Always Feels/looks Tired

[buffettbride]

DD always seems tired. I have a heck of a time getting her out of bed in the morning. She is 10. She goes to bed about 8:30 or 9pm and wakes up around 6am. I could adjust her bedtime by about a half hour and get her to bed shortly after 8, but not much earlier as we're usually just finishing up with dinner around 7 or 7:30 and she needs to shower, do chores, finish homework, etc.

She definitely seems more worn out than other kids at school, though, and her teacher even commented she seems more tired.

I suppose it could be Celiac related, although she is gluten-free now and has far less going on busy-wise in her life now than she did this time last year before diagnosis.

We make sure she has a full (32 oz) water bottle every day and she fills it up once while at school, too.

What else can I do to help her be more rested and energetic?

[EBsMom]

What else can I do to help her be more rested and energetic?

My dd is also 10 and went gluten-free around the same time that your dd did, I believe (4 months ago?) She has periods of being very tired, also. I've been making her go to bed a bit earlier and I've been giving her a multivite. I've also been pushing the iron-rich foods. I've recently decided that if this persists past 6 months, I'm going to ask to have her iron level checked. I'm assuming that my dd is still healing - after all, she was sick for a while - and she has lots more activity to contend with now that school has resumed. But still....I share your concern.

Rho

[buffettbride]

My dd is also 10 and went gluten-free around the same time that your dd did, I believe (4 months ago?) She has periods of being very tired, also. I've been making her go to bed a bit earlier and I've been giving her a multivite. I've also been pushing the iron-rich foods. I've recently decided that if this persists past 6 months, I'm going to ask to have her iron level checked. I'm assuming that my dd is still healing - after all, she was sick for a while - and she has lots more activity to contend with now that school has resumed. But still....I share your concern.

Rho

I'm glad to know I'm not alone. It seems I could come up with a reason every week to take her to the doctor. We've been diligent about the daily vitamins. I suspect her deficindies might be iron related, but probably more B-vitamin related. School is definitely a factor too--it really is hard work and obviously more tiring than summer vacation.

[Virgie]

Hi! I so know how you feel. I am having issues with fatigue in both of my children - son 18 & Senior in High School has Ulcerative Colitis - remission ?? daughter 13 & an 8th grader dx 9/07 with Celiac. Both have a very hard time getting up in the morning. It doesn't seem to matter when they go to bed. The 2nd day of school my daughter fell asleep on the couch at 6:00 p.m. & didn't get up unti 6:00 AM. Very tired but then I too think that she is still healing. Both kids have had complete bloodwork up and everything seems ok. But they also both have a middle ear infection (just was at the doctor yesterday, again!) so I suppose they could be tired from that. But it is very frustrating because especially for my son the fatigue is so bad that he can not go to school until about 11:00 some days. He hates missing too as he misses out on those classes and he does like those subjects. So it isn't anything like they want to get out of school.

FWIW I do agree that school is more tiring than summer vacation. My son usually doesn't have any UC issues in the summer which I feel is because he can sleep as much as he wants, eats when & what he wants, no homework, lots less stress, etc. So hopefully soon they can all get into a better schedule and feel better and not be so tired. My kids tend to look like racoons with the circles under their eyes.

Hope your kiddo has more energy soon.

Take care.

Virgie

I'm glad to know I'm not alone. It seems I could come up with a reason every week to take her to the doctor. We've been diligent about the daily vitamins. I suspect her deficindies might be iron related, but probably more B-vitamin related. School is definitely a factor too--it really is hard work and obviously more tiring than summer vacation.

[Nathan's mom]

Make her an appointment and have her vitamin levels, thyroid, and iron storage levels checked. For my friends daughter, 10 was when she started having mood swings, being tired all the time, etc. She has hypothyroidism. They think the prepuberty hormones kicking in triggered it.

And of course, with Celiac, there is a higher chance of other autoimmune things coming into play.

Take care,

Debbie

[gfpaperdoll]

I think B12, a sublingual, is very important, even if their levels test okay - give the B12, it will not hurt them, the excess is excreted in the urine.

At least 9 hours of sleep. Also, make sure that their room is absolutely dark - no clock lights, no night lights, no light at all, even if you have to black out the windows with something - the room needs to be black for proper sleep. some people forget that...