Fatigue

Dear Forum Members,

Do you feel extremely tired sometimes? I suffered from almost chronic migraine for over 15 years and migraine made me really tired. The actual cause behind my daily migraines was a my DID and particularly the clash between the angry parts and the gatekeeper. My migraine has been almost non-existent lately. I get some migraine only in some special occasions.

With my migraine usually came a massive fatigue. I was so tired I couldn't think clearly. Last night my 17yo part was really upset for some reason and caused me a massive headache. Now I've felt really tired all the day. It feels like there is something wrong either with the neurotransmitters or glycogen / glucose supply in my brain. Or then something... I mean behind this experience of identity system there is still the brain chemistry.

Does this happen to you? Parts being upset and then causing a massive fatigue.

The writer of this post is the host of the system, 39yo male. (With some help of the alter the system calls "The expert", the academic one.)

i am always tired. it doesn't necessarily correlate with the DID though. it can be from disrupted sleep and not eating enough, etc. that is the reason behind mine. but also just when the other things do get stirred up, it also can play a part, i am sure.

there are some parts that cause extreme tiredness when they are nearby or related to them/DID in general too..but it's not usually the same type as the daily fatigue i have.

DID/OSDD and PTSD/C-PTSD are the big perpetrators behind somatic illnesses. I've had chronic migraines, fatigue, pain, nausea, and a generally weak body overall ever since age 8. Every doctor I went to said they had no idea what was wrong with me and would send me off to a different specialist, put me on medications that didn't work...went through a lot of different medical experiments just because of some somatic symptoms my dumb DID and C-PTSD caused me.

So yeah, what you're experiencing is not uncommon. It's very normal to get physical symptoms along with your mental symptoms. It's a good idea to get checked out by a doctor just in case, though. I assume you've already done that lol since, yeah, 15 years holy crap. People give me wide eyes when I tell them it's been nearly 11 years for me. I wish you the best of luck, man.

Thanks for both systems that answered,

Well it is good to hear that you share the same experiences. I don't use any medication at the moment and my overall health is quite good. This fatigue is kind of minor compared what is used to be. I think some of my alters carry the somatic experience with them.

I kind of forgot what I was writing about... I think my academic alters are having a day off today or something. Writing English becomes much more challenging when they are not present. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences and thank you for being there. It is really nice to get in contact with other systems.

I sometimes get extreme cases of lethargy, where I don't want to sleep, but can't really do anything else. Sometimes I think it relates to frustration, or one or more alters getting frustrated. Sometimes I think I might just have a deficiency of some vitamin or another. Sometimes it happens after rigorous activity, and sometimes doesn't. I haven't been able to figure out a pattern yet.

same here. Have both chronic fatigue & migraines.
Two years ago my migraines were so bad the doctors suspected brain tumor.
Chronic fatigue got my Pdoc to prescribe me Wellbutrin.
But as DID outburst, chronic fatigue was over.

We are always tired. I think it comes from the effort of hiding all the inside stuff. For as far back as I can remember I have been tired, the statement 'you are always tired' has been made so many times to me by people that know me. I sometimes wonder if this is part of the reason things have gradually deteriorated because the effort to remain hidden and the ongoing effort to just survive has become too much. Still tired though.

Some of my fatigue and that of my adopted son is related to having DID. Some of it is physiological: less than ideal nutrition, not enough exercise, inadequate quality sleep, stress not related to dissociation. Working on trauma, as in therapy, can increase the need for sleep temporarily for us but long term it decreases fatigue or frees up more energy, maybe the same thing.

A couple years before I knew about having DID, a psychiatrist prescribed me Provigil for narcolepsy. Whether or not that's valid, it helps so I usually take it daily. Another psychiatrist might well have diagnosed chronic fatigue.

Estuary, your description sounds like my son. For him, a regular job, when he has one, has meant a regular schedule so fewer decisions to be made as to what to do, more available energy. Many studies indicate that the act of decision-making, however minor, reduces available mental energy. I'm talking deliberating about something as mundane which mustard to buy. The greater number of habits you can create, the less you deplete your mental energy. Having many opinions, with a need to come to a consensus among them, is bound to create fatigue at a much faster rate than for non-multiples.

One idea would be to reduce struggle, even if that means "for the first two hours of each day, alter X gets to decide what to do." It works for my system.

Johnny-Jack, we're going to have to keep an eye out for that. It has gotten to the point where almost everything has become a joint decision making exercise. For some reason, that I haven't been able to figure out, picking out silverware and dishes seems to be frequent one. One alter wants the little fork, another wants the fork with the flower design. Whoever is fronting grabs one and another alter doesn't like it because it's too wide, or too narrow. I keep wondering if other people notice the extreme back and forth that happens during this. I can end up picking up and putting down the same couple of utensils multiple times before walking away with one that works. Then there's plates...

We've definitely found that more emotionally difficult therapy sessions will leave us exhausted. I have definitely found that having a regular schedule in the past has helped ground things a lot. But that's been a bit difficult lately.