One of the most common "symptoms" of allergies is not a runny nose or itchy eyes, but instead is that constant battle with fatigue. At one point, I was convinced that I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because I was constantly battling fatigue. Fortunately, I began addressing environmental and food allergies which helped combat not only the allergies, but also the fatigue. At the time though, it never occurred to me that the fatigue was linked to my allergies.
In my experience, I’ve found traditional MDs would rather run tests than try to chase down a food based allergy. My own mother still is seeking the "holy grail"… a pill that will relieve her constant fatigue. She has yet to have a Medical Doctor suggest a food allergy… even though her daughter and her daughter’s children all have food allergies. The doctors don’t ask and my mother doesn’t offer it up either. She’s looking for a pill and her long list of doctors is more than willing to test away. She finally found a doctor who would prescribe thyroid medicine for her. It helped for about 6 weeks… now a year later, she’s dependent upon the medication and she feels more fatigued than ever.
Doug Samuel over at Allergy Details offers a GREAT explanation of the allergy/fatigue connection:
The first is that an allergic reaction is like being sick. Normally, we become sick when we have an infection. The body fights it off, which takes lots of energy. Result: you get tired.An allergy is the body mistakenly thinking that an ordinary substance such as a wheat protein or gluten, is an infection. The body is wrong, but it treats the substance in the same way as an infection. Result: you get tired, just like having the flu or a cold.
The other reason, and I know this happens in my case, is that allergies can affect your sleep. If you can’t sleep properly, you will feel a bit tired the first day, more the next, and eventually you will become chronically fatigued. Add this to the tiring effects of the body fighting the substance you are allergic to, and its not surprising that you get so tired.
If you’re constantly tired…. suspect an allergy. Ask others around you to help "diagnose" you because chances are you’re too run down to accurately see the cause for yourself. Begin by addressing the environment and if that doesn’t help, begin addressing food based allergies. Doug offers a great self test for food allergies on his site and he offers a list of the most common food offenders.
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You’re right. They don’t see fatique as a symptom.
I was terribly tired for a long time before the allergies hit in.
Maybe I could have prevented part of it if the fatique was taken seriously.
Great post! I had the exact same problem. I removed dairy products from my diet. Now I have ten times the energy that I used to have.
[...] Advanced Wellness Solutions liked one of the Allergy Details articles so much (about allergies and fatigue), Kathy quoted most of one of my articles, which is very nice to see, as they had the courtesy to link to Allergy Details not once, but three times. I’m all for being quoted in context, with attribution - that’s what makes the web go ’round! [...]
It makes me wonder if people diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome are actually being misdiagnosed. I can have a run of being tired myself. Perhaps it’s a food allergy, as I’m allergic to so many other things. Why not certain foods?
I was floored for about a week a few weeks back. I went to the doc and found out it was just allergies. I honestly though something was seriously wrong with me, turns out it was just allergies… crazy.
I don’t think fatigue is a symptom for all types of allergies. For example I am allergic to sun and during spring and summer i sneeze all the time when it is very sunny, and that is it. No fatigue or anything else
People making use of thyroid medication must be diagnosed with thyroid before they can get prescribed the medication, there are various doses that can be prescribed and that only depends on the patient’s own body. I don’t think your mother’s GP prescribed thyroid medication without making sure your monther has that condition because that would be so irresponsable.
I’m not a doctor but your mother might need her dosage ad gusted, most probably increased. Hope it all works out for you and your family.
Fatigue is a symptom of many illnesses. Another great post! Thanks.