A question of fatigue?

Mat48

Hi - I've been incredibly tired lately. My husband thinks it's just the weather but I'm sleeping okay with amitriptyline, which I've been on for 2 years now). This is after months and months of insomnia and sleeping tablets and pain. So it could just be cumulative/ making up for lost time - but I'm finding I wake and as soon as my son has gone off to school I have to go back to bed for a few more hours sleep. Then I force myself up very reluctantly and sluggishly I make myself do my exercises, bit of housework, bit of artwork in the studio and walk the dogs. Then once lunch is over I need to lie down and sleep again. I have never been this tired in my life except when I'm ill - which I am very rarely these days. My eyes never stop twitching.

Also my facial hives are getting worse again despite the antihistamine (second one I've tried) and my ESR was coming down a week ago but still at 44 - not very high but still a bit raised for me.

Question; can this be RA even if I haven't got much joint pain or visible swelling just now? PS I need a lying down santa who is snoring please! :noel:

dreamdaisy

This is a constantly recurring theme. Active arthritis of any sort makes us tired, arthritis itself is tiring because it wears us out and down (which is a ghastly double-whammy). I have never done the drug-induced slumber route but - and I freely admit I have lost track of your current and complicated situation - if you are not taking anything to deal with the RA that your podiatrist has confirmed then surely it's no wonder that you are feeling as you are. DD

Mat48

I'm back on Hydroxichloraquine DD. Rheumy said it would "buy us time". Not sure what's going on really because RA as I know (and don't love) it has never returned - just vaguely sore in some places such as feet, ankles and wrists but nothing I could call arthritis pain as such. I think it might have become more systemic - something like vasculitis perhaps? Not sure how likely this is though. :presents1: x

Boomer13

Hi, sounds like a feature of RA (or other autoimmune). I believe it can be from a variety of things, one of which is a cytokine (inflammatory chemical) that causes "sickness behavior". The same biochemical that makes us tired when we have the flu and our body needs to rest. With it being released all the time, it gives us the seemingly endless fatigue.

Then there is fatigue from pain, overdoing it, mental fatigue from dealing with illness,..... :santa: I would trade mine for a little more pain; it's very tough to deal with.

xxAnna

Mat48

Yes I feel that way too. When I'm in pain my adrenalin pumps and I go into blitz spirit whereas now I find myself nodding off all the time and obsessing on when I can get home and get back to bed - ridiculous really when I have so much I ought to be doing just now pre-Christmas. That's really interesting about cytokine. Back in bed again. It's become impossible to tell my son off for not working hard enough and for lying in bed doing facebook when he needs to be keeping up with school work - the sarcasm that comes with the reply/ retort isn't completely uncalled for I have to say! :madnoel:

Boomer13

Mat, it's a good idea to keep track of your fatigue levels; it's one parameter rheums use to assess disease activity.

Yes, snoring, snoozing smillie santa needed!
Anna

stickywicket

Just a thought, Mat, but I reckon we're probably all tired right now. I know I'm shattered. Part of that is what I've done and I know part of it is the thought of all that I've yet to do. (Please, no-one else ask me if I've got the tree up, cards, written, decorations sorted, presents wrapped. I HAVEN'T :xmas_evil: )

Arthritis saps our strength so that, when we need a bit extra, it's not there. Stress saps our strength. You have been very stressed for a long, long time. It seems to me that your tiredness is quite normal for a stressed out person with RA :rudolph:

Mat48

Yes I guess you are probably right SW. I haven't even thought about cards yet but at least got our tree up early on a good day! :areindeer: x

Toots

I've never experienced fatigue like I have since this started. Even being up all night and all day when I was young (!) or the kids were babies, never felt like this. RA seems to have many faces Mat, I guess this is just one of them. I'm glad you're sleeping well (even if it is drug-induced), I wish I could get a full nights sleep too! Hugs x

hileena111

Hi
Like SW I haven't got cards up decorations up or tree sorted and do not know when I will.
I've got OA so not quite the same as you so not a lot of help
What about giving the helpline a ring? See what they say

Love
Hileena

Mat48

Toots - thanks - hoping very much that the rheumy you see very soon is going to make that fatigue a thing of the past for you.

Heleena thanks. I will perhaps phone the helpline but if this fatigue continues I might try stopping the antihistamine and see if that helps first. It says "non drowsy" on the packet but as the hives are still ruling my forehead I think it's worth testing them out to see if this makes a difference. I'm newly back on Hydroxy too so could maybe be that although it didn't whack me out last time I was on it. But maybe these two combined with the amitriptyline I've been on for ages are making zzzzzz - think I need to work things out before assuming it's just my RA again. x :candycane: