Mind numbing exhaustion

palo

Is it normal to experience absolutely crippling mind numbing exhaustion by the early afternoon?

I have been finding, for the past few weeks, by 1-3pm I am so tired I can't think straight and have to sit down and rest. Is this part of arthritis?

I have finally got my referral to rheumatology next Wednesday, and was diagnosed with oesteo-arthritis a few weeks ago after an xray of my hands, although I have joint pain in a number of other joints too, which have not been checked yet.

Thank you for your help

dreamdaisy

This is completely normal and is part-and-parcel of the auto-immune kinds of arthritis. I have a creaky foot in both camps, my psoriatic arthritis (although well controlled) is the main culprit when it comes to mind-numbing fatigue. My OA makes me physically tired - I've just done twenty minutes of ironing and now my joints are craving a rest which is why I'm here.

I read that you are soon to see a rheumatologist, if you haven't it may be time to start keeping a short diary of fatigue levels, what activities make it worse, whether heat or ice on your joints relieves or eases any pain, all this information will enable the rheumatologist to gain a better all-round picture of how you are being affected. If you have OA then you will be passed back to the care of your GP as rheumatologists do not deal with that.

Fatigue is an ongoing problem for everyone on here and strategies for coping involve pacing oneself, breaking tasks down into chunks and resting whenever possible. Constant pain is tiring in itself but it also means that we have to work physically harder to achieve things. DD

I wish you well. DD

palo

Thank you for your quick response.

It is frustrating that a month ago I was cooking dinner and now I can't even bear to think about it, let alone do it! Hubby is stepping in for now, but he is recovering from a broken leg and is struggling himself.

I will start a diary, I should really have done so, and will try to write down everything for my appointment, just booked it this afternoon, so I am happy it is so quick, just took any hospital which had the earliest appointment, fortunately not not too far away.

I am surprised how limited my functional time is at the moment, but hopefully it will improve.

frogmorton

One of the most useful pieces of advice I got on here in the early days for me was to have a 'power-nap' if I could in the afternoon.

I have to set the alarm if I need to otherwise I don't know what time I'd wake up sometimes!!

A diary is a great idea and will help the diagnosis I am sure.

Please do let us know how you get on

Love

Toni xxx