HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Lack of Energy

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/27/2009 7:11 AM (GMT 0)
Has anyone been prescribed anything for the drainage of energy this disease puts us through? I get so tired and need extra rest throughout the day that I was hoping there was some kind of medication that could help, maybe adderall?
Posted 2/27/2009 9:24 AM (GMT 0)
A long time ago I saw a documentary about how medical conditions (may have) affected great world leaders such as JFK and Winston Churchill.

If I remember rightly (I was a teenager when I saw these documentaries) JFK had a medical condition that required the use of large doses of steroids, hence his chubby cheeks. Apparently the steroids (and maybe the medical condition too) made him feel really tired... not a good thing when you're the President of a powerful country.... so his doctors prescribed him speed (!!) to make him feel better.

I say !! but in a way I wish they still prescribed something like that now. I don't think that modern doctors realise just how debilitating this fatigue is...

Ivy.
Posted 2/27/2009 6:06 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I am pretty tired all the time too, sometimes I force myself to do some walking and if I do it regularly it really helps. Don't feel like you have to walk a mile or anything, just for 15min a day will help. nancerini
Posted 2/27/2009 10:02 PM (GMT 0)
I hear you...I've missed quite a few classes already because I cannot get up and move for the life of me. My teachers got the disability note though so I'm hoping that they understand. I nearly fell asleep in math class today too...and I LIKE math.
I heard making sure you get certain vitamins like B is supposed to help a lot. I haven't tried it yet but am waiting for my multivitamins to kick in.
I hope you find something to help you..this fatigue is just terrible sometimes.
Posted 2/27/2009 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
Does anyone notice that they get more fatigued and possibly more flares during the fall/winter seasons?...I always seem to get the sickest with my Jpouch and now crohn's (just diagnosed)...
Posted 2/27/2009 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
What meds are you on?
Posted 2/27/2009 10:54 PM (GMT 0)
There's been a lot of discussions like that on the Crohn's disease board... I think it varies from person to person... Some actually get more tired/sickest in the spring...

But I'm one of those people who tends to get sick and more tired during the winter months... Fall, too... Which sucks 'cause fall is my favorite season...
Posted 2/28/2009 11:01 AM (GMT 0)
Is anyone prescribed anything? I was thinking of asking my doctor for adderall or something to help me operate.
Posted 2/28/2009 1:02 PM (GMT 0)
Free RED BULL for everyone... lol
Posted 2/28/2009 2:44 PM (GMT 0)
I am more tired in Winter. i think it is because I live in the Frozen Tundra and I don't do much in the winter. It's like a Bear going into hibernation. Once spring rolls around and I can get outside more my days become longer with no fatigue.
Posted 3/1/2009 12:00 AM (GMT 0)
I wish there was a magical energy pill. Combine CD and depression, and I have NO energy. I'm going to my PCP on Wed and am going to ask about something for energy, at least temporarily.
Posted 3/1/2009 12:30 AM (GMT 0)
B12 (cyanocobalamin) is what most people ask for or are given - lots of threads on that if you search.
Posted 3/1/2009 4:32 PM (GMT 0)

Stimulants like adderal and caffeine are known for slowing adrenal function and have long term affects on it's function, IBD's do this too and are one cause of the fatigue.

I take 1-2 Country life Coenzyme B-complex first thing when I open my eyes each day when I have had fatigue the prior day. The B12 in this is Methylcobalamin (the form most often in sublingual products), and is more easily utilized by the body. This is also the form that directly affects the central nervios system, and has been a lifesaver for me. I have/do used the sublinguals (especially if I get fatigued mid-day), but feel I need the full spectrum of B Vitimines when I am so low energy.

here is a link to the product info page on the B-Complex: http://www.country-life.com/moreinfo.cfm?Category=15&Product_id=198

here is a link from another product that explains the Methylcobalamin form much better than I can:

http://www.naturalhealthconsult.com/Monographs/Methylcobalamin.html

I don't know if I would still be here without this product, and it helped so much with the depression too. I wonder if this is why I never got anemic???


