Fatigue linked to hunger

My UC symptoms are very manageable these days. In saying that, I've been struggling with fatigue and wanted to get some thoughts.

In July/August last year, I was hit with a run of debilitating illnesses. In Oct I went to see my doc as I had been fatigued ever since. For anyone who has experienced adrenal fatigue, they will know what I'm talking about. When you feel yourself coming down, you are tired, lightheaded, weak in the muscles, brain foggy, and really struggle to concentrate. Eventually you hit the wall and just want to lie down, except despite being exhausted, you can't sleep. It seemed worse after eating and after exercise, particularly the following day. It also seemed to hit REALLY hard when I was hungry (eg if I ever had to go for any length of time that day while being hungry, I would crash that night).

My doc ran a full blood test, but everything (iron, thyroid, electrolytes, B12, and no doubt plenty of others) came back fine. The fatigue did gradually improve. I made some changes to my diet, so I was eating more nuts during the day (as I had been frequently hungry) and less carbs in the form of bread. It's fair to say I had a pretty rough december, but put that down to just being exhausted after a busy year.

First week back at work this year, and within just two days, I was lying on the couch all evening. Basically, it's get up, go to work, hang in there during the day, come home, make dinner, eat dinner, then you really don't feel like doing much else apart from lie down. After a night's sleep, you awake feeling like you've had about 2 hours' sleep. As time goes on, you start to feel more normal again, but it's never a nice feeling first thing.

This reminds me of the post-viral adrenal fatigue I had years back after having glandular fever. But the same vitamins I used for that had no effect this time around.


What helps it is not allowing myself to get hungry, reducing stress, getting plenty of sleep. But I just don't seem to be making progress. I know that fatigue is something many with UC have, so I'd be curious to know if my experience sounds similar. Many threads on the subject say exercise helps. I'd love to exercise a lot more than I currently do. The problem is, between the fatigue, muscle weakness, and complete intolerance to any kind of hunger, it's extremely difficult.

Thoughts are really welcome.

Thanks

Not as yet, but it's also a common symptom of things like adrenal fatigue, depression, and burn-out, all of which cause the overall feeling of being 'wiped out'. I would imagine a sleep issue would simply make you feel tired, without the accompanying brain fog, lightheartedness, and associated eating-related quirks. If I'm hungry, it goes straight to my head and I'm a wreck. If I stay hungry too long, the rest of the day is over for me, no matter what. The food only partly relieves the brain fog and fatigue. The rest needs an evening on th couch and a night's sleep to heal from.

I can't relate to the adrenal fatigue you speak of, but I can relate to the hunger fatigue and overall tiredness from UC. This advice is not going to win me any awards, but honestly, you need to force yourself to exercise. Nobody feels like exercising, even less so when you're tired or ill. I built myself a squat rack in my basement so I don't have to leave the house, and I only have to walk DOWN the stairs to get to it...sounds stupid but removing almost any excuse between you and the exercise is what is needed. Need those endorphins. Setting fitness goals helps too. Scheduling the workout for the time of day you feel most tired can help switch up your internal clock that is telling you its sleepy time.

Some have sworn by B-12 injections as well.

FYI if anyone is interested, it's looking like this issue is being caused by not enough protein and too much carbs in my diet. In all my trials of different foods to try and figure out if any affected my UC, I never returned back to my original diet. I have tried a protein-heavy diet over the last couple of days and, while I am still finding I am hungry more than I would like, it's much better and most importantly, it's not stealing all my energy at the end of the day.

Will keep an eye on things and update here if anything changes.