Extreme tiredness

Folara

Does anyone else have days when all they want to do is sleep? Is this normal?

Just wondering if it's just me and I need a rocket up my bum or if it's a common 'side effect' with Arthur and of course all the drugs. I feel very guilty when I give in and go to bed in the day.

Fols x

dreamdaisy

I spent all day yesterday in bed, most of it asleep, and I reckon today will go the same way. In my case it's a flare of my PsA and as far as I can tell things will remain the same until the week-end at the earliest. This is what life with arthritis can be like. DD

elnafinn

Hi Fols

Yes, I have had days like that so you are not alone. I also have days when I have to collapse in/on the bed for 30 mins to one hour in the middle of the day. Other days, if I have something I have/wish to do then I seem to be able to muster up the extra strength to do it. Sometimes a little incentive is all it takes my tiredness to go, other times this does not work to well. I try to structure my day with a list of things to do. Sometimes they all get done, sometimes not.

Today I must go to the post office with a couple of packages and I must walk quite a way to post a pressie through a friends door, who has just become a grandmother. That is my main mission for today.

Try to take each day as it arrives, if that is possible.

Elna x

Folara

Thanks for your replies. I just feel so guilty about it, like I'm a lazy old bag when my poor hubby is working so hard.

I always like to keep the house tidy and make a nice dinner for my boys and then if I need to do any extras I try to plan them out so I don't have too much all in one day.

I slept solidly on Tuesday from 12 noon to 3pm, I could have stayed in bed longer but needed to get up to sort some things out. I never tell anyone I am sleeping as I feel so bad about it.

Fols x

dreamdaisy

Don't feel bad, it is part-and-parcel of the disease. Our bodies are under attack from themselves (in the case of the auto-immune versions) and from pain too. It's no wonder we get tired and if you need to sleep, then sleep. Break tasks down into segments, do a bit, rest a bit, do a bit more, rest a bit more, it's the only way to get through some days. Remember, only dull women have immaculate homes and we on here are all utterly fascinating! The DDs live in a state of total domestic chaos, thanks to my inability to keep up with things, but he could always tidy up a bit too. We muddle through and on the better days, rare though they are, I do make an effort to restore some sort of order. DD

elnafinn

Hi Fols,

I appreciate the guilt thing but sounds like you have a good pattern to your day and you get things done. Like you I like the home to be ticking over nicely and have a meal on the go when hubby gets in.

Hope your day goes well,

Elna x

Folara

Really appreciate your replies. Makes me feel less guilty and certainly less alone.

I can assure you, my house is never spotless so hopefully I can join in the fascinating group

Fols x

traluvie

I often feel guilty about sleep, and often fight it when i shouldn't..
It makes me feel lazy but i know its my body telling me to rest, which is what i do most days but my body still likes to drain me batteries lol..

Folara

Lol Tracey

I know what you mean. Sometimes feel like someone's swapped my Duracell for cheap pound land batteries.

Fols x

traluvie

Folara wrote:

Lol Tracey

I know what you mean. Sometimes feel like someone's swapped my Duracell for cheap pound land batteries.

Fols x

Yeah, that is a good way of putting it

purpleunicorn

Oh yes, the tiredness. Possibly worse than the pain I think. I have to set my alarm for 3pm every day so that I don't sleep through the entire day and forget to pick my little one up. I can sit down on the settee for a rest and wake up 3 or 4 hours later.

salamander

I've had the same problem. Finally went for a steroid shot to buck me up a bit. It's worked quite well but I know it will wear off in a week or so. It is almost worse than pain, impossible to function with that level of fatigue.

DebraKelly

Frankfully I would rather have the pain than the tiredness.

The tiredness is the worst part for me of having RA.

I have been taking a daily vitamin b table at lunchtimes which has been helping a lot.

bubbadog

Hi Folara! Very recently I have been suffering with extreme fatigue, I slept for a whole day several times!! So no it's not uncommon!! And as for feeling lazy, yes I do, but an old friend told me ' sleep helps your body recover' and when I think of it like that I don't feel so bad. My OH is great and he knows that lately I have felt so extremely fatigued and would rather have a wife with alittle energy than a wife who falls asleep mid sentence when talking! (Yes I did do that!! :oops: ).
As for not having time to clean house, simples! Do what I did and found a great house cleaner, mine I found on line and only charges £10 an hour. If any one who lives in Redditch or Bromsgrove area I would be happy to pass phone number for her to you.

valval

you need to be kind to your body if you were fighting the flu you would sleep all you needed well you are fighting the same kind of thing so if you need sleep take it do not feel guilty with the sleep it will make doing other things much easyer so rest when needed balance is hard to reach but well worth it in the long run val

ritwren

Folara I agree with what's already been said. Try to rest as much as you need to, your body tells you when you're tired so that you can rest or sleep and it's good to listen to it. Sleep can be restorative and help your body mend so don't be feeling bad about it, it's a natural process when the body is feeling low.
Hope you feel better soon.
Rita.

purpleunicorn

I'm feeling guilty today. I have slept through the entire day, and my son is off school sick Admittedly it's just a precaution with him as he had diarrhoea last night after coming home from a school trip, and he's 15 so can pretty much look after himself but in the end it was him tiptoeing around me, putting a blanket on me, turning the telly off etc.

Sometimes the pain is the worse thing but the last few days it is definately the fatigue.

Hope you're feeling a bit better.

Folara

Don't feel too guilty. My son is 15 as well and is pretty self sufficient. I am sure he was happy to make sure his mum was ok and probably didn't even think that it should have been the other way round.

Hope the extra sleep helped.

Fols x