My son, 16, completely changed at the beginnin gof 9th grade as far as his energfy level and everything connected with that. He had all a's in school was well liked we had some marital problems at home, but has a good support group. Since that time, we have seem almost every doctor, checking thyroid, upper GI, colonoscopy, heart, all kinds of blood work, stool samples of every kind, seem a counsellor, been to a homeopathic and naturalpathic doctor all without any help with the fatigue, He was diagnoised with the "catch all" IBS and is taking med for that. He does has diarrea regularly and that may be due to being nervous. That is a problem as well, but the biggest problem is the feeling of always being gin a fog. He has to fight to stay awake every day. The only thing we have yet to try is asleep study in the next month. We are desperate! Any clues?

I can see why you are worried. You say he has to fight to stay awake every day. Then, he can't get to sleep at night, maybe he has sleep apnea, could be is afraid of sleep for some reason. Oops, you said sleep study. That is a sleep over to find out if it is sleep apnea, very common these days for some reason. Maybe a study to find out why it is very common these days!

'Catch All' really bothers me, it is a catch all for the doctor no doubt. Is the doctor one that you know well, because probably another one may spend a little more time thinking about it. Often doctors won't spend the time with the young, same as they won't spend the time with the very old, or so I have found in my profession.

If he's tired during the day but can't sleep at night, he could have a wacked out Circadian Rhythm. That happens to everyone from time to time as we commonly sleep in on weekends, but sometimes it can get out of control. His constant feeling of being in a fog could just be from lack of sleep, especially considering that teenagers of his age typically need 8 to 9 hours of sleep. There is simple and highly effective treatment for that problem if it is the cause. The usual treatment is light therapy. Better Sleep, Mood and Energy with Light Therapy : Apollo Health sells some of the best light therapy devices (NASA uses them).

Unless your son is over weight, I highly doubt that he has sleep apnea. I wouldn't count it out, but unless you hear him snoring a lot at night, don't put too much hope on that diagnosis. How is he doing socially at school? High school can be a cruel environment that young men don't like to talk about. Does he seem worried a lot? He could also be suffering from an anxiety disorder.