Feeling tired, drained and somewhat depressed

[Pixilated]

I can see I'm making progress with packing and disposal and whatnot ... yet this is the second day in a row when I haven't gotten up before noon. I'm just so tired of dealing with all this stuff.

Fellow volunteer advised that metaformin can really drag you out. That's probably part of it, but not all of it.

Somebody please tell me to get off my duff and get moving ...

[Mytical]

First...get off your duff and get moving. Second..start small, go slow, and take care of yourself. Metformin can drag you out, so can diabetes (the most common thing that Metformin is prescribed for). Stress...depression..a lot can wear you down..so do what you can. *hugs*

[Pixilated]

Thanks, Mytical.

Got a major project started (re-covering kitchen chair seats so I can donate the set instead of having to throw it out). Got 2 chairs done, one to go (have to replace the screws as I took that chair apart some time ago and, of course, now have no idea where I put the screws.) That's the last big thing that has to go.

Not quite diabetic yet but I'm on the road there.

Hope you are feeling okay. Best to you and Marmalady.

[Mytical]

You want to do whatever it takes to stop the process of getting diabetes if you can. Once you get it, almost impossible to recover. Good on you for getting some major stuff started and such.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

You want to do whatever it takes to stop the process of getting diabetes if you can. Once you get it, almost impossible to recover. Good on you for getting some major stuff started and such.

That's true enough.

My mom has Type 2 and takes the Metformin, along with Byetta and Lantus SoloStar insulin.

Right now, I'm the one who's drained . . . physically and mentally. Why? I'm the one dealing with all the laundry, all the cooking and the cleaning BY MYSELF b/c my mom has no energy whatsoever. And on top of that, she's been having some nausea and feeling under the weather.

She went to the doctor last month (her energy has been lagging for almost a year) and the doctor wanted to try her on Zoloft, even though she's not depressed. Two weeks of that, and she was having nausea and diarrhea, so she stopped taking it (not to mention her face was starting to get puffy)

Flash forward to last Monday: she had another doctor's appointment and thought she was ready to leave. Got on the SCAT bus to come home (she travels that way b/c she's in a wheelchair) and dispatch called the driver to bring her straight back - it was an emergency!

So Mom gets back to the doctor's office and they check her blood sugar and blood pressure again - she felt okay but they finally figure out what was going on (her readings had been way high lately and we thought it may be the meter going out)

Her body has stopped producing insulin.

So now they're trying to adjust her Lantus (she's currently on 60 ccs) to get it down to where it's more normal without putting her into the hospital.

And they gave her another medication to try, which she started feeling sick around Thursday and the nurse at the office told her to stop taking it for a couple of days to see if the nausea went away. If it didn't, then Mom probably picked up a virus (not surprising at a doctor's office, BTW.)

So she's going to start back on the medication (Celexa) and see if it helps any. So in the meantime, she's still trying to take it easy and nothing's been done inside the house since before the holidays last year!!!

So I've been trying to dig it out room at a time by myself . . . got the living room and dining room done pretty much now. If we can tackle her bedroom, which has a TON of dust (which I think is also making her feel bad) we'll have it made.

But Mytica's right: a little bit at a time every day (or every other day) but you'll eventually get there. Just don't overdo it.

[telecom_goddess]

Wow...I'm taking Metformin and have a lack of energy but I've always had that and really don't think the metformin is doing it. In spite of the lack of energy I still manage to get a lot of crap done every single week.

And there is no way I can sleep in until noon, I would go nuts.

[AccountingDrone]

So now they're trying to adjust her Lantus (she's currently on 60 ccs) to get it down to where it's more normal without putting her into the hospital.

CCs or units? There are 100 units per CC, frex I am on 12 units of lantus ... and I am fairly typical.

[Pixilated]

I don't know how much the lack of energy is the Metformin and how much is just my usual summer blahs ... I hate summer. Well ... summer in southern Ontario, anyway. It's nonstop hot and humid and I just find it really draining. I find myself feeling more energized around 2 or 3 p.m., when, coincidentally, the sun has drifted over the top of the building and I'm no longer getting direct sunlight in my apartment. I think I'm turning into a vampire ...

