Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Nursing?????

[morningland]

I have never been diagnosed with CFS but for the past 5 years, on almost a daily basis, I have been tired from almost the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. I have small pockets of energy here and there but for the most part, I have a debilitating fatigue to deal with. It made classes very hard when I was finishing my pre-reqs, I would practicly fall asleep in my books.

I worry that it is going to affect my carrear as a nurse. Can anyone relate to this or offer advice?

[llg, PhD, RN]

What does your doctor say about it? Have you investigated this as thoroughly as you can? Have you had a complete physical focused on finding the cause of this problem? etc. That's the key. Get a good diagnosis and deal with the cause.

Employers can't begin to make accommodations until you can document whatever condition you have.

[morningland]

I've talked to doctors about it and they can not tell me what exactly is wrong with me. I agree though, I should go in and have a full, focused exam on this one particular issue but there is one problem... I am un-insured and my budget is stretched thin because I haven't gotten the finacial aid I need to fund this type of thing.

I don't know how much Doctors can help me though. Western Medicine, as amazing as it is, has still let a certain spirit of pride and maybe even greed keep it from properly diagnosing certain health problems. I have researched it and I suspect that the problem may be caused from a build up of Candida build up in my body. Candida is a yeast that can build up in the human body and cause a list of ailments including chronic fatigue. Here is why I suspect Candida....

1. I first noticed the fatigue about six months after I started eating a strick vegitarian diet. I never had the fatigue before this and I started eat lots of products with wheat gluten in them. I do not believe strick vegitarinism is healthy for all people and I suspect all the wheat led to a build up of the candida in my body.

2. Around the time I began feeling the symptoms, yeast spots began to develop on my chest. They were never their before I became a vegitarian and have always been in place since the fatigue started. Doctors just wrote them off as blemishs and told me they were nothing to worry about but I don't agree.

I am in the starting to prepare mentally for a colon cleanse followed by a candida fast to hopefully starve it out of my body. I don't know if this is the real cause of the fatigue but it seems worth a try.

[keithjones]

did you try going back to the diet you had prior to the problems? if you do A and have no problems, switch to doing B and have problems, what is your first troubleshooting step? treat the symptoms caused by B, or switch back to A and see if symptoms persist? basic nursing question it seems.

[Blondie24]

Sounds like you have iron deficiency anemia, mostly likely from your vegan diet.

You aren't getting enough of the minerals and such that you need. I bet if you start taking an iron supplement (available at any drug store...try Slow Fe), you'll see a marked improvement in your fatigue. Try it. Good luck.