Mystery Fatigue page

[primitiverenaissance]

I'll apologize now if this has been covered elsewhere, but I've not been able to find anything addressing my personal situation on the forum or the blog proper, so I thought I'd put it to you all for advice. Here's what I'm dealing with:

I went Primal about a year ago, in response to serious hypoglycemia. Within a matter of weeks, the hypoglycemia was gone and I felt great, and that was true for a long time. These days, though, I find myself feeling run down, tired, underperforming on my workout - just generally fatigued a lot of the time. It seems to come in waves, though. For instance, the last week or so, I was high energy, feeling great, but today I'm super fatigued again. I dealt with it on and off this summer, both feeling really tired, but every once in a while being high energy and performing really well.

As far as my lifestyle goes: I get plenty of sleep, I've quit coffee, and I eat a totally Primal diet (typical day is omelet or stir fry breakfast, BAS for lunch, meat and veggies for dinner; snacks might include fruit, mostly grapefruit, berries or apples about 2 servings/day, glass of red wine in the evening). I'm eating basically the same way that I was when I first went Primal (and felt great all the time), as far as macronutrients and all that. I work around 25 hours a week, mostly on my feet, do the LHT 2x a week, and one sprint session per week. I'm also in school full time (last semester!). The only thing about my day-to-day that's different is that a year ago I wasn't working on my feet. On the other hand, I've been dealing with the fatigue on and off through the summer when I wasn't in school. I've tried tinkering with everything I can - more carbs, less carbs, more protein, less protein, etc., but nothing helps.

I'd really appreciate any advice you can give. I'd love to get back to feeling great all the time.

[sixtoesgirl]

After I went primal I started Crossfit. This is when I also felt fatigue. I found that I needed more red meat (iron) and my coach advised to start taking fish oil. Both of those really seemed to help me. Hope this helps you as well. Just letting you know what worked from my personal experience. Keep in mind I am a relative newbie to primal, having only started in March.

[Donnn]

....... These days, though, I find myself feeling run down, tired, underperforming on my workout - just generally fatigued a lot of the time. It seems to come in waves, though. For instance, the last week or so, I was high energy, feeling great, but today I'm super fatigued again. I dealt with it on and off this summer, both feeling really tired, but every once in a while being high energy and performing really well. ..............

When that happens to me it's inadequate sodium. Apparently about 80% of sodium in the typical American diet comes from processed foods. Potassium can make a sodium imbalance worse. Try a half teaspoon of sea salt in water first thing in the a.m. If the problem is inadequate sodium that addition will cause a significant improvement.

[primitiverenaissance]

Thanks for the quick replies! As it turns out, it may be both of those things - thinking back on the times I've felt the best were when I was on vacation this summer at the Gulf - eating a lot of fish at restaurants (aka more salt) and after the Labor Day cookout - lots of red meat grilled with salt. I'll give both of those things a try.

[Knifegill]

Agree. I have to add half of a teaspoon of salt to my dinner every night or I get cramps.

[anjelevil]

I have also been reading posts of others in the same boat.Most others are talking about eating offal and bone marrow as a great energy booster

[Unixmonkey]

Even after going paleo I still felt pretty run down at the start and end of days. My Dr. suggested I talk a mens multivitamin (One a Day) and a probiotic supplement (Alive! Is the brand).

I don't know which had more effect, but I do feel much better. I have very little salt in my diet now (Cordain advised against it), but maybe I'll start adding some back in and see how I feel.

[primitiverenaissance]

@anjelevil: that's good to hear - I get the meat from my cowpool this week, and it includes all the marrow bones, the heart, and the liver.
@Unixmonkey: Glad to know that I'm not the only one dealing with this. I'll bring the multivitamin back and see how it goes. As for probiotics, I've got some homebrew kombucha that should do the trick.

[jfreaksho]

The other thing I didn't see in here was sunshine/vitamin D. Get plenty.

[primitiverenaissance]

Vitamin D I could probably use more of, too. Since school started, my sunbathing time is mostly gone...