Dropped some small appliances off at a small shop whose owner is connected to people who will pull them apart and recycle what they can. I called an organization to pick up my kitchen table and chairs ... and was told they would charge $25 for the pickup. Um, what?? And a reporter at the paper told me that an organization (I think it's this very same one) is "desperate" for supplies for needy people. Well ... if you're going to make people pay for donating stuff (oh, AND if you don't return their phone calls!), what do you expect?

Mom's doctor says mom's dementia is worsening, which is no surprise. So now I'm worried that I'll get there, she'll have to go into a nursing home, and I'll be stuck in that house with no job and no money.

Yep, borrowing trouble again ...

[AccountingDrone]

I don't know how much the lack of energy is the Metformin and how much is just my usual summer blahs ... I hate summer. Well ... summer in southern Ontario, anyway. It's nonstop hot and humid and I just find it really draining. I find myself feeling more energized around 2 or 3 p.m., when, coincidentally, the sun has drifted over the top of the building and I'm no longer getting direct sunlight in my apartment. I think I'm turning into a vampire ...

Mom's doctor says mom's dementia is worsening, which is no surprise. So now I'm worried that I'll get there, she'll have to go into a nursing home, and I'll be stuck in that house with no job and no money.

Yep, borrowing trouble again ...

Sorry about your mum, mine is midstage alzheimers now. Luckily she hasn't lost her sweet disposition, and is content to sit at home and veg in front of the TV. She still remembers to get her morning coffee and pills, and my brother is her caregiver, and leaves her a muffin for breakfast, and a sandwich for lunch and she still remembers to eat them. He is now arranging for a person to come in and make sure she gets a shower 2 days during the week, and he does her laundry. We think that she will be OK at home for at least another year or two.

Funny how summers in the north [I am from outside Rochester NY] can be so hot and muggy? I swear that it wasn't half as nasty in Virginia.

I always found that if I can swim it doesn't seem as bad. But then again, I am pretty nocturnal myself.

[Pixilated]

Sorry about your mum, mine is midstage alzheimers now. Luckily she hasn't lost her sweet disposition, and is content to sit at home and veg in front of the TV. She still remembers to get her morning coffee and pills, and my brother is her caregiver, and leaves her a muffin for breakfast, and a sandwich for lunch and she still remembers to eat them. He is now arranging for a person to come in and make sure she gets a shower 2 days during the week, and he does her laundry. We think that she will be OK at home for at least another year or two.

Funny how summers in the north [I am from outside Rochester NY] can be so hot and muggy? I swear that it wasn't half as nasty in Virginia.

I always found that if I can swim it doesn't seem as bad. But then again, I am pretty nocturnal myself.

Swimming sounds like a good idea ... I'll have to see where the public pools are in My Hometown and what the fees are. Mostly I tend to shower a lot, LOL. Not the scrub-a-layer-of-skin-off shower, more a quick dip to bring the body temperature down. I hate depending on air conditioners -- I didn't used to need them. Ugh. Winter can return any time it likes!

I'm glad to hear your mum is doing OK at home, AccountingDrone. She sounds like a lovely person.

Mine no longer even watches TV. She sits on the sofa, drinks coffee or Coke, and chainsmokes. That's it. I will consider it a victory if I can even get her to sit on the front porch now and again. And if I can figure out how to operate her DVD player maybe we can at least watch movies together every day or so. I plan to join a local Alzheimer's support group to get some directions and ideas. And I don't mean to sound like a b*tch but mine has never had a sweet disposition! The person she is becoming now is basically the person she always was, minus the short-term memory (she remembers her coffee but not her meds, perhaps partly because she initially refused to accept the diagnoses of at least two separate doctors. "I don't have high blood pressure! I don't have thyroid problems! I don't have diabetes! I feel fine!!!")

