Always Tired - How Chronic Fatigue is Stealing Your Life

Do you find yourself always tired? Many people wake up every day feeling more and more exhausted as a result of chronic fatigue. In America we tend to live fast hard lives where we push ourselves to the limit every day trying to accomplish something only to be thoroughly drained of energy when the time comes to be with friends and family and have fun.

Being always tired when it's time to celebrate with friends and family is no way to live. If you feel exhausted all the time maybe it's time to see someone about it. Here's a personal testimonial about how chronic fatigue effectively stole fifteen years of my life.

Always Tired But Not Anymore
By Jane P Lass

"I was always tired. From the moment I would wake up in the morning until the time I went to bed I would have a lack of energy. It did not make sense for me to feel always tired yet I did. I have not ever led an extravagant lifestyle, I do not make it a habit of being on the run all the time, and I certainly do not have the stress level of other folks the way a single parent does."

That quote was from a patient suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but needless to say there are many causes of illness which have similar effects. Sadly doctors frequently have difficulty differentiating the ultimate causes and aren't always able to provide relief from fatigue.

Common symptoms include (but are not limited to):

• continuous low grade fever
• joint pain
• difficulties with short term memory
• waking up tired on a daily basis

While any and all of these symptoms are attributable to a number of potential causes what should throw up a red flag for individuals suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the continuous (hence: Chronic) nature of any or all of the aforementioned symptoms - the leading among them being always tired.

Sufferers Often Don't Know What's Going Wrong... or Even If Anything Is Wrong

As an example consider this patient quote: "Yet there I was, waking every day feeling lousy and being always tired. It just wasn't any way to live but I had been to the doctor numerous times, probably an average of three or four times a year for various ailments and just general malaise. It finally cam to a head one day this year when I had simply had enough. I was fed up with being always tired. I went to my doctor on a day I was feeling normal and said, 'Listen, today is like any other day for me, and I feel just plain lousy. I felt lousy yesterday, I feel bad today, and odds are pretty good tomorrow is going to be the same. I've had it!'"

Chronic Illness Comes from a Variety of Potential Culprits

Comments like these are common for people suffering from long term illnesses, whether it is an ingrained pitched battle with something like sinusitis, or perhaps continuing viral or strep infections. Inevitably what happens with these people feeling always tired is that something has got to give. Usually what gives ends up being the patient's spirit. Their desire to live life fully dwindles until they become a shell of their former selves. Sometimes it gets to the point where their own family members don't recognize the personality of their ill relatives anymore because they've become so withdrawn.

Diagnosis Perplexes Doctors

Diagnosis of chronic symptoms like these is extremely difficult for doctors because they are used to reacting to and treating short term issues, such as a cold or flu. Rest and relief medication are the normal prescription for short term sickness. Unfortunately many sufferers of longer term disease do not go back to their doctors after a few days when their being always tired has not subsided. Patients who trust their doctors too much and don't express the nature of continuing symptoms run the risk of not ever feeling better. Being always tired is just no way to go through life.

I interviewed an expert in fatigue, a specialist for those complaining about being always tired. He suggested anyone feeling constantly tired should take a free online fatigue symptoms quiz. Then simply take the quiz results to their doctor and set a course of treatment or further diagnosis. Patients with similar symptoms who are always tired ought to learn more about the cause of their lack of energy symptoms and seek treatment. You don't have to be always tired.

I hope you start feeling better soon.

Jane P. Lass

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_P_Lass
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Always Tired? Welcome to My (Former) World

Always Tired - Lack of Energy
I can't begin to tell you what being always tired felt like. It would start in the morning when I would wake up tired and continue throughout the day. Honestly I'd wake up feeling like someone had punched me in the face every morning. Not the best way to start the day.

Aching Joints
Then the minute I got dressed after showering, I'd have a generally tired, lack of energy kind feeling. I'd get out to the car and head off to work but with the modestly long car ride my joints would ache before I'd get to work. It was just simply a miserable way to live. Being constantly tired is no way to live.

I'm Not the Only One Suffering
I finally caught a break when someone mentioned they had seen something about people who were always tired with achy joints so after poking around on the web I found some information about chronic fatigue sufferers. Apparently lots of people get tired all the time like me.

Symptoms Quiz Helped My Doctor Diagnose Me
I took a short quiz on the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome to determine whether I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I benefitted by reviewing the information because next time I met with my doctor I was much more forceful about telling him something was wrong. A visit with an ENT specialist determined my tonsils were constantly infected, and needed to come out (it was painful.. let me tell you but soooo worth it).

Afterward
After the pain from the surgery disappeared I am feeling so much better and I'm much more active now than I have been in years.

Take the Quiz
You may or may not have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but take the fatigue quiz anyway... the information you learn may help you next time you see your doctor.