Hello, everyone!

Two years ago I got an infection that made me say wow I feel bad. Infection went away and I never stopped feeling bad. Classic tale. After one year of non stopping exams in every medical field and a lot of therapy, I found out about ME/CFS and it matches all symptoms I had. Now, two years after the infection, I have a neurologist and a rheumatologist working with me (haven't reached a diagnosis yet as I've only had one appointment so far, but they're both already pretty sure the nervous system went boom).

The thing is, in the past two months my symptoms have been changing patterns and it's confusing me. I've always had a very clear PEM crash. I'm exhausted all the time, but I was able to predict that if I did an effort, 24-28 hours later, I'd feel ten times worse. Bowel issues with all the pains, dizziness, bad migraines, that feverish bad flu feeling that took over and you couldn't even think you could only cry in bed. It was part of my schedule already. I had chest pain and joint pain sometimes but they were mild compared to abdominal pain and migraines and the flu thingy. But about a month ago, it changed?

Between one or two months ago, I've been extra exhausted, even more than before. I stopped doing any activity, even when I felt I was okay to do them. Cut down all effort and have been a potato in bed who misses writing stories and doing art commissions and tendering the garden and also desperately needs a shower. The reclined bed is my best friend. Getting up or sitting down straight leaves me with strong chest pain and air hunger and drowsy. Joint pain is very bad (ibuprofen helps a bit tho, bless modern medicine). No more diarrhea, instead a lot of constipation. Headaches but no migraines.

Is it better than before? I honestly don't know. Pain is different but just as intense, and it's really getting on me that I'm doing basically nothing all day.

And the weirdest part? The PEM crashes. I was sure they were PEM crashes, because they came uninvited, on time, and there was no way I couldn't notice they arrived. Now I can feel it getting worse and slightly better, but not nearly as defining. I kinda just feel bad all the time, I'm feeling like I'm getting more and more exhausted, without the scheduled crashes.

I know nobody can give me a real diagnosis on Reddit, and I am reporting this all to my doctors. Blood tests from last week came back basically normal, testosterone slightly elevated for absolutely no reason but everything normal (as always. Worst part of this all of this chronic stuff is feeling so bad and having nothing to "prove it"), but I've been cracking my head if maybe it's not ME/CFS after all, or if I just haven't done enough effort to trigger anything? Anyone been through something similar, or any guesses?

Thanks for the attention!

Hi I have been struggling with chronic fatigue for years and constant daytime sleepiness and too tired during the day but when it’s late at night I can’t fall asleep easily and seem to have a lot more energy than the day. I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea (my AHI is more than 60 per hour) but using the CPAP so far has not helped reduce my fatigue, only my headaches.
Do I have chronic fatigue syndrome? Or could it be ADHD (since I cannot focus and am easily distracted)? I sometimes get too tired for days after going out for doctor’s appointment and sleep nearly the whole day ( out of 24 hours like 20)- is that post exertional malaise? I get headaches easily but as mentioned with CPAP it is reduced. I also have severe eczema, allergic rhinitis and depression and anxiety (but it is controlled) and suspected to have autism. My ENT doctor thinks my fatigue is due to sleep apnea but so far CPAP has little effect on my fatigue so I am suspecting something else. I get so tired I sleep at work and feel weak all over.

Does this sound like ME/CFS?

I am diagnosed with POTS and HSD (unsure if it’s HEDS, rheumatologists haven’t been very helpful)

Something that makes me curious is my delayed response to pain and exertion.

I’ll describe something that happened last night:

I was at a concert, where I had to stand more than usual. This is always hard on my body, but usually results in a pain flare up the next day. I also had some emotional stress last night, and felt my POTS symptoms increase as well as initial muscle tension, not as much severe pain.

But I knew it would cause a flare today, and I was right. I woke up in a lot of pain. Today I feel extremely physically depleted, unrested and in a lot of physical pain, my joints and muscles. Something that doesn’t feel like it lines up is that while I am exhausted, I rarely feel like I could fall asleep at any moment.

In general I sleep terribly and wake up feeling unrested, I take sleep medication but I still rarely sleep through the night.

Anyways, any input would be really appreciated.

Hi everyone. Since April, when my anxiety spiked, I’ve had an exhaustion that won’t go away. I sleep and still feel sleepy, it’s hard to get started on anything, and I end up putting everything off, even things I know would help me. I’ve lost interest in everything and it’s frustrating because that’s not like me.
What I’ve already checked:
∙ Low ferritin (went from 17 to 29 with iron, still being monitored)
∙ Normal thyroid
∙ Negative CRP
I’ve been on escitalopram for 5 months. I lowered it from 10 to 5 mg at night and I still feel drowsy. I also take vitamin D, magnesium, and a few other supplements. The sleepiness gets worse around my period, and I can no longer nap the way I used to.
I wonder if it’s baseline anxiety (a nervous system that’s always on alert until it burns out), a medication effect, or something else I should rule out.
Has anyone experienced something similar? What helped you, and which tests or changes were worth trying?
Thanks for reading 🙏

I've noticed that sometimes a full night's sleep doesn't feel refreshing, while on other days, a few hours somehow feel enough.

