wat does everyone do 4 the fatigue????help!

 Caffeine is a fiend ! Notorious for it's ability to lift you up higher...only in order to throw you down all the harder !   The bounce it gives to your blood sugar is a truly evil effect...which makes you crave sugary foods...which stresses your pancreas...which affects your adrenals and your gut....

Personally, I am on a diet that avoids sugar ( you can't eliminate it) and salt (ditto), gluten and dairy products (I have food intolerances - you may not) and additives in general. As you might guess from the latter, it's also an organic diet, high in vegetables and nuts, seeds, grains. I am also taking probiotics and Aloe Vera, to help my damaged gut (I have been diagnosed with CD), and Udo's Oil, which is an Omega 3,6,9 balanced oil designed to improve my Essential Fatty Acid status.

I usually find that eating well is the key to avoiding fatigue...junk food is a total no-no. As in, no cost = no energy. There are days I've missed a cooked meal, and the fatigue kicks in within half an hour. I've come to think of the fatigue as "instant starvation".

Supplements - particularly vitamins - only work when other more basic biochemical infrastructure components such as EFAs are already in place to help your body make use of them. If your cell membranes lack the right lipids, they cannot process anything properly. Ditto for minerals. And to make things worse, some vitamins and minerals are "antagonists" - they mop each other up, preventing uptake.

In terms of behaviour, I find that treating exercise like I'm weight lifting is a good idea. If you remember that feeling tired is like a pain warning from your muscles, a little pushes your boundaries but too much is damaging, - then you will not overdo things.

I don't know if this is any consolation to you...but in my experience it takes years to get used to throttling back and taking it easy when circumstances other than your body's warnings say otherwise.

 

Joci I have same question as you, what do others her do for fatigue, its horrible even with coffee, I have never tried provigil, not really that familiar with it, can anyone explain it a little further. Feel like I am on a lot already, but was fatigued before any meds, the Darvocet actually helps with energy when I take it, and even the valium when taken somewhat motivates me, but still overwhelming fatigue. How does Provigil interact with the other meds, i already have loose bowels ( IBS), so if it (Provigil) gave me energy, I would deal with the IBS-D just to have more energy, and which type of soc would I ask, my fp, gyno-uro, pain management or psychiatrist?
Sorry didn't mean to jump in on your thread , but you had same question I did?.. Any thoughts or suggestions, the b-12 sublinguals is all I can take, it doesn't do much. the pill makes me sick, now along time ago the shots really helped, but fp wont do it, so he probably wont prescribe Provigil either, thinking of psychiatrist best bet on the provigil. And if my fp wont give me b-12 shots who will, he says, there isn't anything wrong with the vitamin. ( except it makes me vomit, with or without food, no matter what time of day I take!), Ok sorry so long..any thoughts???....

Oh, so I should probably not take it, if D is already a problem. ANd I am on anti depressants meds. darn!! I needs something for fatigue, I can't blame my meds, It was actually worse before and of my meds, but still at a point I really wish there was more I could do about it. I will email you, thanks for the info...

I wish effexor gave me energy too

snohare gave the best answer there is, but most folks don't want to be bothered with it or like me, just can't afford all the supplements, etc..
I eat as healthy as possible ... but I'd rather drink coffee than take any drugs for energy, if I had to weigh the side affect differences.
The less drugs the better - my liver and other organs say. Most especially mood altering drugs. I'd rather cheer myself up some other way and I sympathise deeply with anyone who fights depression. Been there done that and I 'battle' for at least a few minutes with it now, if I'm not careful. Had the organic kind of depression that comes with this disease of the brain (Lyme/CFS), so that was a real battle to learn how to take charge of, without help. But Thank God Only, He threw me a lifeline and at the same time, showed me the way out.
These drug commercials crack me up sometimes. The side affects are worse than what you're being treated for. One side affect was lymphoma, and what it was for was some mild illness. Go figure.

I've been taking Provigil and it's worked WONDERS for me! Yes it is incredibly expensive, but I'm fortunate enough to have a doctor that keeps getting me these "cupons" for Provigil so I don't have to pay for them.

As far as drug interactions, you have to check with your doctor or pharmacist for which meds you can and cannot take with Provigil. I'm also on Lorazepam for anxiety, and that's fine.

Coffee or any caffiene has no effect on me anymore, as I've built up a tolerance to caffiene over the past 10-11 years I've been dealing with CFS. I can have 4 shots of espresso and go right to sleep!!!

But, I'll get up in the morning, and with my cup of coffee take my Provigil (200mg, once a day) and I'm good to go! I don't have any side effects, other than I'm awake, alert and can focus and don't feel like I want to sleep all day!!!!

*******side note*******

Anyone considering talking to their doctor about Effexor. BE CAREFUL!!! I was on Effexor once before, and it was literally h-e-double hockey sticks on earth. The withdrawls are HORRIBLE... horrible to the point I wanted to die so I didn't have to feel that way anymore. A lot of doctors (my past doctor included) do not know of the horrible side effects you can have, and over perscribe it. My new doctor explained to me that Effexor is really only effective for few people, and he said that doctors sometimes overlook all of the possibilities of the side effects.

I've found nothing in my research that says that Provigil contains high levels of magnesium though.

Hi I just wanted to say, i agree with you about caffeine way up to way down for us. You sound very knowledgeable on eating right, so would love to know if you could tell me where do i start first on changing my old way of eating , for me it would be a diet of no refined sugar bad carbs kind of like Atkins, but would love if you could tell me in the right order so I can stick to it.
Thank you, hug...
Donkey