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Avatar universal

ALWAYS tired

I'm a 16 year old female.  I weight 127 pounds. I was diagnosed with a slight anemia when I was about 12.  For a short period of time when I was 15 I was on iron pills.  I do diet.  But whether I stick to my diet or don't stick to my diet I am always tired.  I could sleep for 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 hours and I am still tired.  I feel lethargic all of the time.  I never have the energy to do anything and most of the time I am in an awful mood.  I have at least a slight headache almost every day.  I usually can't submit myself to a lot of uneccessary noise or light.  I feel sick all of the time.  When I stand up from laying on my bed I get extremely dizzy.  I have frequent panic attacks.  My muscles ache.  I don't really understand why I feel so tired and sluggish and awful all of the time but it interferes with everything.  I have trouble concentrating on my work and don't usually have the energy to go spend time with my friends or do anything requiring a substantial amount of energy. Help? It's been the worst over the last 9 months.
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Avatar universal
Alright, thanks.
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Avatar universal
I have to leave and won't be back until late tonight but I will write back to you, probably tomorrow morning.
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Avatar universal
Hi.  I haven't had my bloodwork done since over a year ago.  Yes my periods are very heavy.  When I was younger, around 12/13 I used to dance at a studio and at the time my periods were extremely bad. I was very tired back then too and had to quit dancing because everytime I sat down in class I fell asleep or felt very sick. Sometimes I would bleed down to my knees despite wearing 2 maxi pads at a time (no exaggeration).  Recently in my opinion my periods have gotten better and although I bleed a lot and my everyday symptoms are worse on my period at least I'm not bleeding as heavily.  On average I get anywhere from 6.5-7.5 hours of sleep.  At one point I was eating any foods with a low amount of calories per serving and low fat calories.  Generally for me this meant a lot of light and fit yogurt, bread, chicken, pasta, sometimes some veggies.  I'm not always completely hydrated.  I might have 1 or 2 cups of water a day.  I know that is really bad.  I drink a considerable amount of coffee because it helps me to feel awake enough in the mornings to where I can actually make it to school and not fall asleep again.  To prevent panic attacks I usually have half caf or decaf unless it's an important day and then I might have regular.  I put either half cocoa in it or cocoa and toffee flavoring.  I don't think that's significant though.  After prom my diet has returned to eating normally but not vegging out on a bunch of junk food.  Other than dancing for theatre and trekking through my huge school campus I don't get much exercise because I can't find the time.  
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Avatar universal
Several things come to mind reading your post. First when was the last time you had any bloodwork drawn to check your anemia? Are your periods heavy? You are tired all of the time: How much sleep do you actually get in the nighttime hours? Are you taking frequent naps? You say you are dieting, give me an honest example of what you eat in the corse of the day.....an HONEST reply to that one. What are you drinking in the course of a day? After you answer of few of these questions, I might be able to help some. First get your iron and anemia levels checked again.
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