This morning, I told you about a new study that found how skimping on sleep can be a reason why you’re packing on the pounds.
And without enough shut-eye, you’ll of course find yourself dragging through the day, feeling like you just want to put your head down anywhere and take a nap!
But what if you’re hitting the sack at a decent hour… shutting off the TV, phone, and tablet… and sleeping through the night… but are still exhausted? What then?
Well, it might be time to check your medicine cabinet.
Because there are a whole host of drugs that can leave you feeling like a deflated balloon no matter how much sleep you’re getting.
And if you’re taking one of these meds, it might be time to have a face-to-face with your doctor and find out how you can stop taking them once and for all. Because nothing ruins a good day faster than feeling as if you’ve been working the night shift.
While being chronically tired can be caused by certain health problems, there’s also the overlooked (but common) issue of drug-induced exhaustion.
Although practically every prescription med (as well as many OTC ones) will have fatigue right on the label as a side effect, there are some drugs that are more likely to hit you that way than others, with these three being the top contenders:
1. Blood pressure meds, especially the kind known as beta-blockers: These drugs work by slowing down your heart rate, which can be a prescription for exhaustion. Many doctors still give beta-blockers out as “first-line” treatments for high blood pressure, despite the numerous risks they come along with, which incredibly includes triggering diabetes!
Other ways blood pressure drugs can zap your energy are by depressing your central nervous system. And diuretics (a.k.a. water pills) can easily deplete vital electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium with all that peeing, making you feel lethargic.
2. Statins such as Lipitor and Crestor: These cholesterol-lowering drugs are probably the worst pharmaceuticals to ever come on the market. As you’ve read right here in eAlert, they’re linked to cataracts, memory problems, diabetes, hardening of the arteries, severe muscle pain, weakness, and fatigue.
In fact, research done six years ago at the University of California, San Diego, found that statins can be the smoking gun behind extreme “fatigue with exertion” or simply losing your get-up-and-go altogether!
3. Proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, such as Nexium and Prilosec: Another disastrous class of drugs we’ve told you a lot about, these meds are associated with adverse effects that range from bone fractures to kidney and liver disease to the potentially deadly infection C. diff — along with chronic weariness.
One of the reasons they affect your energy level may be the way they deplete your body of magnesium. Of course, since PPIs appear to be able to do a number on almost any part of your body, the exhaustion they’re known to trigger could be the result of dozens of other factors as well.
The good news here is that the tiredness these drugs can cause does go away once you stop taking them.
And it’s entirely possible that you don’t need to be taking them in the first place!
For example, high blood pressure is a moving target. In other words, what’s considered a pressure high enough to treat with drugs appears to go up and down like a yo-yo. The best recommendations to date are from a team of world-renowned cardiologists who say that if you’re 60 or over, medications are not required as long as your numbers are below 150/90. And under 60, the no-need-to-treat reading is up to 140/90.
Cholesterol is another health concern that’s outrageously over-medicated. As we’ve told you, study after study has found that cholesterol levels “have little influence” on arterial plaque. So, no, a high number on your cholesterol test does not make you a walking time bomb for heart disease!
And treating heartburn with one of those PPI meds is akin to setting your house on fire to get rid of some bugs! Instead, try to control excess acid by cutting back on acidic drinks, taking a high-quality probiotic, using pancreatic digestive enzymes, and even trying that old-time favorite, baking soda mixed into water.
As one of the researchers who participated in the statin fatigue study said, “Energy is central to quality of life.”
And if you’ve ever run low on it for a lengthy period of time, trading that “quality” for one of Big Pharma’s solutions is one of the worst deals you can make!
“9 types of medications that can lead to chronic fatigue” Dr. Armon B. Neel Jr., AARP, aarp.org