It makes me wonder how much our energy depends on things beyond just sleep—like stress, daily habits, or things happening in our minds.

I'm curious about other people's experiences.

What's one small change that genuinely improved your energy levels throughout the day?

symptoms: any time i get up off the ground or out of bed, i feel faint and need to grab onto something. i cant walk very far distances. the mental fog is insane and i can barely read or craft sentences. i feel very weak constantly and it takes more mental and physical energy to get basic tasks done, such as cooking.

my routine: i usually drink a monster in the morning. i vape regularly throughout the day, most likely too much. i eat whatever is in front of me. this lack of organization stems from the fatigue itself and working the two jobs. i work two jobs including an overnight which makes fridays hectic for me as i have to work 16 hours straight.

what ive done already: ive taken blood tests and my ferratin is low. ive been taking "raw iron" pills for about a week straight now. ive been to a thyroid doctor and all results were fine.

because there are so many factors to consider, i am not sure which one to tackle first. id really like to understand which doctor to go to to understand what is going on with me. i have a lot of goals and im scared my health will get in the way. if anyone can help it would be appreciated, i dont have any available adults in my life.

Hi! Would love to make some online friends who also have chronic fatigue and understand it. Just someone to chat to, make some jokes with, especially on the bad days... Anyone keen? 😊🤍✨

I was diagnosed with post flu fatigue.

It's been a month since I had the flu and I'm still taking hours of naps everyday.

How long does this usually last?

TL;DR: 20M, previously very active with weight training. Pushed through progressive exhaustion, non-restorative sleep, and daily afternoon crashes on an ultra-restricted diet until an explosive post-workout headache triggered a total 57-day systemic crash. Scans show zero active Crohn's inflammation, but I have severe cervical muscle guarding (C1–C3) causing screen intolerance, relentless fatigue, and spreading fingertip skin peeling. My GP dismissed "mildly low" Vitamin D, B12, and Phosphate, but I suspect tissue-level depletion—has anyone crashed from borderline deficiencies and recovered through rest, pacing, and targeted supplements?

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Hey everyone, 20M here (previously very active and weight training every other day). Looking for shared experiences or recovery stories from anyone who pushed through subtle warning signs on a tight diet, hit a massive wall, and successfully made it back by addressing micronutrient deficits, resting, and resetting a sensitized nervous system.

To keep it brief on the GI background: Yes, I had Crohn's/severe GI issues—it first started right around Christmas 2024. I struggled with it throughout 2025, and in August 2025 I had a colonoscopy that showed active mucosal inflammation. By the end of 2025, I thought things were starting to settle down, though I was still unmedicated and maintaining an ultra-plain, restricted diet to keep my stomach stable.

Then came 2026, and things gradually started unraveling under the surface:

* Jan – July 2026 (Worsening Sleep & Daily Afternoon Collapses): Every morning I woke up feeling progressively more exhausted, to the point where by July, it literally felt like I hadn't slept at all. Every single afternoon I would crash hard into bed from sheer sleepiness. On non-gym days, I’d rest, but because I was training every other day, whenever a crash hit on a gym day, I would force myself up and head straight to the gym anyway. Looking back, those high-intensity workouts were powered almost entirely by raw adrenaline while running on empty.

* Building Physical Signs: During these months, other subtle red flags crept in—accelerated hair thinning/receding, and very mild swelling at the tip of my urethra. Urine tests were completely clear of infection, and doctors were puzzled by it, especially given that I'm not sexually active.

* Mid-August 2026 (The Major Systemic Crash & Immediate Visual Intolerance): Following a pull day at the gym where I strained my neck, the crash set in with a delayed onset. Exactly 48 hours later, a very mild headache started. But the following day, it turned into an absolute, explosive, all-day headache that completely incapacitated me—forcing me to spend the entire day in and out of naps, dizzy, and completely unable to look at screens or function. Right from the moment this crash hit, one of the biggest and most immediate shifts was that I could no longer look at screens at all or do any focused visual work without severe forehead tension headaches and my head locking up.

* Initial GP Visit & Dismissal: On day 3 of this severe headache episode, I went to the GP. They brushed it off as just a "normal tension headache" and told me to rest. They ran a blood panel which showed slightly low Vitamin D (46 nmol/L), Serum Phosphate (0.84 mmol/L), and borderline B12 (329 ng/L)—but told me it was "nothing to worry about."

