Extreme exhaustion

I was diagnosed with Crohns four years ago. I've been on remicade every six weeks for over a year. Recently I have been battling pure exhaustion. I work full time and having to drag myself out of bed everyday is painful. I am not having many symptoms right now other than this.
I have an appt with a new GI this week after my usual one retired. Are there any specific tests that I should ask to be done? I want my blood counts checked to see if there is an underlying infection. And my vitamins and minerals also to make sure I am not deficient.
This exhaustion is new to me, appearing about three months ago. Is there anything I can do at home to help combat it? I am sleeping at least 8 hours a night and I've had to take naps or I cant function. Help!

Make sure they do a full iron status work up in addition to the routine CBC that checks for anemia. Whenever I've had extreme exhaustion with Crohn's, anemia has always been at the root of it.

I take a prenatal every morning, would this have enough iron to keep me in normal levels? I did just realize this week seems worse than ever and I did just get off my period...

That vitamin w/iron may not be enough. For one thing, with Crohn's your ability to absorb the iron through the inflamed gut may well be reduced. Couple that with increased bleeding from Crohn's ulcers and anemia ends up being common in Crohn's. And having a period just adds to the problem.

I take an iron tablet and a vitmin C tablet every morning and evening on an empty stomach for maximum absorption. I do not use the "coated" or "delayed release" kind of iron pills, since they often don't release the iron in the gut until after the pill has already passed the part of the gut (the duodenum) where most of the iron absorption occurs.

However, the iron pills themselves can irritate the gut, so many Crohn's sufferers cannot take them. In that case talk to your doc about some iron infusions. For me the iron pills work okay. But for others that is often not the case.

Thank you! I will definatly ask about this on Wednesday. Anything to help this awful feeling!

Scipio said:

Make sure they do a full iron status work up in addition to the routine CBC that checks for anemia. Whenever I've had extreme exhaustion with Crohn's, anemia has always been at the root of it.

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I agree.

Update: went to see a new GI today. Found out he's retiring in December. He listened well and he agrees that the exhaustion I'm feeling isn't right, along with the fact that I've been running a fever for months. Ordered a bunchnof tests including xrays, blood cultures, thyroid checks, and basic cbc. Hopefully I'll have some answers soon!

Best of luck with the tests! Hope an answer is found and your exhaustion resolved.

Thought to share my recent experience. I've had extreme exhaustion for awhile. Of late I began eating brown rice cakes. As a result my energy levels dramatically increased, most of the time. I suspect a nutritional deficiency that the brown rice helped resolve. There appears to be a food allergen involved that can take away my energy. i might have figured what that food is. At least I'm hoping so as energy levels are quite good now. Time will tell.

I am wondering if I am deficient in iron or something else, I have been craving milk for week. I go through more than a gallon a week now!

I noticed the anemia as frequent headaches and dizziness. I wanted to work out but just couldn't tolerate it. Iron pills weren't enough. I was bleeding too rapidly. I had to do iron infusions - Venofer. But even that wasn't enough. I had to get on Remicade and do Injecater (3.5x dose of Venofer). That got the anemia under control with about 2 infusions. I also do monthly B-12 injections since that area was resected in 1999.