Is Extreme Fatigue Normal at Age 20?
You’re finally back at college and you should be excited about another year of learning, growing, and socializing. But instead, you can barely get out of bed to go to class. You can’t think clearly or focus on your studies, either. You are the type of “tired” that goes way beyond just needing that extra cup of coffee to get through the day – you have extreme fatigue. And when you try to sleep, or even do get some sleep, it’s never enough and you never feel rested. You feel like you can’t go on and wonder, “what in the world is happening to me?”
Women and men in midlife often experience this type of fatigue as their hormones decline, but when this happens to someone in their 20s, it is especially scary. As a young adult of in your college years, you should not feel so tired that you can barely function. That’s not normal, yet it is happening to our youth more often these days. Your college years should be some of the best years of your life. You should have the energy, enthusiasm and mental clarity to handle your course load and activities, and enjoy doing so.
MaryAnna is one of these people. Her story will inspire anyone who is struggling with severe fatigue, especially if you are a college student. It is a heartbreaking story with a happy ending that you don’t want to miss!
MaryAnna’s Story:
Hi. My name is Marianna Foreman. I’m 23 years old. When I was little, I got sick all the time, I was always overweight, and I had very low energy levels. My parents took me to a lot of different doctors, but no one could ever figure out what was wrong with me. I eventually was just kind of labeled as lazy. My parents and family were always very supportive, but other people really just kind of wrote me off as the lazy kid.
When I was 20, I was living away at school on my own for the first time, and I got very ill, worse than I’d ever been. I had horrible brain fog. I couldn’t focus or study. I had extreme fatigue. I would drag myself out of bed in the morning and go to class, and I would drag myself home after class and get back in bed. I was sleeping like twelve plus hours a night and still not feeling like I was rested. I had nausea and headaches every day. I had really bad plantar fasciitis in my feet, making it very painful to walk. I had difficulty getting from my front door down the stairs to my car. I would have to take a break to rest, I was so worn out.
I lived my life that way for a little while, and my mom found out about Hotze Health & Wellness Center and said, we’re going to go, because I was at the point where I couldn’t live like that anymore. I had no hope that I was ever going to feel better. I had no hope that I was ever going to be well. We went and, on the way, I remember saying to my mom, “Mom, if this isn’t it, if we don’t get an answer this time, then I can’t do this anymore.” She looked at me, and she said, “No.” She said, “We’re not going to quit. It doesn’t matter if this is it or not. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep looking.” That encouraged me and gave me some strength.
The staff at Hotze Health & Wellness Center was incredible. It was not like anything I’d ever experienced before. They really looked at me, the patient, and not my lab results. The doctor told me that I had hypothyroidism, progesterone imbalance, and adrenal fatigue. They put me on treatment immediately, and he told me that it would be six months before I started feeling better, and he was right. Five months later, I participated in a local fun run. I did the two mile part that year. That was really my commitment to myself that, now that I had the tools to get better, I was going to, and I was not ever going to give up. I was always going to keep moving forward and keep working hard, and I was going to get that life that I always wanted. I’ve done that race every year since, and this will be the fourth.
I started calling it my anniversary race. This year will be the second year that I’ve done the 10K. Last fall, I ran a half-marathon. I can’t even tell you what that feeling is like to go from being hardly able to walk from my front door to my car to running a half-marathon. Crossing the finish line was the most incredible exhilaration, that I had such victory over something. My mom was at the finish line, and I gave her a hug, and I remember saying to her, “Thank you for taking me to Hotze Health & Wellness Center because I wouldn’t be here today if you hadn’t.”
God has blessed me so much in my life that I am sitting here today telling this story, that I have the hope of a future, and the excitement and the energy to be able to look forward to it. I graduate in December from nursing school. Since I’ve visited Hotze Health & Wellness Center, I’ve lost 60 pounds, I have dropped 7 sizes. I don’t think I look anything like I did then. I feel so blessed and so lucky. I have such an incredible family and parents who have sacrificed a lot for me to go and to have the treatment that I needed to be well.
Hotze Health & Wellness Center did not give me my life back. I didn’t want it back. It was pretty tough, and I wanted it to end more than anything. Hotze Health & Wellness Center gave me the life that I never had. They gave me the tools that I needed and the chance to build a future for myself. I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity, and I’m so excited about the future. Thank you.
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