Posted 3/1/2009 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
A few years ago I added B6 to my daily pills. I take one in the morning and one at night. It took about a month, but eventually I didn't NEED my daily nap. I still could take a nap every day, but I didn't have to have it. I swear it has made a difference. I also take B12 injections, though I don't notice much difference when I have my injections energy wise.
Posted 3/1/2009 9:04 PM (GMT 0)
Also make sure you aren't anemic. That can also be a problem causing a lack of energy. So you might want to ask your doctor to check your iron levels.
Posted 3/1/2009 9:19 PM (GMT 0)
Last spring and summer I was exhausted all the time. I was just as exhausted after sleeping 10 hours and after naps. I started taking vitamin D an B-12 last summer and feel a lot better. I still get tired after a days at work, but not nearly as bad as before. For this I am so thankful! What I feel now is relaxed. Not bone tired, but a kinda nice hazy daizy drink-hot-coco-in-front-of-a-fire relaxed. Very strange. Caffeine helps.
Posted 3/1/2009 9:55 PM (GMT 0)
nono Fall, I'll bet you a pound to a penny that your serotonin levels have gone up. "Very strange"....but very nice, just about covers the flooded with 5 HTP feeling ! I'll bet your sleep patterns are different too.
Margie, if you look up sprue you will get the story of pernicious anaemia and its connection with B12. Yes, B12 makes a mighty difference to absorption of iron - when was the last time you heard of anyone dying of pernicous anaemia ?! yeah
Posted 3/1/2009 11:35 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Snohare,

You are right, this does feel like a nice hot cup of serotonin.  I just read a little on it and I don't see that anything I am doing, taking, or eating would increase the levels.  Any thoughts??  My body temperature is much lower than it was before CD.  As for sleep, not much of a difference (7 - 8 hours a night). 

I also read about some serious cardiac effects of seratonin syndrome, but as long as I feel this way I wouldn't care.  Everything just feels nice and even my job doesn't stress me out as much ...  And I thought I was just learning to handle it better.  Thanks Sno.   nono   I am wondering if my disease is really quiet and I am not under stress from any inflammation.  I don't have any other CD symptons (prasie God!) except that I got 3 nasty abscesses in the same place that came with 2 setons.  So I can't tell if my disease is in remission.  I haven't had an abscess since May, so maybe the 6MP is really doing some good??  Maybe its because I was low on vitamin D for so long and now I'm in the normal range??  I don't know, so I will go have another mug of hot chocolate and enjoy the mellow feeling!


Posted 3/2/2009 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
tongue Fall, a high level of serotonin is not necessarily serotonin syndrome, you will be delighted to know ! yeah Sometimes it is not because you are responding badly to SSRIs or other medications, but rather just because...life is good and your body has gotten "into the groove". Maybe you have just learned to "chill" ? cool Even on the roughest river we sometimes meet a smooth, still patch where we can catch our breath and just enjoy watching the scenery go by before we have to paddle like H*** again...
My (off the cuff, totally amateur, so who knows how naff) guess is that the Vitamin D is keeping your body topped up with the optimal levels of serotonin, giving you that lovely snuggled-up-warm-just-awake feeling even when you are not, and probably more so in the evenings. If your sleep pattern is not improved by this I'd say that this is because your pineal gland already produces melatonin when and as it should, which is a good sign. (Wish mine would, I wouldn't have SAD ! mad) If this is a side effect associated with 6-MercaptoPurine, I want some ! smilewinkgrin Good to know you are feeling fine, whatever the reason...
Posted 3/2/2009 12:21 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Sno! I agree (based on nothing scientific) that my body/immune system has now chilled out after fighting so long and hard against fantom devils that weren't there. And the D is helping me keep happy. I'll worry about the waterfall tomorrow....maybe...or maybe not! Sending a big dose of comfortable, warm, and fuzzy feelings your way!
Posted 3/2/2009 12:24 AM (GMT 0)
yeah idea Yes, meantime we will just pour over life....!
Posted 3/2/2009 4:36 AM (GMT 0)
Sno,
   I think I had a Celiac Sprue component with my Crohn's. I blistered when I ate Wheat, and had cut that and almost all other food for 40-60 days before I had the blood work and scope done in 2003, so no positive blood work. I was very anemic through all my pregnancies and mildly so in 2004 when a local GI who is a DO suggested an enzyme bound B-Complex, commenting that I was not producing Intrinsic factor as the most damage visible on my scope was at the terminal ileum, and I had low serum vitamin B12 levels. The  Methylcobalamin  also helped a good deal with the Crohnie Sponge Brain, depression and memory issues.

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply