For Women with ADHD ADD Who Want to Connect

Could my exhaustion be ADHD related?

Hey ladies,

I just had a nap cos I was super tired. It's something I have to do at least once a week. I just find that when I go out and do stuff even just for a few hours I get home and feel absolutely shattered.

I can rule out depression, cos at the moment I'm not depressed (woo!!). It's also not my thyroid cos that's been checked just last week in a routine test. I'm thinking of getting my iron checked again, but every other time it's been checked it's been fine, except when I was pregnant, and it's been checked since I was pregnant.

I'm wondering if I should talk to someone about it, as it is debilitating. But when I talk to drs about my mental issues they assume I'm making it up cos they don't read my file and my dr didn't diagnose me, psychiatrists elsewhere did, and then when they read it they're like, 'oh, well, umm...' Helpful! Seriously, drs have no idea when it comes to mental health. To them, everyone is depressed. Even physical ailments are caused by your depression. Not bad enough to medicate though (or, here, I'll over medicate you).

Sorry, off topic. Hehe. So, yeah, exhaustion. Always had it, as long as I can remember. Can I attribute it to ADHD? I'm combined type, having my hyper moments. I was thinking maybe cos our brains have to work so much harder to stay on task, and spend so much time bouncing around, maybe this is what's causing it.

I'd love to hear some of your experiences with this so I can hopefully understand myself better. :)

Fran

Tags: exhaustion, fatigue

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Permalink Reply by HoppingBunnyRabbitGal on July 30, 2012 at 6:40pm

From what I've read, and my own experiences, it does seem there's a link between ADD & fatigue. For one thing, a lot of us have sleep issues because our brains don't want to shut off at night and then we're tired in the morning.

Don't know where you live, but I'm smack-dab in the middle of the US and it's pretty hot here - hot weather wears me out like the very devil. I've taken more naps this summer than I did when the weather was a reasonable temperature. In fact, sometimes I notice that when I'm out in the heat I'm just all fumbly, can't think, like in the grocery store line getting my checkbook out and writing I'm just shaky, mind doesn't want to work, etc. Get me back in the AC and I'm better.

I'm also sure I have sleep apnea - I have had the snoring and the waking up gasping for breath, even to the point of having a dream about being unable to breathe, which woke me up. I don't want to do the sleep clinic/CPAP thing at this point, so I've trained myself to sleep on my side, which does seem to help some.

Oh, and staying hydrated, that helps lessen fatigue. Keep the water bottle handy!

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Permalink Reply by Flora on July 31, 2012 at 6:49am

Yeah, my psychotherapist says it's totally possible. There's also something called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome... I'm looking into reading material on that.

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Permalink Reply by Littlenknoo on August 1, 2012 at 12:19am

There has to be a link between the two. I was just saying how I'm glad I work only five hours at a time because it starts to hurt my brain staying focused after about 3 hours! My thought is at the reasoning behind the exhaustion were prone to is that it takes us more energy than the average person to focus. I find that yoga and meditation as well as long walks help keep things in balance.

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Permalink Reply by Red Fox on August 2, 2012 at 6:25am

Thank you for replying ladies :)

Littlenknoo, my theory is similar to yours, we have to work harder to do most stuff which logically is pretty exhausting.

HoppingBunnyRabbitGal (your screen name makes me happy :) ) I'm working on staying hydrated now, thank you for the reminder! And I've started taking some vitamins which I bought for my husband and he doesn't like taking them *sigh* fixing other people is so much easier if they co-operate (fixing myself would be easier if my brain co-operated!!!). It's winter here, but I know what you mean. When the sun is out our lounge gets so warm and sunny and the lay-z-boy is sooo hard to resist, and once I'm sitting a snooze is inevitable. It just seems like to even have a hope of functioning in the morning I need to have had at least 9hrs sleep. Of course I never remember that in the evening and go to bed earlier. But then I find I have very active dreams, and sometimes just dreaming is exhausting. Stupid brain. I also sleep really deeply, which means it's not particularly interrupted. If the baby is crying at night it's hubby's problem ;)

Well done on self managing of your own sleeping issues. Sleep apnea is scary. I don't have that, thank goodness.

Flora, I looked a little into CFS. The internet varies widely on its facts. I need to talk to a good friend who has it to get some solid information. I've thought for a while it's a possibility. I might talk to my psychologist about it next time I see her.

thanks again :D

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Permalink Reply by HoppingBunnyRabbitGal on August 16, 2012 at 9:29pm

Briar, I'm like that too - need lots of sleep just to function, and my meds give me stupid crazy convoluted dreams that wear me out. Some days it's better or worse than others. Hope you're having some luck getting what you need for your situation.