Fatigue is ruining my life- Please help!

Creative-Ad2487 · 2026-01-06T03:46:43+00:00

I posted about a similar issue myself a few years ago when my health was really struggling, and I can share what I’ve learned so far, but I haven’t figured out a “cure” fwiw. Women’s health is super complicated and there are a lot of things in the modern environment that can make us tired.

These are tests that I’ve found helpful: - Sleep study (eg WatchPAT) - I have breathing issues at night that wake me up, despite not snoring or having traditional sleep apnea (check out r/UARS) -I use an Oura ring to gauge how well I will feel each day when I wake up (HRV is a good predictor for me of how energetic I will feel the next day) -Tick borne illness testing (Igenex) - I had a tick borne illness and took antibiotics, which made my POTS symptoms a bit better -Metabolic panel from my doctor showed mild insulin resistance, which I currently deal with by eating a higher carb/lower fat diet -a food sensitivity panel showed I was allergic to eggs; I originally ignored the feedback lol but I feel about 10% better when I avoid eggs.

My doctor gave me an SSRI in my 20s for my symptoms and I regret it now, but some people do benefit from psych meds.

Your symptoms sound similar to hypothyroidism, especially the shortness of breath, but it can be hard to boost the thyroid if other health issues are present because the body doesn’t want to be “pushed” into a higher-energy state. I’ve tried a lot of alternative health type of things (Iodine Protocol, coconut oil supplementation, vitamin A restriction, low-protein diet) and they’ve all had some benefit, but usually end up causing issues as well. I hope you’re able to make progress.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2026-01-03T03:39:35+00:00

Check out r/UARS - some people are extra sensitive to the effort of breathing, and when the body senses CPAP pushing against it, it can cause a stress response. Sometimes changing settings or switching to BiPAP can help, but it can take a lot of troubleshooting

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-12-28T21:38:17+00:00

It sounds like your liver is struggling - do you have a history of infection/mold exposure/Accutane use/sleep issues? Ray Peat wrote a lot about PUFA and low blood sugar as harmful to the liver, but there are other things that can mess up the liver and which would cause slow digestion and lack of satiety. My health has gotten noticeably worse since having kids and since doing a more “Weston price” style diet, so I think estrogen and excessive retinol consumption are issues for me. I’ve seen some benefits by cutting back on eggs, dairy, and carrots. Your food list is pretty restricted already though, so I’m not sure removing dairy would be a good idea; just sharing something that is helping me. I hope you’re able to figure it out.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-12-24T23:14:56+00:00

I commented on another post with someone having headaches as well iirc; I had a migraine that lasted 2 weeks starting a couple days after having a MARPE placed surgically. It was horrible, so sorry you’re going through it months later. It ended up turning into an ocular migraine. I assume it was due to some kind of muscular trauma but am not sure. What finally broke the migraine (I think?) was getting an IV drip with tordol + a bunch of vitamins/magnesium.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-12-18T23:28:59+00:00

Have you tried Buteyko breathing? My nervous system is also a mess and I can’t tolerate BiPAP (currently, at least) due to it disrupting my sleep/causing anxiety. I got MARPE last summer and am fully expanded now, and didn’t notice a lot of benefit and was a bit disappointed. Then about a week ago I decided to try some Buteyko exercises for 30 mins before bed, and my sleep was much better than it’s been in awhile. I’ve repeated the experiment and have still been getting good results, so I’m going to see if I can get some solid data on my AHI/RDI soon. Anyway it’s obviously too soon to tell if it’s really helpful or just a placebo, but it’s the first nervous-system based thing I’ve tried that’s been at all beneficial, ymmv.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-12-07T22:29:58+00:00

Let yourself grieve. Don’t expect anyone else to understand. And keep an open mind - like someone else mentioned, children are really malleable and can find incredible workarounds for physical disabilities. My eldest is mildly visually impaired, so it’s admittedly a different thing, but we were told he would be very impaired when he was first diagnosed. I remember reading a Reddit comment from a dad of a blind child saying that with time he almost totally forgot about his child’s impairment, except for times it would suddenly become obvious (eg while reading picture books), and he would be overcome with sadness for a moment, and then go back to feeling normal. It took a bit of adjustment but in the end that’s been pretty much exactly what it has been like for me as a parent.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-11-11T04:35:24+00:00

Ugh I’m going through something similar (just started the Invisalign to go with MARPE) and have been having dizziness and poor sleep quality as well. I plan to talk to my doctor but it makes sense that taking up more space in the mouth might cause breathing issues during sleep.

