Increasing Energy? Suggestions?

Well... I saw my GI today. I'm thoroughly discouraged and I just give up on going to doctors for a while. He gave me a probiotic and told me to come back in 3 months.

I don't think he understands (even though I re-iterated it over and over) just how EXHAUSTED and in pain I am day to day. Obviously, that's just the surface of what is wrong, but it is what I have the most trouble dealing with. He noted that I've lost a good amount of weight since I last saw him; I informed him that, not only do I have NO appetite, I am nauseous 24-7, and eating makes me exhausted and very uncomfortable. And, I'm still getting a fever pretty much every single day. He said that, since I had c-diff, it takes a good while to get back to 'normal' after getting rid of the infection.

I've never been 'normal'....

So, I just need suggestions on how to increase my energy level. I've been trying vitamins (escpecially B12/B-Complex vitamins) and it just doesn't seem to help. I am doing all that I can just to function and I'm not sure how much longer I can just 'go through the motions.' I have to lay down as soon as my classes are done for the day and I end up sleeping until it is my actual bed-time - I'm not getting any studying done really. My life is just upside down and, at this point, I just want to feel human. I want to be able to answer how I am doing without wanting to cry. Just yesterday, I was told (because I had coffee) that I "didn't look as exhausted and worn-out as usual." A compliment, I think...but, seriously. Complete strangers, professors, and friends have mentioned stuff like that to me these past few months.

Suggestions?

Thanks for the encouragement.
I just feel like I am going crazy - like something has taken me over and nobody sees it. I mean, my friends, family, and professors do....but that's it.

It's hard to do much - I just now received some sort of employment. Not sure how I'm going to do it... but, I'm going to! And, I don't have insurance. I lost my medicaid - sticky situation because I am still seen as a dependent, even though I'm not claimed on my mother's taxes. It's ridiculous. So, I'm limited as to what I can and cannot do. I'm going to go into Student Health tomorrow. The FNP there is really sweet and she knows me super well. The nurse used to work in my GI's office. I'm going to talk to them and see if they have any suggestions as to what I can do - see if they'll do some blood work or something just to see if anything is 'showing up.' I doubt it - nothing usually does, except for vitamin deficiencies.

I'm still working out most days of the week.. but, I think I may have to cut that out for a while!

thanks,
Jade

I think there is something called a comprehensive profile which includes the CBC, but also includes other things like sed rate and CRP which can look for inflammation markers. Hopefully someone else will come along and answer your question who knows more about lab work. I forgot about the Medicaid issue. Does your mom or dad have insurance and can they add you to their policy...under the Affordable health care act, you should be allowed to stay on your parent's policy until age 26. That is independent of and has nothing to do with being claimed as a dependent for taxes. I suspect the lack of insurance is impacting the lack of the doc ordering tests.

Hi Jade, The best way with with B-12 is injection. I do this
once a month it helps me.

Jade:

Sorry to hear that your visit did not go well. If I were you I would try and find a doc that is more understanding. Can I ask you how long is it since your C-Diff cleared up? My son has and is still being treated for C-Diff he has relapsed twice now. Do you think there is any chance that you might be relapsing and getting another bout? It seems to play havoc on his body fatigue and weight loss and just an unwell feeling with little diarrhea. Like you school is a struggle comes home exhausted and gets hardly any study done. Did he do labs while you visited to see where your inflammation markers were at? I think they look at CRP and Sed rate also with stool studies they can test the stool for white blood casts which also indicates inflammation.
Hope you get some answers as to why you are feeling so lousy and get to feel better soon.

JK, I am new to healing well and joined so I could send this to you. Yours symptoms sound so much like mine did before I was diagnosed. I had intense stomach pains, nausea after eating, diarrhea, less and less appetite, to the point I had to stop eating solid food and put myself on a liquid diet for 3 weeks before I was finally sick enough to be admitted to hospital. With no eating also came exhaustion and dehydration. Just before being admitted I finally had a gastroscopy (scope into my stomach and duodenum) where they found ulcers and inflammation. My doctor first told me I had celiac disease because my villi were completely flattened, but thought there was something else going on because of the ulcers. I was admitted to hospital and put on TPN (IV nutrition). They sent me home with the celiac diagnosis but I was back in hospital again less than 3 weeks later and back on TPN since the damage in my small intestine was so bad I wasn't able to absorb any nutrients. My doctor told me I could eat or not depending on whether I wanted to or not but it didn't make a difference since I wasn't getting anything from my food at the time. With the TPN I did feel better as I was finally getting nourishment!

I wanted to tell you this because your symptoms sound so much like mine and I think you should demand to have a gastroscopy to see if you do have active disease in your upper GI tract. I had had a colonoscopy when I first got ill, about 6 months before that, and it came back completely clear and the doctor at that time told me that I didn't have Crohn's. Well I do, just not in my colon. Since my symptoms had always been so soon after eating we wondered why they looked in my colon instead of my stomach and I wonder if I would have got so sick if it had been caught sooner.

At any rate, they started treatment with Prednisone and Imuran, as well as Pantelock (both to protect my stomach from the prednisone and to help with the acid reflux) and in December I started Humira as the Imuran wasn't strong enough and I couldn't get off Prednisone. I am back on a low dose of Pred. as I lost my appetite completely and lost all the weight I had managed to gain, after stopping it in January, but I am hopefully that the longer I am on Humira the more it will work and I will be able to get off the Pred. Right now I am eating better, though only small amounts at a time, and I do have a bit more energy, though I still get tired easily and need to rest a lot. I haven't been working at all since I became ill ( I am lucky that I can live with my parents through this and not have the added stress of trying to work through it all.)

I really hope that you can get a proper diagnosis for what's going on right now and that they can get you on the road to recovery.

This may not be of any use to you but I have noticed this week I do not feel the need to nap (even though I am sleeping terribly) don't get me wrong I'm tired but it's not as hard to fight this week.

The only different thing I've done is I've started taking cymbalta, my family doctor prescribed it for some of the pain I've been experiencing, at first I didn't like it cos it made me feel odd but ive been trying it again for little over a week now and I have to say joint pain is decreasing and energy seems to be increasing....

Just to let everyone know!
It might be worth it, if your stressed with school work and your health you could even be depressed which can cause horrible exhaustion, which is kind of what I'm attributing my energy boost to.
Anyway may or may not work just thought I'd put it out there!