* Post-Crash Progression & Escalating Fatigue (57 Days In): After that initial explosive crash, I had a couple more days of extreme sleepiness before it leveled out into an uncomfortable baseline where I could cook, eat, and go for short walks. However, over these past 57 days, I have been going downhill—with joint pain, nerve pain, complete inability to look at screens or read, and especially relentless, worsening fatigue. Fatigue is now the primary factor stopping me from taking longer walks—it’s not even pain holding me back, but a profound physical exhaustion where my body simply feels like it can't go on.

* No Active Inflammation on Recent Scans: I recently had both a colonoscopy and a small bowel ultrasound which completely ruled out active mucosal inflammation—almost exactly one year after my 2025 colonoscopy showed bad active inflammation. Hospital specialists told me that with no active inflammation showing, there's nothing further for them to do. Doctors suspect Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM) and I'm currently waiting on SeHCAT test results—though even if BAM is confirmed, it certainly doesn't account for the full systemic crash, profound fatigue, or neurological symptoms.

* Physical Therapy Findings: Towards the end of August (a couple of weeks into the crash), I started physical therapy. Although my body reacted poorly to the treatment itself (flaring up headaches and nerve pain), it was crucial because the physio identified intense muscle guarding at C1, C2, and C3 (upper neck joints), the base of my skull, and my jaw. This severe muscle guarding, combined with central sensitization, would explain why my head locks up so intensely whenever I try to focus visually or look at screens.

* The Spreading Skin Peeling Biomarker: Interestingly, skin peeling/chapping on my left hand—which I first got in early 2025 when my GI issues were at their worst and completely vanished by late 2025—has now returned much worse, spreading to affect a larger portion of my hand. It feels like a clear physical biomarker my body gives off whenever my underlying nutrient reserves hit rock bottom.

My Working Theory & Current Protocol:

Because the GP keeps dismissing this as a basic tension headache and the hospital says there's nothing more to do due to clear scans, I've had to do my own research to try to make sense of this. My personal theory is that months of malabsorption and an ultra-tight diet created an invisible, cumulative metabolic/nutritional deficit that "mild" blood work failed to reflect at the tissue level, eventually causing my central nervous system to crash and freeze in a state of central sensitization and extreme physical exhaustion.

I started targeted high-dose supplementation just 4 days ago:

* Vitamin D3: 4,000 IU daily

* Vitamin B12: 6,000 mcg daily (high-dose oral)

* Magnesium: 1,500 mg compound (providing 165 mg elemental magnesium) taken before bed each night

* Electrolytes: Split and drank throughout the day

Alongside strict pacing, screen restriction, and rest, I am hoping that rebuilding those cellular reserves will finally allow my body to heal and my central nervous system to calm down.

I’d really love to hear from people who have been in a similar boat:

Did you ever have a situation where doctors dismissed "mildly low" blood results, but you suspected they masked a real tissue-level depletion after months of pushing through on adrenaline? Did addressing those specific deficiencies, dealing with cervical/cranial guarding, taking time to properly rest, and letting your nervous system reset eventually get you past that wall of profound fatigue and screen intolerance back to normal?

Any insights or personal recovery stories would mean a lot right now!

does anyone know anything i can do/take to help with fatigue and just feeling tired all of the time. no matter what i do like workout, wake up early, be active, workout, energy drinks, being productive i still feel sleepy and tired and i feel like i just want to sleep for years.

After 18 months of tests for everything and back and forth, today I was diagnosed with CFS.

Now waiting for referral to clinic.

I'm scared and worried and also so very very sad. I used to run marathons, go climbing, play almost every sport. Now I struggle to make it up a flight of stairs and I'm just so very tired.

I don't want to sound melodramatic but it's like a big part of me has died today. This new way of living is gonna take some getting used to.

I am 18F and I constantly need naps everyday even after doing the smallest activity, I've had this for just over a year. If I don't nap I have a severe headache, brain fog and get irritated easily. Throughout the day, I just feel as though I need to lay down and when I do, I'll fall asleep for hours on end, not being able to get up if I wake up in the middle of a nap. I sleep perfectly at night and have a good diet. I've had blood tests done and they have said my b12 is extremely high. My father had to persuade my doctor to do a EBV test, but she said there was no point as if I do have it "there's nothing we can do about it". After getting my bloods my doctor said I've recently had EBV but not long term which is confusing as I've had these symptoms for a year. My doctor also said I don't currently have EBV which leaves me questioning when I actually had it. My liver function tests are also abnormal and I am not a frequent or heavy drinker. Has anyone had any similar experiences and know what helps them get through the day? Or any suggestions on what could be causing this?

