GrammaKathy wrote:
The Fatigue Factor
I
often hear, "My family just doesn't understand how exhausted I
am." And it is probably true. I don't think the average person can
comprehend the constant fatigue of inflammatory arthritis. I'm going to
explain the fatigue factor in a very unscientific way, without journal
references to back me up. This is how it was explained to me several
years ago and I hope it makes sense to you.
Pain is pain, everyone has experienced some degree of pain in their
lives. You can probably understand to some extent the pain of arthritis.
I describe the pain as my worse toothache pain x2, and in multiple
joints, not just one tooth. As bad as the pain can be at times, I can
handle it, it's the fatigue that gets to me.
At the root of most cases of inflammatory arthritis is an overactive
immune system. I picture the immune system as an army of tiny little
soldiers. The soldiers' job is to fight off whatever might invade and
attack our systems. Some of us ended up with very confused soldiers,
they attack our own bodies, usually starting with the joints.
Do you get very tired when you have the flu? When you have the flu, your
immune system is fighting off the invading flu army. Fighting takes
energy, fighting makes you tired. When the flu is over and your immune
system stops fighting, your energy returns.
Our immune systems never quit fighting, they are continually at war. On
a good day, those of us with inflammatory arthritis feel much like you
do when you have the flu-tired, lethargic, generally yucky! On a bad day
the fighting sucks up every once of energy we have. We are exhausted
right down to our bones. This exhaustion can stop a person dead in their
tracks. And very often this horrendous feeling of exhaustion can last
several days or even weeks.
Put so wonderfully!! I'm copying this and emailing it out! Thank you so much for putting fatigue in words other than "I'm tired". Not sure where you got this from but it is wonderful! Amen sister!!