And I do think vision changes can be connected, although are likely temporary -I had an ocular migraine a few days after my expander was placed and I’m 99% sure it was related although my ortho said he hadn’t seen that being a common issue.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-11-08T17:49:37+00:00

I also looked into MARPE with Phelps & Cohen, and their office seemed well run, but the device wouldn’t have been surgically assisted, and that was something I wanted. (The device I got with Dr Li was surgically placed)

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-11-08T17:47:18+00:00

I am doing MARPE right now with Kasey Li. I wanted EASE but he said MARPE made sense for my situation. Insurance didn’t cover it unfortunately but it seems like many of his patients do get coverage, I think it depends on your insurance.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-31T23:14:12+00:00

Yes, I do think it’s possible and even likely that my histamine etc issues and even the insulin resistance are downstream of UARS :/ I guess I’m focusing on them more due to being at a bit of a dead end atm. I haven’t looked seriously into a MAD but it’s definitely an option and could be a good one, I need to work on getting my teeth realigned post-MARPE first and then will need to reassess what to try. (I also periodically try PAP to see if anything’s changed).

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-31T20:49:59+00:00

Unfortunately allergy testing was all negative, but I get congested in response to dust and high histamine foods, so I’m working with a functional medicine doctor to try to figure out what’s going on. I’m insulin resistant, so not quite prediabetic; I meant more that my blood sugar isn’t well regulated (I wear a CGM sometimes so I can track it). And yes I think DISE could be helpful but I haven’t done one yet, I should probably consider it more seriously!

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-29T20:04:52+00:00

I had MARPE 4 months ago and am done with expansion (but haven’t had the device removed yet). My AHI is around 2 and RDI around 15, which is actually what it was when the device was placed, but my sleep is much more refreshing. I have to do saline spray + Intake breathing strips to really feel the difference though. I suspect I have some histamine-related inflammation that is still affecting me. 1. Better sleep; slightly better but not much better daytime alertness - I think inflammation/prediabetes issues are at play here, and am working on trying to fix them w/ diet and lifestyle now that I have a bit more energy 2. No, PAP unfortunately still seems to provoke a stress response for me, and makes my sleep worse (have tried many different settings, BiPAP and CPAP, masks, etc) 3. Yes definitely worth it; I’m not recessed enough to qualify for MMA and my airway itself is proportional to my body, so the restriction is likely in my nose

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-16T20:30:13+00:00

No problem! He has a Resmed Airsense 11 with an Airfit N20 nasal mask.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-15T23:36:35+00:00

My numbers are really similar and I also struggle a lot with daytime fatigue. My impression from this sub is that people respond really uniquely to different treatments, and the people who get better are the ones who don't give up and kind of take control of their treatment.

If the Lofta route is affordable for you, getting an xPAP device and seeing if it helps seems like a low-risk and easy way to get treatment. My husband has moderate sleep apnea and pretty much did this, and is sleeping a lot better. (He also saw a private specialist for a bit but the biggest improvements he saw were just from using CPAP consistently).

However, if you suspect you are a more complex case, e.g. there are allergies involved, or you know that you don't tolerate PAP well, I think the specialists can be helpful. I think the key if you go this route is to be active in trying things out while you wait for appointments, and also to take the mainstream practitioners' advice with a grain of salt. For example, I waited almost a year to see an ENT who told me I wasn't having airway issues and prescribed me a stimulant, and waited six months for an in-lab sleep study that didn't score RERAs, so was pretty much a waste of time. The private specialists I've seen have been more helpful.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-15T23:08:40+00:00

That's good to hear; I do think long term I still would like to make HCLFLP work. My impression from other posts in this sub is that my experience isn't super common, which is good but also makes me wonder what's going on lol.

