Any suggestions to food choice? Or vitamins or anything I can do to fix this?

Since returning to work after my back injury I’ve been knackered every day, can’t figure out why, my shift pattern at work doesn’t help but it didn’t effect me before, I do one midnight finish, 2-3 early starts that’s a 4am alarm call and one mid shift.

I cycle 3 miles to work, and slowly ride 3 miles home at no real speed tbh. To help my back I’ve changed my hybrid to a mtb to help with positioning on the bike.

I get 8 hours sleep sometimes more, just tired, would be nice to watch a second half of the football without drifting off to sleep!

How old are you?

This is basically me. There’s nothing wrong with me, I’m just getting old.

Only 41, still plenty of life left in me hopefully!

I’m 39. I can’t keep my eyes open after about 2130. Stayed up ‘til 2300 on Saturday and am feeling the deficit in sleep.

More seriously, could your symptoms be akin to post-viral fatigue/a physiological hangover from long-term injury?

How long were you injured for and how fit were you beforehand? How do rate your fitness now? Has the injury caused you to stop doing anything you previously enjoyed? Did you feel low whilst recovering?

Sounds like you get plenty of sleep, do you have a balanced diet, drink plenty of water?

would be nice to watch a second half of the football without drifting off to sleep!

Do you support Man Utd, by any chance?

anaemia, simple gp blood test and iron tablets, and a blood transfusion if a really low blood count level like i had.

No I support Villa and we have been playing some cracking football lately!

I was off work all of Jan,feb and 2 weeks into March, did nothing physical except slowly walking and slow back exercises, prolapsed disc, trapped nerve, still have pains but doctor told me this could be 3 more months.

I do drink a lot of tea not so much water, I keep saying I will change that.

I’ve only recently started getting back on the bike and work I’m less active as I used to be but that’s more a risk of injury, work as a duty manager and stock control manager at a supermarket, so my job is more office based but I used to balance out 50/50 it’s more 20% physical due to being tired and 80% sat in the office which even my staff tell me it’s unlike me im normally flying round the shop pre-injury.

I have gained a little bit of weight all within normal limits as doctor thought I was under weight prior to injury. That does bother me as never been anything more than 9stone before, now just over 10stone which I’m told is healthy.

Don’t just take iron tablets without a very clear investigation and explanation from your GP about the root of the cause.

My GP gave me iron tablets after a blood test showed low iron, but without investigating the cause.

Few months down the line I was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 48……

It then clicked about how tired and lethargic I had been.

What’s your diet like currently?

Diet varies…

A typical work day will have 2eggs on 1 dry toast for breakfast, lunch is a sandwich of some sort, cherry pie and custard (canteen cook it’s pretty much the only thing he makes that isn’t swimming in grease), evening meal can be anything from a curry or stir fry, homemade lasagne, sausages with salad and pasta, possibly not the healthiest. If I’m home alone that’s all, if my OH is home she snacks a lot, I try not to but a bowl of crisps or choc is often about.

I don’t drink coffee but tea about 5-8 cups a day depending on shifts, the early starts I drink more tea.

ZMA might help.. they can improve the quality of your sleep too.

Diet varies…

…but it’s primarily carbs. Try cutting down.

IANAD

I find porridge (soaked in milk overnight) with a sliced banana gives me more energy and less likely to snack during the morning. And have substituted tea with hot water and a small amount of squash which doesn’t dull my head as much as tea.

+1 on not just loading up on the iron unprescribed.

Dad had similar symptoms and took iron …..helped .

Went to doctors for something else and had tests- was diagnosed coeliac -which explained why he was anemic amongst other things as his gut was inflamed meaning he was never taking much nutrients out of food.

Worth having a go at improving diet. I do subscribe to you are what you eat. Nothing wrong with egg on toast but try and buy decent whole grain or rye bread, make pack lunches to avoid canteen food, big hearty salads with grains and seeds in, if sandwiches make sure it’s something healthy, mackerel, tuna etc on sourdough or wholemeal and some fruit. Dinners max out the veg in your stir frys and curries and have meat free days and fish days. Nuts and fruit to snack on or dark choc. I used to mess about trying different suppliments when I felt sickly but now I just eat a hugely varied healthy diet and make my own bread to avoid supermarket sugary crap. Biggest change to my diet was from subscribing to an organic veg box as I had to learn new recipes to use up all the different types of veg that arrive.

Could also be Vit D defficient, most of us are, especially at this time of year as we dont get anywhere near enough sunlight on our skin.

As others said it could anything from TATT syndrome (tired all the time) which I don’t think is uncommon in our age group through to something more serious. I would imagine part of it for you will be returning to work after 3 months off combined with the shifts. It would be worth seeing your GO though and AT least having basic blood tests for anemia, diabetes etc. They can’t and won’t test for everything without addition symptoms. Trouble with TATT is in most people it lifestyle driven although yours doesn’t sound too bad.

now just over 10stone which I’m told is healthy.

Are you a dwarf?

Lol no but only 5ft4 so short! When I said over 10 it’s closer to 11 than 10 tbh.

Canteen closing in 2 weeks more work cut backs so making own bread is a great idea. Thanks all some food for thought…

I’m 45 and 5 ft 3 ins. So in the same sorta ball-park.

Anything over 9 stone and I feel like a blimp.

Also, I drink tea like it is gong out of fashion. (8-10 cups a day)

Did you know that drinking tea interferes with the bodys ability to absorb iron?

I found this out when I had a health checkup at my GP’s surgery when I turned 40. All bloods were good (glucose, chloresterol etc) only thing that was picked up was low iron level.

