Last updated:
25-Sep-2008
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Lack of Energy: Not a Normal Sign of Aging
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Helpful?
20/21
found this blog post helpful.
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Thanks for sharing your three interesting -- and very different -- examples of excessive tiredness masking an underlying problem.
My father who just turned 90 has been going through this for about a couple of years - about the time he told me he'd been told he had a high platelet level and had been put on hydroxurea; he thought he would be taken off when his levels went down but the doc said he was now on it for the rest of his life for risk of stroke; however, I found out the risk is not the great (I do realize the consequences could be though if he did have one; but do we want to have this kind of life?) but he listens to the doc (or did until he quit; now he doesn't have one so we're waiting; in the meantime he's still taking the meds)
3 months ago
This is so important! My mom was uncharacteristically tired and napping a lot -- we didn't add it up. Figured, oh, getting old. By the time she collapsed from dehydration (and then got proper medical attention) it was too late. Inoperable cancer was diagnosed and she was gone within months.
My husbands parents moved in with us in March of this year. We have the same problem of napping a lot but still too tired to do anything. I approached my mother-in-law, Dot, about it calling it disappointment rather than depression. She said that she is very disappointed at not feeling well and not being able to do very much. We talked about that zapping her energy and appetite and she agreed but whether or not there will be any change remains to be seen. She has not been willing to admit to depression but calling it disappointment worked. Now we just have to fix it.