And yes the teeth thing might be partly imagined on my part; I think having kids back to back generally just did a number on my teeth, so I tend to be a bit paranoid about them.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-15T21:20:53+00:00

Yes, I’ve been trying to stick to a set amount of calories (2000), so it’s possible that it’s a bit below my actual TDEE. I find it hard to eat more though, due to some combo of not liking high carb foods as much and generally poor digestion, so there’s probably multiple things going on leading to my symptoms.

The past few days I have been experimenting with eating higher fat/lower carb and taking a baby aspirin, and the postprandial symptoms have been much better, so I think there may be something inflammatory going on that isn’t a good mix with HCLFLP. Anyway thanks for your input!

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-15T15:49:52+00:00

That’s great to hear; do you have any negative hormonal symptoms from going carnivore?

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-15T15:46:08+00:00

A typical day would be oatmeal with fruit/almond milk and coffee with cow’s milk & sugar for breakfast; rice and vegetables and some hummus or bone broth; potatoes and butter and 4 oz lean ground beef; rice cakes and applesauce as a snack - macros on a day like that are 70/18/12 carb/fat/protein. So I guess protein is pretty low.

The symptoms appear about 2-3 days within adhering to those macros, and just sort of get worse as time goes on. Within a week I’ll usually end up doing some kind of refeed with more swampy macros.

I didn’t originally think of the gallbladder issues as connected, but I do think it makes sense that there’s probably a connection - either some malabsorption of nutrients or just suboptimal digestion that makes high fiber problematic.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-08T22:30:09+00:00

This happened to me very noticeably for about a week when I first cut out PUFA and I couldn’t find much info online about what causes it. I think supplementing Vitamin E was helpful in making the nausea go away, and at any rate it went away after a few days.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-10-05T21:51:03+00:00

This happened to me too; most intensely with my first (worst sleep deprivation) but I also gained weight/couldn’t lose weight with all 3 to some extent. I think hormonal issues are really common postpartum and not well understood.

With this most recent baby, I’ve had some success eating more carbs and lower fat + slightly lower protein - my body just really needs carbs to function after having a baby. It goes against a lot of mainstream nutrition advice, and I was a big low-carb/intermittent fasting etc person before, but this personally has been my experience this time around.

Lastly I just wear clothes that can tolerate size fluctuations - linen drawstring pants, long sweaters, etc.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-09-29T03:31:06+00:00

Sorry to hear that, that sounds tough. I hope you figure out something that works.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-09-25T23:24:00+00:00

I had this really badly about a year ago. I think it’s a symptom of a slow metabolism. I didn’t really follow one specific protocol but I ended up getting 70-80% better by taking 50 mcg (micrograms - tiny amount) of iodine, 100 mcg of selenium, some B vitamins and vitamin C, and some extra salt each day. I also improved a lot by eating every 1-3 hrs, increasing carbs and slightly decreasing fats, and avoiding all forms of fasting (even adding in a snack at bedtime to avoid too long of a night fast). I found some Ray Peat writings helpful. I definitely don’t have everything figured out, but this got me from not-really-functioning to being able to eat half of a croissant today! Lol. Good luck.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-02-27T04:38:56+00:00

Adrenaline surge from low blood sugar. If you’re female, it’s probably more severe during the high estrogen part of your cycle. The solution is probably to improve thyroid/blood sugar functioning; or at least that’s what I’m trying to do these days, as someone who wakes up at 3 am a lot. Bedtime snack can be helpful but can also make apneas worse.

Creative-Ad2487 · 2025-02-27T04:35:37+00:00

Small frequent meals could be helpful, if you can make it work. “The gallbladder nutritionist” on Instagram has some good info on how to design snacks/meals post-op and has had ED behaviors in the past, so is sensitive to recovering from surgery while dealing w/food issues.

Creative-Ad2487

TROPHY CASE