Drink less tea I was told.

I don’t think tea is your problem. You weigh about 28lbs more than me. (but are only 1 inch taller.)

Yes I know, the BMI test is a VERY blunt instrument but unless you have a background in bodybuilding and are carrying 28lbs of muscle more than me…… then I think you know what the problem is.

Better diet and exercise. Good luck.

Did you have any problems before your injury?

Sounds just like one of my friends… he tried everything he and his doctor could throw at him, in the end it was discovered that he had sleep apnea. He is a completely different person now!

I do a lot of night shifts and became increasingly tired over the Winter, even felling nauseous on occasion. Before I bothered the doctor I thought I would try vitamin D. Three days later and I felt completely normal again, give it a go.

My bmi is just within green, just….

I don’t look overweight but again lost leg muscle mass I had gained prior to injury, trying to be healthier today and take it day by day…

I can’t believe no one has mentioned cat aids yet!

I’m 5’5″ and just under 9 stone, I’d be knackered if you made me carry another 28 pounds around with me all day. Obviously do get a blood test but weight and diet are something you could certainly work on

There’s been a lot of lurgy bugs around this year, including one which is a mild head cold, with bouts of pretty heavy fatigue that have made me take mid afternoon naps on several occasions over the last ~4 weeks. It’s only when I try to ride near or just above my FTP for a minute or two, that I feel a lack of leg power, while my nose and throat get bunged up with nasty thick stuff.

cut down on the tea, as @simon_semtex says

there’s a correlation between tea and anaemia

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14718031

http://www.healthcommunities.com/healthy-drinks/does-tea-cause-iron-deficiency_ucbwl.shtml

my wife was recommended not to have her evening cup of tea, as was making her tired.

No I support Villa and we have been playing some cracking football lately!

You had better have a downturn in form soon (specifically on 28 April).

MOT

Get your bloods checked, lad at work was always tired no matter what, turns out he’s vitamin d deficient.

Depression and stress can make you feel tired all the time.

As above, blood tests.

And while tea intake can affect certain types of iron absorption, you need to be prone to anemia (and/or pre-menopausal /have some underlying illness) for it to have a pronounced affect.

However, the caffeine in tea will disrupt your sleep. Just because you sleep for 8 hours does not mean it’s quality sleep. Add in your shift pattern, which is disrupting to your circadian rhythm, alcohol(?), food too close to sleeping and you’re basically not recovering, particularly when your body is under stress anyway as it (slowly) heals your back. I’d try skipping caffeine for a couple of weeks, if no change well that’s one thing eliminated

Only 2 cups today, one before going to work and one mid afternoon, 11-9 shift today just grabbing some water, going to try a quicker pace cycling home. Had porridge for breakfast, tuna sweetcorn sandwich for lunch, no cherry pie purposely went for lunch after canteen closed, tea will see what oh has cooked/heated up/ordered I know it’s too late to be eating but too busy at work to get anything…try again tomorrow.

Work is tense/stressful currently restructuring my dept making all my good staff redundant this isn’t helping as I feel like I’ve let them down, but it’s out of hands.

When I was your age I was tired all of the time, too. Diet was fundamental, but you need to find what works for you, I had to work around IBS.

I had spinal surgery in 2015. My back pain was debilitating for the previous year and I was off work for 5 months prior to and after surgery. I was massively unfit and not “work fit” by any means. I took me probably 12 months not to come home in bits.

46 and get utterly knackered on a work day with shitty commute and tedious desk job. Yet I can go out on bonkers long rides with bucket loads of endurance until I realise I have to get home.

Few years back had full bloods and stuff and all seemed fine. Got a pile of digestive crap going on though now but things go away with riding and also if I’m on holiday. Stress? Maybe though the job seems pretty laid back.

Ps back injury some years back and some issues I get now I wonder is related.

Got a pile of digestive crap going on ……. Stress?

My IBS is stress linked.

Get thee to the GP. Mebeverine calms my IBS to a very manageable level.

I had this went to my gp and got tested – there is a protocol. Only thing was low vit d levels. I started taking them and feel much better. How much of the vague symptoms and how much of the cure is between the ears I couldn’t guess 😉

Go to GP/check up/tests.

Diet and weight aside (though not ignored) how are you mentally? Do you have a lot on your mind? Stressed, anxious? That’s what does me for tiredness.

Start with your GP, they can do an “always tired” blood test to rule more sinister factors in or out to start.

currently restructuring my dept making all my good staff redundant

This has to be one of the most stressful episodes you can go through at work.

Bit random, but do you snore?

I kept going back to doctors repeatedly as i was feeling so tired constantly, they ran lots of tests and everything seemed fine, but for me it turned out that having broken nose a few times playing rugby, i had always struggled to breathe through nose at all, so i was sleeping but never really had deep sleep as i was suffering apnoea.

Went to the doctors Thursday, bloods took but doctor has put it down to my hayfever meds, as they can cause tiredness and due to how bad it has been having to use everything the doctor had given me, eye drops, nasal spray and a stronger antihistamine.

Started to change diet slowly, moved away from breakfast in the canteen to cereals or porridge and fruit, no more cherry pie at lunch stuck to sandwiches for now but from next week will take my own. Started to sprint home on the bike rather than a slow steady ride. Small change in weight yesterday and today showing a few pounds less. Plan to enjoy the weather tomorrow out on the bike and avoiding the mountain of Easter eggs the oh has got…

Cut out cups of tea, down to 1 cup a day. I don’t feel any less tired but only first week in plenty of time to keep working on this!

Good one. It will take time. Don’t give up.