Good news: My blood work came back just fine, nothing abnormal!
Bad news: My blood work came back just fine, nothing abnormal....
The purpose of the blood work was to check for contributing factors for anemia, such as low iron. The iron's fine, the Vitamin D is a little low (but that's to be expected since we're nearing the end of winter and haven't seen much sun lately), and my blood cell counts are all good.
Even my thyroid is fine. No hypothyroidism here.
No pain in my limbs and back, so it's not fibromyalgia.
So what's next?
It's unlikely that it's a sleep disorder since fatigue is the only symptom I have. I sleep at least 8 hours per night, often 9 or 10, and I don't wake up more than once per night. I sleep all the way through, I don't snore, and none of my roommates has said that I have woken up gasping for breath as if I'd stopped breathing in my sleep (these are all symptoms of sleep apnea). It would appear I sleep just fine. I just don't feel rested when I wake up. I feel TIRED when I wake up.
My doctor said that this indicates some sort of disconnect with my sleep - that is, I sleep, but I don't REST. He said if the blood work comes back normal (which it has), and a sleep specialist has nothing to say (he'll decide on a referral to one tomorrow), then it's probably Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or CFS.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to be sure because there's no test for CFS and there's no cure. It's more like a diagnosis that comes after ruling out a bunch of other things, which is what my doctor is in the process of doing. It's a syndrome that some doctors don't even take seriously, which makes me a little frustrated. I already have trouble convincing people that this exhaustion is real, and now DOCTORS are saying it's not real? Good grief.
So anyway, that's where I'm at. Thank you so much for all of your prayers the last two weeks. I really appreciate all of you. :)
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