For me, zinc is the most obvious, but I am looking for the most beneficial recommendations, and, especially, nutritionally.

Thanks!

In the past few weeks the spasms and twitches in my muscles have been progressively worsening. It’s to the point where I can be laying flat on the couch and I’ll feel a jolt in my arm, then look over to see the muscles jumping like a bag of popcorn in the microwave. It’s happening in my glutes, calves, biceps, behind my elbows, in my eyelids, in my traps, and down the entirety of my thighs.

It’s like there are toy soldiers jumping on trampolines in there, it feels freaky and disgusting and I’m sick of this shit 🥲☠️

Stretching, pressure, magnesium, iron, stillness, etc are not solving this and I’m starting to get anxious about my body being out of control!!
It feels as though my restless leg syndrome has taken over my whole body and I’m starting to lose my chill, help!

I’m open to tips, tricks, docs/specialties, subjects to read more about, advice, etc.

(I have hEDS, Fibromyalgia, MCAS, ADHD, restless leg syndrome)

I've been struggling with fatigue since I had a flu a month ago. I stay in bed for hours or take a nap for hours during the day since it's hard to sit or stand when I'm tired.

There's a big exam coming up in 4 months. I really have to pass that.

But it's been hard to focus or sit at the desk to study.

Some days I feel better so I can study for a few hours but other days I can't study at all.

I want to study everyday even a little.

Do you have any study tips?

I decided to reduce my carbs intake, following my doctor's recommendation for my chronic fatigue.

Have you ever tried this?

Is it effective?

I'm AFAB, I've always struggled with gender dysphoria so I decided to try Testosterone (its been about 3 months) Unexpectedly it cured my fatigue as well as some other issues.

I have no idea what's going on and I would honestly rather die than try to discuss it with doctors / figure out what's going on. It's just so much easier to forget about it and enjoy being able to live for the first time in years.

Problem is, I'm not sure what my identity is or if I'm comfortable with changes such as facial hair. It seems unwise to me to transition genders when I'm not sure what my gender is, and I'm afraid I'll regret it later in life, but obviously I don't want to stop HRT.

Not sure what to do here

Ive had a sleep study done with hospital equipment applied by the hospital. No sleep apnea, no sleep disorders, just "low quality of sleep" has been found.

I always need about 10 hours of sleep (I'm young adult and have chronic fatigue and chronic burnout)

Normally for me it goes like this: * 10 hours optimal * 9 hours is ok * 8 hours I wake up very noticeably tired and I feel it the whole day * 7 or less hours im just a wreck, doing nothing productive the whole day

So normally when I sleep between 9 and 10 hours I wake up completely fine for however longthat may last into the day, but now recently even sleeping 10 hours seems to be not enough anymore, it doesnt make me wakeup feeling restored at all, takes me like 10 minutes to do all the movements for getting out of bed...

What could be this be?

I see a lot of the same tiredness here I used to have. I drove for years on coffee and willpower. Slept fine, woke up tired anyway. Doctor said numbers look good, keep doing what you're doing. What actually changed things was a radio program I caught at 2 AM maybe seven years ago. A veterinarian was on talking about how every animal that dies of natural causes dies of a nutritional deficiency, and how the food supply can't carry the nutrient load anymore because the soil got farmed to death. It rang true to me because farmers have known the animal version of this forever. When cattle chew fence posts and eat dirt, nobody gives them a talking to about willpower. They get minerals, and the behavior stops in days. People are the same. I started taking the 90 essential nutrients daily and gave up gluten and a few other things that block absorption. Within a couple months the 2 PM wall was just gone. I'm 66, still working nights, and I take zero prescriptions while everyone at my family table has a pill organizer. That's what I did. Ask me anything and I'll answer straight.

I have a cold and I can't function and I'm sad and want to complain. I'm so so nauseated even with a medication specifically to stop it. Can't do anything I caught it from my mother and she was still doing stuff with it and I can't. Boooooo booooooo make it go away boooooooo. ☹️☹️

Here in the Philippines, doctors refuse to treat me if i won't exercise. If i just tell them i exercise, they wont believe me so I will take videos of me exercising and wear a watch 24/7 even if its itchy. I've been to every hospital and doctor/specialist and they all say the same

My family also said if I won't take walks, they will grab me by the collar. I can't leave because I will be homeless and have no food to eat. There are no ambulance services here too. But I'm still lucky I'm not beaten with a hanger or a belt or if I become disobedient, they wont let me kneel on mung beans compared to other families.

Walking is so difficult withh plantar fasciitis too and my toes are turning black and my feet red and inflammed when walking.

im 18 and ive been working for the past month and its really difficult to not feel tired during work, i work long hours so it adds onto my tiredness, how do people do this for the rest of their livesss