[Gizmo]

I don't know how much the lack of energy is the Metformin and how much is just my usual summer blahs ... I hate summer. Well ... summer in southern Ontario, anyway. It's nonstop hot and humid and I just find it really draining. I find myself feeling more energized around 2 or 3 p.m., when, coincidentally, the sun has drifted over the top of the building and I'm no longer getting direct sunlight in my apartment. I think I'm turning into a vampire ...

I'm similar - I'm awake early but around noon I start to slow down and feel like I'm in a sauna. I've actually arranged to work earlier hours so that I can get out earlier and get home before the sun gets really hot (especially since I walk for 3/4hr a day or more to and from work). It is helping somewhat.

I'm better around the evening time but then I struggle to sleep so it starts the body clock going wrong. I think it will need a reset this weekend... All night gaming it is!

[AccountingDrone]

Swimming sounds like a good idea ... I'll have to see where the public pools are in My Hometown and what the fees are. Mostly I tend to shower a lot, LOL. Not the scrub-a-layer-of-skin-off shower, more a quick dip to bring the body temperature down. I hate depending on air conditioners -- I didn't used to need them. Ugh. Winter can return any time it likes!

I'm glad to hear your mum is doing OK at home, AccountingDrone. She sounds like a lovely person.

Mine no longer even watches TV. She sits on the sofa, drinks coffee or Coke, and chainsmokes. That's it. I will consider it a victory if I can even get her to sit on the front porch now and again. And if I can figure out how to operate her DVD player maybe we can at least watch movies together every day or so. I plan to join a local Alzheimer's support group to get some directions and ideas. And I don't mean to sound like a b*tch but mine has never had a sweet disposition! The person she is becoming now is basically the person she always was, minus the short-term memory (she remembers her coffee but not her meds, perhaps partly because she initially refused to accept the diagnoses of at least two separate doctors. "I don't have high blood pressure! I don't have thyroid problems! I don't have diabetes! I feel fine!!!")

I have always loved water, I could swim before I could walk

Dementia of any sort sucks. The body is there but the person you grew up with isn't.

[Pixilated]

I'm similar - I'm awake early but around noon I start to slow down and feel like I'm in a sauna. I've actually arranged to work earlier hours so that I can get out earlier and get home before the sun gets really hot (especially since I walk for 3/4hr a day or more to and from work). It is helping somewhat.

I'm better around the evening time but then I struggle to sleep so it starts the body clock going wrong. I think it will need a reset this weekend... All night gaming it is!

I used to be a morning person. When I went to high school I would get up at 6 a.m., fix myself a huge breakfast (mom said, "If you think I'm getting up at that hour to cook you breakfast, thank again!" Can't say I blame her ...) and then do the 20-minute walk to school.

Not sure what happened or when to turn me into such a night owl.

I have always loved water, I could swim before I could walk

Dementia of any sort sucks. The body is there but the person you grew up with isn't.

I swim like a rock. But I like to think that means I use up more energy trying to get across the pool than a good swimmer.

about you mom. What I feel worst about with mine is that she just sits and does nothing -- all day. When I'm there I think I should be doing something to engage her, but I have no idea what.

[Gizmo]

I used to be a morning person. When I went to high school I would get up at 6 a.m., fix myself a huge breakfast (mom said, "If you think I'm getting up at that hour to cook you breakfast, thank again!" Can't say I blame her ...) and then do the 20-minute walk to school.

I tend to wake up with the sun...even with blackout blinds so that it is still 'pitch dark' in the room! And I'm the sort of person I'm either terminally sleepy and irritable or up and out straight away. (But not a breakfast person - now days I can't eat or drink much until I've been up 2hrs+ ).

As for being a night owl.. I've had insomnia since my teens - I've got it to a fine art where I am almost nicer and more chirpy and balanced about 36-50 hours after proper sleep than on a normal 24hr day schedule. The last day of a convention every one hates me as I've had 3-4hrs sleep all weekend and I'm as chirpy as larry.