Fatigue in a teenage girl, help me think this through - update in #36

[jerseygirl07067]

I am posting because I really don't know exactly what is causing my daughter's fatigue.

It all started earlier this spring. She's a club soccer player. She was complaining that during games her legs were feeling really heavy and she felt like she did not have a lot of energy to play. I tried some of the obvious things like drink more water, go to bed earlier and get more sleep, eat better before games, etc. Her energy has not improved much, and she has not been really good about doing the above things I just mentioned. The confounding factor is that high school has a really early start time for us. It starts at 7:20 a.m. in the bus comes at 6:33 am. I know she is absolutely not getting enough sleep. She's just not super tired and ready to wind down early at night and is lucky if she gets 6-6.5 hrs of sleep. Sometimes it is even less. I would become a basket case on that little amount of sleep.

So getting back to the soccer issue, she's getting really frustrated because she feels like she doesn't have the energy to play how she wants. I'd say maybe about 6-8 weeks after that she started to have crying spells for no reason and seemed to have moments where she appeared very depressed and it appeared to me that she was becoming more depressed. I took her to the pediatrician to discuss both the depression and the fatigue. Her doctor ordered a complete metabolic panel which came back negative for anemia, diabetes, and thyroid issues. The pediatrician also recommended counseling and evaluation by a psychiatrist to see if she needed to be on medication, because when she took the depression screening at the office she scored as having moderate depression. That all made sense to me and she has now started counseling.


I totally know full well that depression can cause fatigue. But other than playing soccer she seems fine as far as her energy level, it's really when she exerts herself that she feels it the most.

Over the past two weeks her mood has improved, and we have really been working hard with her on getting more sleep. Luckily there's a lot of end of year testing in high school right now, so on some days they don't need to go in until later which is really helped a lot. And she just started seeing the counselor and is just really early and the process so I know we have a lot of work to go on that.

But I have the nagging feeling but there could be something else causing the fatigue from a medical standpoint. Maybe it's the depression, but what if it's not? It's kind of like a case of which came first the chicken or the egg. Was the depression starting which caused her to become more fatigued or is it possible that being fatigued and not being able to play the sport that she loves and the way in which she wants to caused her to become depressed? I just don't know. Or could it just be the culmination of not enough sleep not an adequate diet not enough hydration, Etc? Or combination of everything?

Has anyone been in this situation or can you help me think through this? So many thoughts going through my head and I just want to help her in the best way that I can.

[NCGrandma]

Not sure where you live, but the two medical conditions that caused similar symptoms in DGD1 (fortunately not at the same time!!) are Lyme disease and mononucleosis. If you’re in an area where ticks are fairly common, there are actually a number of different tick-borne diseases. If this is a possibility, you may need to search for a specialist who is familiar with what’s common in your area.


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[AnnieW625]

Vitamin D deficiency? Under active thyroid?

Why is she going to bed past 10 pm?


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Lyme was my thought too. I would have hoped they’d run that test though.


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[♥ms.pacman♥]

I think 6 hours of sleep a night is not enough sleep for an active teen..I would bet that is the problem but I get it is not easy to fix!

For me I struggled immensely to get enough sleep - it was just so hard to unwind and fall asleep early enough. Finally- the only thing that worked for me was NOT sleeping in onweekends and forcing myself to wake up at 530am every morning. After a month it totally worked. Sounds counter-intuitive but it totally woeked for me. I get more sleep now and able to wake up early too. Sleeping in on weekends or occasional days just screws up body’s natural rhythm and makes it harder to fall asleep early later that night, IME. And funny I would have never figured this out if wasn’t for Dd’s Therapist who suggested it for DD who was having anxiety. Dd has hard time falling asleep at night and would be super groggy every morning. Therapist mentioned how lack of sleep can manifest itself as anxiety in kids.

[georgiegirl]

ms.pacman;4333913]I think 6 hours of sleep a night is not enough sleep for an active teen..I would bet that is the problem but I get it is not easy to fix!

.

I agree. That is simply not enough sleep for a teen, especially one who is physically active. Definitely test her for Lyme, mono, etc. But I really think the lack of sleep could be entirely responsible.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don’t know... my super active teen also runs on 6-6.5 hours of sleep and doesn’t get affected like that. Not doubting she’s overtired and should sleep more but 1. it’s hard for teens to fall asleep earlier- their brains are just wired to stay up late; 2. Most active teens have to fit a lot in in the evenings and early bedtimes just aren’t realistic; 3. I’d keep checking to see if there’s a medical explanation.


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[nfceagles]

Maybe melatonin would help her get to sleep earlier and get more sleep overall.


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[georgiegirl]

I don’t know... my super active teen also runs on 6-6.5 hours of sleep and doesn’t get affected like that. Not doubting she’s overtired and should sleep more but 1. it’s hard for teens to fall asleep earlier- their brains are just wired to stay up late; 2. Most active teens have to fit a lot in in the evenings and early bedtimes just aren’t realistic; 3. I’d keep checking to see if there’s a medical explanation.


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My active teen needs a decent amount of sleep. She wouldn’t be able to keep up her swim schedule if she only got 6-6.5 hours. (My middle child, 9.5, has sleep issues and he usually gets 7-8 hours, which is not enough and it totally impacts his growth, behavior, etc.). While some teens can get by on that little sleep, I think some need more in order to be able to function well.


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[jerseygirl07067]

Maybe melatonin would help her get to sleep earlier and get more sleep overall.


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She already takes 3mg at night to help her sleep. We dim lights in the house, have the kids turn in their phones, and limit exposure to them before bedtime. She is naturally nocturnal like me, but I can fall asleep without any issues. We have also tried Natural Calm, the magnesium powder stuff, too.