Dealing with fatigue

I’ve had fatigue on and off my whole life - at one point we thought it was “excess daytime sleepiness” from sleep apnea, did a sleep study and found (surprised) Moderate sleep apnea. Treated that for some time with modafinil and cpap. But I don’t think that was it - I’ve since had surgery to correct the nasal structures that were a problem, zero desats at night, but still fatigue comes and goes. Mostly it gets a little better but never disappears. I like many I’ve ready here budget my time and sometimes go into danger, conserve mode - which has not been good for my marriage in many ways.

How do folks here feel about treating fatigue pharmacologically while on the road to treatment? I’m going to try modafinil again since I’m familiar with it, I feel like the fatigue is starting to bring me to a level of depression that makes me uncomfortable and I have to do something or I might end up on too big a whole to be comfortable in.

One main downside is that it could obscure progress my treatment is having, but that’s moving really slow because I am sensitive. I think I’m ok with this - at some point I will probably intuit that I can come off and see how I feel.

Another downside is that it is quite a strong drug - can make it hard to sleep at night, which might mean some help them to sleep. But again I think I’m ok with that potential trade offs in order to just fall deeper into a hole.

A positive is that for me it doesn’t have the habituation effects of classic stimulants like used for ADHD, and bupropion another choice I don’t think has enough “heft.”

Anyway I’m curious what everyone here thinks of this approach. Part of my creeping depression is that I have a high visibility job in Silicon Valley and all these days spent on the couch aren’t just getting me down, at some point they’re going to be really noticed.

In my treatment we have just begun. 3 weeks into w six week basic mold detox, and replenishing deficient vitamins b12, folate, d, etc. in another three weeks we will do the whole IGeneX panel to identify coinfwctions and hopefully my vitamins and other systems will be a bit more balanced and stable and we can add more aggressive treatments like IV ozone, and whatever else the coinfections dictate.

I’m also adding scalar rife and some other techniques but I see them all as complementary so far.

Thanks. Just trying to get by and not fall into a pit.

Thanks for the reply! I've thought about some of these same things. My experience taking modafinil years ago for excessive sleepiness was certainly that it's not "free energy," but through the dopaminergic and other pathways it helped me get through most days. Unfortunately at the time I also fell into a pattern of using zolpidem every night due to concomitant chronic pain (it was a trade-off between narcotics or something to just help sleep).

I can't really take a few weeks, or a few months, off. I'm sure my company would say they were supportive, but happily move on. This isn't a disability kind of situation. I can't imagine being sick for years - although arguably that's exactly what I have been, it just crept up on me!

I am toning down some of my athletic pursuits. Training has been one of the last things to get cut - this week I had to skip weight lifting because I knew that my budget was so poor that if I trained, I would be COMPLETELY kaput. Years ago with the sleepiness and fatigue I often had to just come home from work at noon and sleep. I would also just go to sleep - often REM sleep - as soon as I had a moment, even if it was in an executive meeting or standing waiting for a bus. I had become so accustomed to just being tired, that the idea of feeling tired didn't even register, and I would go until my body and brain decided not to. It really looked like narcolepsy from the outside.

Fortunately I have a better sense of myself now and retreat when I get tired and fatigued. But I can't keep things up by going to lay down as soon as the Zoom meeting ends and set a timer for the next one. There is stuff that needs to happen in the meantime.

Perhaps something more subtle like a Wellbutrin might help, at least with the mood, and be more mild.

“ i really do not think mood altering pharma drugs are a long term solution to your issues “

Totally agree.


So if you’re not sleeping well it’s going to impact your energy the next day - what have you tried to help you sleep?

Here’s what my husband uses - he chooses a couple of the following every night;
Ashwaganda, melatonin, valerian, l-theanine.

Worth a try

The things Garzi posted for sleep are great, but I have to add getting some sun even if it's cloudy or rainy in the morning. Helps to set the circadian rhythm. Also, try to go get up at about the same time every day.