Low Energy....Sooo Tired

[Nancy60]

What do you do when the fatigue hits hard?  I have been doing pretty well until recently (the last 3-4 weeks) and now it seem all I can do is go to work, come home and sleep.  I sleep my weekends away - often don't get up until 11 or 12 noon - and go to bed by 9 or 10 and often take a nap or 2 during the day.  My other symptoms are not too bad...some joint pain and stiffness, skin rash/redness, headaches off and on.  But it is the fatigue that is really bad.  I don't get anything done at home anymore and am having a hard time keeping up at work.  Any suggestions?  I can't afford to hire someone to help clean and live alone so can't ask other family members to help out.  I think the thing that really bothers me is how dirty my house is getting, but I don't have the energy/can't stay awake long enough to really clean it.

Thanks for any advice,
Nancy

[Shashi11962]

My fatigue isn't so much sleepiness as it is the feeling that my battery has been totally drained. It's the feeling that my arms and legs weigh 200 lbs. apiece. It's the type of fatigue that makes even combing my hair exhausting.

However, since September, when I started taking 1,000 mg of acetyl L-carnitine and 200 mg of alpha lipoic acid, that debilitating fatigue is a thing of the past. I can now do things that I haven't been able to do for years. I can work 12+ hour days and just be "normal" tired. I can go shopping at multiple stores, where before just shopping at one store using the electric cart was exhausting. I can babysit my grandkids, clean my house, go hiking with with my family (2 miles almost totally uphill) and then go shopping afterwards (and carry and put up the groceries) with no problems. It's been amazing. I have gotten my life back!

These two supplements, both anti-oxidants, have been researched and found in preliminary studies to alleviate the fatigue caused by MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, cancer, aging, etc. There are also other benefits to them as well.

If you decide to try them, you need to be sure to consult with your physician before doing so, especially if you are currently taking thyroid or diabetes medications, as they can increase the effects of those medications. (ALA can actually lower blood sugar levels.)

Also keep in mind that they can take up to month to see the full effects, though many notice an immediate improvement in energy levels. You also have to take them every day, as stopping will cause the fatigue to return (as I've found out on the few occasions that I have forgotten to take them.)

Good luck, and I hope you get some relief from fatigue soon.

Hugs,

Lisa

[Patze]

Hi Nancy,

I sure feel for you being a single type myself!  When this mess first started, that's all I wanted to do, but woke up several times a night, every.single.night for months straight (once in a while got lucky with a six hour nighter).  Oh my gosh, trying to work while being a singleton is truly a study in tenacity!

You know, if my place isn't the cleanest, or the tidiest I don't worry about it much anymore; do I care that it's not?  Yes, I still care very much, but there's not much I can do about it anyway so I try to put it on the back burners (thankfully the family & friends that have stuck by me know this and kindly haven't mentioned it).

I find that when the week is particularly grueling, I concentrate on doing one thing in my place that weekend.  Whether that be vacuuming, dusting, cleaning floors, whatever it may be, just that one thing.  If I have more energy, maybe doing the mirrors as well, and I find that whatever I do get done gives me a bit of a boost for the following week.

By chance, have you spoken with your primary or rheumy about your exhaustion level?  If you have, what did they say about it?  And before you start taking anything OTC, please talk to the doctor, just to be safe, okay?

Take care of yourself -

Patze

[Suzie]

I'm so tired that I can't read the contents of the Topics posted, just the headings.

Man, I'm beat.

[Livvie2]

Hi Nancy,

Perhaps it's your thyroid.   

I also have fatique, and I am frustrated because I do not know what is causing it exactly. It seems that if I knew (and understood) then I could stop or reduce it.

I looked this up on the Sjogren's Foundation Web Site.  They write that  "extreme fatique" can be part of Sjogren's.

They advise:

Work with your doctor to find a specific cause and treatment for your fatigue. The possibilities may include
systemic inflammation, poor sleep, fibromyalgia, depression, hypothyroidism, muscle inflammation or
side-effects of medications.

I'm not sure what to do about "systemic inflammation" if that is the cause. But after I rule out/address some of the other possible causes, I'm going to try "denial,"  that is not focus on it.  I will also make myself exercise a bit--that is go to the pool even if I am "not in the mood."   I will also commit to walking short distances and building that up regularly whether I feel like it or not.  If I just expect myself to only walk when I "feel" energetic, I might rarely do it and make things worse (muscles atrophy, etc.).   



Livvie2

[Joe S.]

As Shashi11962, talked about ALA & ALC I will also mention Carrot Juice. Carrot Juice provides your body with what it needs to make endorphins, your bodies own pain killer that is 1000 times more potent than morphine.

Pain can bring about fatigue. The better you can manage your pain the less fatigue you will have.