Ok, I am about 55 now and I can’t figure out if this is from the illness or if there’s another issue at hand. We all suffer from fatigue. I’ve been diagnosed for over 30 years. Yes, I’ve been tired for 30 years.
However, the last year or so it has been excessive can’t hold my head up kind of tired. It’s different. So is this a normal part of aging with schizophrenia and why can’t I get an attending to investigate? I mean the moment they get my psych history, they blow me off.
rogue
I am middle aged, and my pdoc attributes my weight gain, low testosterone, fatigue to my age.
All I can say to this is Bull ■■■■
might try exercise. that seems to invigorate my fatigue. I just walk in the back yard but it helps sometimes.? Johnny Cash complained that the only thing bad about aging is his level of energy slowly dissapated the older he got.
I dont know, maybe some of it has to do with aging? I mean I am not ancient.
I take frequent short walks, this seems to help too @jukebox
My natural metabolism and energy levels are high - a lot of it is the Meds, it slows me down
Lots of us live sedentary lives which means we are not building up extra energy from physical exercise or other activity. Being sedentary is a vicious circle. You are too tired to do anything thus it makes you more tired when you don’t do anything for days or weeks or months on end. Medication is sedating. And yes, lots of people slow down as they get older but not everybody. I think if you are out of shape the sedation will effect you more. When I was in my early twenties I was HEAVILY medicated. I had a physical job and I used to get very fatigued. I was dragging myself around. I told my psychiatrist and he said he would lower my medication A LITTLE but there was not much else he could do. I told him (and I was serious) “OK, I will just keep going until I drop in my tracks”. But I had a reserve of energy since I was young at the time.
I work about 72 hours every 2 weeks in the ER as a pharmacist currently. But It is like I am walking through mud!
rogue
A pharmacist? That’s a good job. Takes brains and it’s lot of responsibility.That’s cool that you can handle it.
Have you had a check for diabetes lately? Untreated diabetes can show up as fatigue. Or anemia.
Thanks Nick.
Yes, Hatty, I am borderline and already on metformin. Been on Clozaril since it was first approved in the US.
As to the meds: I have totally have to back off of them which causes some stress but I can’t function on them any longer. I am thinking Heart, thyroid or hormonal but I can’t get anybody to look at anything. I have fired more primary physicians than you can imagine for this. They won’t look into things you mention then sure enough they turn into an issue.
rogue
Any changes in medication? But you could figure that out.
I have the same symptoms, though I can hold my head up. I don’t think it’s all due to age, but with the antipsychotics in some way. I’ve been taking them 50 years, always with these side effects. I lead a sedentary life. Exercise seems harder but I’m going to steadily work on that.
It is probably a combination of aging and med’s. Maybe you should do some walking as a form of exercise. You might even consider a med. change. Abilify gave me energy. I’m 56, and I do have at least a little energy, but I can’t do nearly what I used to as far as physical exertion goes. Part of that is aging, and part of it is med’s.
Yes, I am used to being very tired from the meds. But this is different. This is walking across the room tired.
rogue
You need to get your heart checked out, could be one of your valves not working properly.
Good luck getting a Dr to actually treat you, even if you get a Dx for a physical problem, that sticky SZ label makes most Dr’s sweep you under the rug.
Tell them about walking across the room + not being able to hold your head up.
My ex sister in law lost her son to leukemia, he complained about being excessively tired all the time. Not trying to scare you.
@Csummers: That is kind of what I thought as well. But like you say, getting the doctors to listen seems to be a problem. They wait until we are drop down dead… seriously
rogue
I am 44 and i feel the same kind of fatigue. I dread walking up and down the steps because my room is upstairs and i have to go downstairs to smoke, i get yelled at all dard day long for smoking upstairs. I feel druggged, well i am drugged, but i mean i feel heavily sedated and there is nothing that i am on during the day that should make me feel this way.I changed doctors recently, it pissed a lot ofo people off because i did not want to see the doctor that comes to the ALF i live in, I wanted an outside doc, so i am going to make an appointment for a full physical. Actually that is what i thought i had done and he gave me a script for a chest x-ray and an ultra sound for some lumps in my back. I guess i was mis-understood. Now I am going back to clarify what i menat when i said i wanted a physical.
Rogue honey, when was the last time you had a full physical with blood work, a glucose tolerance test, a thyroid profile, you know, the whole gammet? If your doc feel the need to neglect your needs, it is time to find another doctor because obviously something is wrong. How are you sleeping at night? Are you feeling pain anywhere? I cannot remember, do you smoke? I have known you for years now for mely as kittycat, and i have never known you to complain. It is time you get you butt to the doctor. Take care, my thoughts are with you.
Heart problems run on both sides of my family.
One Dr told me he wasn’t concerned with me being dead tired as long as I had the SZ label, said it was the meds.
My brother one year older than me found out he has the same valve problem my mom has, but the Dr said it wasn’t necessary to check me for same.
This is what bothers me more than stigma, because it isn’t that. It’s professionals not acting like one. What - is this what they teach them in medical school - patronize the mentally ill?
Probably the meds paliperidone and risperidone make me tired as ■■■■.