The "mental" side of fatigue | Arthritis Information

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Alrighty. I think this is worth talking about a little.

 
 
We all have fatigue with this stupid disease. Some to higher degrees than others. I've noticed that mine does a funny thing...............
 
Toward the end of my shift at work, I feel like I could fall asleep. As in, I'm physically FIGHTING my eyes to stay open. By the time I make my drive home and hit that front door, I've got another few hours of energy back.
 
So a few questions -
 
1. - when is fatigue so bad that you have to address it as an "issue" worth medicating?
 
2. - how are you able to tell what's "disease fatigue" and just......."mental fatigue" (like me not wanting to be at work for the last hour or so lol)
 
3. - IS there even a difference in the two? Or does one make the other worse, or trigger the other, etc etc etc.
 
 
 
Of course, some days when I get home I'm still just as tired and I fall asleep fast and easy that night. So I'm really not sure what's the fatigue of the disease, or just me being a typical worker. LOL The only defense I can offer, is that it doesn't feel like normal "mental fatigue" But I really don't know how that stands up medically. Ya know?
For me it started like wanting to take an afternoon nap. I would and if the phone rang i would get up and answer it. I would get invited out for the weekends and come friday evening would decline and decide i wanted to caught up on my rest. Turned out i did not go out for fun purposes for six months. Then suddenly i found myself sleeping so deeply i did not hear the phone ring anymore. I did not hear the alarm clock anymore and i was sleeping at least 14 hours a day. At this piont it was very hard to get to the doctors to complain. Missed several appiontments before i made it in to let them know what was going on. So please if it continues try to address it while you are still awake. I mean my life became a mess. I have to take at least pred and plus Provigil and well you know someone has to wake me up to get me to take meds to wake me up. And not completely but vitamin C I take 500 mg a day helps along with the meds to give me some mental energy. But i had turned into Rapunzel for awhile. Anyway caffine quits working I know that. There was a piont when flexeril did not make me tired and then it got to the piont where if my fibro got so bad i had to take it, I was resolved to sleep for three days. So i guess i quit taking my flexeril long before the afternoon naps. You would rather be in pain then have an upset tummy. I choose pain over sleeping. So it turned out was not the flexerils fault I was so sleepy after all. You would have thought my old RD's would have picked up on this. But also check bloodwork for issues that could make you tired please address while your still awake.GOSH---I think I'm fatigued all the time!!!   I often wonder what not feeling fatigued feels like. I bet its nice.........

For me, it is more like my body is exausted/tired/achy...not always in a sleepy way. More like all I want to do is plop down on the couch with my warming throw, and do nothing. I don't have the energy to even play around on my laptop, or read a book. But I don't sleep. Although, I never was one to nap!

Milly....Rapunzal was the one whose hair was so long she hung it out the tower window so the prince could climb it up to her and save her.  Not to be anal about it or anything Well I thought her hair grew while she was asleep for a really long time, in the old orginal story. Could be wrong. Alright Link my bad. Well Rip Van Winkle doesn't sound so good. I think i will stay Rapunzel as when I woke up my hair was longer. But alright I have mental fatigue I am mixing up my fairy tales.Katie, I know the feeling of falling asleep unexpectedly. One of the pain meds I was on exacerbated the problem. But when I fell asleep standing up pouring a drink, we decided that it was time to reasess (sp?) everything that had a sedative effect. When I fell asleep that time, I put the drink down and promptly fell to the floor. I got tangled up in my walker and had to wait til my husband got into the kitchen to untangle me and help me up.
 
If you really feel that the fatigue is more than just tired at the end of a shift, you should definately see your doctor! It can be very dangerous to just fall asleep and fall down! And what it you were driving?
 
I just finished that sleep study that showed I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. I saw the doc that ordered it yesterday and he said that sleeplessness can cause severe pain in people, among other things. He thinks that if we can treat my apnea successfully, it may make a marked difference in many of my health issues.
 
For you, though Katie, I'm mostly worried about you driving home after the late shift when you're so tired. Havve they had you try provigil yet? It didn't work for me, but I know many people on this board have been helped a great deal by it.
 
Let me know what your doctor says about it, okay?
 
Take care, Sweetie!
Hugs, Nini
Wow Nini i am sorry the Provigil didn't help you. I am glad that you did the sleep study. Sever sleep apnia can cause a great deal of health problems. Let us know if you feel better when you get help with this. I bet you will feel loads better when you get this under control.I feel the same way Debbie does. My body is exhausted but I can't sleep. I average about 4 to 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night. My feet feel achy all day, my index fingers are tender most of the time and I don't feel like doing anything. I used to think my sleep problems where from the pain I would get in my shoulders and arms while I was sleeping but I haven't had that pain since I started taking mtx and plaquenil last November. My RA didn't really give me much info when I mentioned my fatigue to him. I'll be more persistant about it when I see him next month.
Yeah Deb, I get what you're saying about the differences.

Like today, today is an "oh my god, put me in the bed RIGHT NOW" day. Has been since I woke up. And I got 9 solid hours of GREAT sleep last night. There's really no reason for me to feel this fatigued. Yet here I am, almost 10pm and I just woke up from falling asleep sitting up on the couch with all the lights on and the TV roaring. Hello! I'm a light sleeper, how the hell did THAT happen??

I'll be going to bed shortly too. I just cannot stay up!


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I am worried about driving when I'm like that. I think that's the kind of thing that would prompt me to talk to my doctor about it.
Ya Katie, talk to your doctor....driving is too dangerous if your wicked tired. 
 
I don't sleep well, at most 5 hours a night.  I fall under the category of exhausted, no energy and wanting to sleep, but I can't.  After a few weeks of little sleep I have to whip out the ambien, and then I sleep for 8 hours which is awesome.  Of course the downside, I take my ambien and talk to friends on the phone who say I talk like a crazy person, and I don't even remember talking to them the next day.  Kind of scary,lol..........
When the fatigue was really taking me over, my rheumatologist gave me a prescription for Lunesta. He said i should take it like 4 or 5 nights in a row to get 8 hours of deep uniterrupted sleep to sort of regulate myself. It works usually. Also, if possible, he told me to sit down (or lay down) in the middle of the day (I am a stay at home mom so I guess I can do this easier than any of you who are working) and rest. Not necessarily take a nap, but he said if I feel like I have tons of energy, FORCE myself to rest. REally the fatigue has been ok to deal with lately but Wednesday's are bad for me. My daughter has dance until 9pm and if my husband has a business trip or something, I have to stay awake and ready to pick her up.arliss, fatigue was say my third largest complaint.  I don't want to come off as beating the drum, but it finally went away on the long-term antibiotics.  Nothing else - MTX, plaquenil, predisone, anything touched the fatigue, but it was over in about a week on the AP.  CathyI guess I should add that my RD said there is probably something more then RA making me this tired. I am still waiting on test results. He said even with the low blood sugar and RA I was to tired.I thought I had replied but I guess I forgot.......argh. LoL

How can you tell for sure if your fatigue is from poor sleep??? (sounds silly I know...)
You can call a neurologist and do a sleep study at a sleep clinic.justsaynomore - What does "AP" stand for?
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