Question:
I am pre-op and tired ALL the time. What can I do to give myself some energy?

I don't know if this is related to being obese or not, although my PCP seems to think it is. I am just tired all the time. Some days it is better if I get like 10 hours of sleep, but even then I can fall asleep at any time. I have this horrible time when I get home from school. Every single day around 5pm I find myself hardly able to keep my eyes open, and I can rarely escape taking a nap. I fall asleep in class almost every day. I can hardly study as much as I need to because I am just too tired. I am afraid I am going to fail all my classes because of this. My surgery is June 11, so I just hope that somehow I can get through this and that I will have tons of energy after surgery. Also, I am not clinically depressed and my thyroid is fine. Anyone have any ideas for getting energy? I am not allowed to have caffine, exercising does not help at all, and eating different foods at different times of day seems to make no difference. Help!!!    — Jennifer Y. (posted on April 13, 2002)

April 13, 2002
I forgot also to mention that I have been tested for sleep apnea, and show no sign of it, and I also searched the library for the answer to this question.
   — Jennifer Y.

April 13, 2002
Hi! Have you been tested for anemia? That is low iron count. I had the same problem, and they had me take iron supplements daily, and this straightened me out, somewhat. Best of luck to you. Dawn
   — blank first name B.

April 13, 2002
I don't think I could be anemic. . .I eat a whole lot of red meat. I can't think of a day ever that I don't eat meat.
   — Jennifer Y.

April 13, 2002
Do you have any other health problems? Has your doctor taken a complete battery of bloodwork? Weight is not the only thing that causes people to be tired. I have been tired since I was in high school, and back then I was not obese. Chronic, and hard to do more than one thing. Sleep apnea, Narcolepsy, Chronic Fatigue...there are so many reasons someone could be tired. I would ask my doctor for a full physical to rule other things out first. Good luck to you.
   — Michelle H.

April 13, 2002
Jennifer, Have your doctor check you for anemia anyway. I eat red meat, green veggies, etc. But I still have a chronic anemia problem. Taking iron supplements really helps. You might be bleeding internally or have some other condition that is making your hemoglobin levels low. Get checked out! Good luck!
   — KathieInHawaii

April 13, 2002
try some b12 sublingual. A multi vitimin also might help. Stay away from carbs. that always makes me tired. do you have sleep apnea? i also found that if i sleep too long i feel more tired than if i would just get up after 8 hours of sleep. hope this helps. sandy surgery date june 5
   — sandy W.

April 14, 2002
Like one poster said, check for anemia anyway. Personaly I think it may be low B-12. I was the walking dead for 6 months post op. I was taking once a month B-12 shots but they were'nt working. I nagged and nagged for Bi Monthy shots. Finally when they got tired of my bitching at them they had a blood test drawn. Indeed, with only once a month shots my levels were WAY DOWN LOW! Ouch. Now I take Bi monthly shots and that works fairly well. I do hope to try the sublingual sometime though. I think your problem is low B-12. Get some blood work done.
   — Danmark

April 15, 2002
Have you been checked for sleep apnea. I know before they discovered my sleep apnea, I felt exhausted all day long, fell asleep whenever I even sat down to rest for a minute and nearly fell asleep at the wheel a couple of times. Loosing weight should help with the sleep apnea, but you may want to ask your Dr. about it and get treatment for that in the meantime.
   — Dell H.