afternoon? The afternoon is an especially typical time to be tired if you are suffering from excessive tiredness. If there is any reason why your body has small energy reserves, then you may not be able to go through the full day without resting and restoring those reserves. You may feel fine in the morning, but after a few hours of demanding work or activity your body is demanding that you rest again.

If this is the case with you, you may find yourself relying a lot on caffeinated drinks and quick energy snacks to get by throughout your day. Don’t do it! This may help give an immediate rise in energy levels but it is causing your body to further deplete its energy reserves and after some time you will experience even lower energy levels.

Instead of treating the symptoms it is better find the real cause of your tiredness and eliminate it. Finding the cause of your tiredness may require that you put some actual effort in to the matter, but it will pay off in the long run when you get your life back and can go through your whole day feeling energetic. So make an effort to find YOUR answer to Why am I always tired?

There are many reasons why you may be succumbing to fatigue. And if your tiredness is limiting your life you should definitely take a look at what is causing it.

The first thing you should do is to examine your sleep habits

As a fairly basic aspect of this problem, you must first examine how and when you are sleeping. Of course, different people have different biological rhythms, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer to how long somebody should sleep at night. However, if you find yourself dragging in the morning, you may not be getting enough deep sleep. This may hold true even if your think the amount of hours you spend in bed should definitely be enough.

Are you getting high quality sleep every night?

High quality sleep means sleep without waking up many times during the night. To achieve it you must be relaxed when you go to bed at night. And when you experience it you will feel relaxed when you wake up. A stressful state before you go to bed will limit your ability for your body to relax and rejuvenate during the night.

If you are unable to relax at bed time. A common recommendation is to do some physical exercise or activity a few hours before you go to bed. After warming up your body in this way, it naturally seeks to wind down and releases larger amounts of sleep-inducing hormones, such as melatonin.

Are you suffering from sleep apnea?

Thousands of people are going to bed at a decent hour every night and seemingly sleeping for the entire night. However, they still are left wondering Why am I so tired in the morning? For many, the culprit is sleep apnea. This condition is characterized by frequent, but unnoticeable episodes where the person actually stops breathing. This, of course, interrupts restful sleep as your body awakens enough to trigger your brain and lungs to take another breath. Sleep apnea can be frustrating and extremely tiring. The good news is that it is very treatable.

If you are getting enough high quality sleep but you are still tired, then there may be a hidden medical condition causing your tiredness.

YOUR MISSION: Take one week off from your life and rest completely

Get your doctor to give you sick leave so you can stay home from work or school. Cancel your social activities. And stay in or around your home as you would if you were coming down with the flu.

Make sure you take the time to rest completely; Sleep as much as you can; Do easy and joyful activites like reading a book, or watching films; Take short walks if you get restless; And very importantly, do not stress about missing work or school. You deserve some time off!

Then, pay close attention to how your body recovers. You may experience one of the following:

1. YOUR TIREDNESS DISAPAIRS DURING YOUR WEEK OF REST AND DOES NOT COME BACK WHEN YOU START WORKING AGAIN

If this is the case for you then your body was simply exhausted and when you took time off to rest you recovered completely. However, if the pattern repeats itself (becoming tired again after some time) then the strain of your daily life is higher than your body can handle. Your health situation is not acute, but you should take action to change it or you will risk that your fatigue becomes more severe in the long run.

2. YOUR TIREDNESS DISAPPAIRS  DURING YOUR WEEK OF REST BUT IT COMES BACK AS SOON AS YOU ARE BACK TO WORK

If this is the case for you then your body was able to function normally when removed from all stress and strain. But as soon as your activity level was back to normal you became tired again. The strain of your life situation is a lot higher than your body can handle. And you body is not able to build up your energy reserves. Your health is not good and you should take immediate action to disclose any hidden medical conditions that makes your body tired and weak.

3. YOUR TIREDNESS PERSISTS THROUGHOUT YOUR WEEK OF REST AND IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO GO BACK TO WORK

If this is the case for you then your health is severely compromised. Your body is not able to recover despite resting and sleeping as much as possible. This is a major symptom for people suffering from chronic fatigue. You should extend your rest period and get a thorough assessment of your situation by a qualified doctor.

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.