Fatigue | Arthritis Information

I am so exhausted all the time. Hardly have energy to do anything. I used to be able to clean my whole house. Now I just cleaned the floors and I am pooped. any one out there found an answer to this. I want my life back and feel like it has slipped away because lack of energy to want to do anything. HELP!

Thanks, Susan

It is the pits, no energy, I am looking for a solution to it also. But I do what I can and don't worry about what I can't do anymore. I have a total right hip replaced, there is no pain but so much I can't do . I have trouble with my feet and walking is not fun anymore....lol.....You get one thing taken care of and something else is going to remind you that you have a disease, that can not be cured, but only controled, at least thats what my RD tells me....

I have heard that once all the cartilage is gone, the pain gets somewhat better - or at least that's what happened with my mother's knees. She waited it out and avoided knee replacement surgery, so I guess I've held out hope that I could do the same with my hip. My problem with this disease is not so much the fatigue after activity, but
the extreme stiffness I get after I have cleaned house. I get this especially
after I garden, on my knees. I can hardly get up. Sometime my husband has
to help me off the ground. It is very depressing and now I don't garden
without my husband here. This disease has so many different facets. And
none of them are good. Having the hip replaced does have it limits, can't run, jump, but i couldn't do it before....lol...I had cysts , it was like a decayed tooth. I had to use a cane and could not stand the pain anymore. It has been 7 years now ans some days there is pain, was told it is scar tissue.I do not regret having it done. I was told the same thing about being to young and etc.... but you have to look at the quiality of life . To be in pain all the time is not what i like, but i deal with it. Now i am looking at having my knees done, when i can't stand them anymore i will have them replaced.The recovery time is not bad. I had a little trouble due the fact i also have Fibro and i would get very wore out doing the PT. I was up and doing PT the very next day after surgery. Had to use a walker, then moved on to a cane and then was on my own, really its not bad.

Fatigue sucks. One of the last things I am trying to shake from my flare. The best thing I can tell you about fatigue is take small breaks from the activities you are doing to try and prevent fatigue from settling in too badly.

Some days fatigue is so bad that my hubby says i have that "lay on the sofa look on my face"...lol..and believe me my sofa is my best friend some days. Just this past week has been terrible, it is time for my Remicade, if you on anything like that and you don't think it is not working just have to miss it and you see just how much it does work.....lol LOL...my hubby basically says the same thing to me. Looks like a couch day today hun. I can also tell when my 12 year old is fatigued by the look on her face and how she is acting. She gets incredibly cranky. Anyone else get cranky with their fatigue? Is it from being fatigued or being frustrated with their fatigue?? I love moving around. I was always the one standing or doing something. My husband would beg me to sit for awhile.
Now I am learning to take good care of myself and I relax with a cup of tea and read or watch TV when fatigue hits me. I think its both Gramms. Some days i get up have my coffee and breakfast, take my meds and lay on sofa and sleep like i haven't sleep in months. I take a nap every afternoon its part of my religion. Some days i have one of my grandsons (6 year old) and he can not stand to see me close my eyes and thats makes a ruff day for me.....lolI had terrible fatigue which I hated so much but it's lifted the last couple
months, since I started taking Minocin. I'm still on mtx and Plaquenil, but
the fatigue going away coincides with the Minocin so I'm guessing that's
what's affecing it. I hope so, because I want the fatigue to not come back.

So I'm still not up to preRA energy levels but it's improved a lotI find that even when I'm worn out it helps if I exercise. Sometimes it is just the simple range of motion stuff. Before I started the Enbrel/MTX combo I was exhausted all the time, in a month or so the fatigue got better and now it's not that much of a problem for me. After six months on Enbrel and MTX I was able to ween off the Prednisone for the first time in three years. Now, almost 9 years later I feel pretty much normal.

SarahHave you all been tested for anemia? I had Anemia of Chronic Disease (ACD). It had been coming on for about 2 years, whatever part of the blood work shows that just kept creeping lower and lower and my dr would mention it and suggest I take iorn, which I didn't and doesn't help anyway, but then when I went into a full blown flare, the anemia skyrocketed too. Your blood cells can't function properly when there's a lot of inflamation. With the Remicade, my inflamtion markers have been greatly reduced and the ACD has resolved itself.

Fatigue is one of the worst parts of RA. I hate mine and it makes me sick too. Sometimes getting up and going for gentle, slow walk outside helps to relieve some it - don't ask me why though! - but most of the time I go to bed for a few hours.

Gramma - I get cranky with my fatigue. For me it's the frustration of not being able to do things, combined with the fact that it makes me feel dreadful. My irritability levels soar, much to the chagrin of everyone else!

Fatigue is the worst part of RA. Since I started Remicade and MXT the fatigue has decreased along with the pain, inflammation, and swelling. There are some days that the fatigue is there to stay and I give in. Fighting it only makes it worse. On those days I design a new piece of jewelry or do something artistic. I get so involved in the art that I don't think of the fatigue. I really feel that using the right side of your brain alleviates the fatigue. I can't base it on research just on what helps me through those days of fatigue.

I always have fatigue when it comes to housework or anything else i don't want to do. Fortunately, Rosita who i found running down by a fence by a river seems to enjoy doing my housework and other things that i prefer to not do. She doesn't charge me very much, she eats alot but she is very entertaining. A rosita in the morning sure helps my fatigue.

LEV

Hi guys, I find like gramma that if I pace myself it helps but when its a fatigue day, its a fatigue day, those ones I find I just have to sleep, I even get the fatigue bags under my eyes, seriously, I could go shopping at Harrods with these bags! I also have iron deficiency anaemia, it is different to chronic diease anaemia in that I can't absorb iron thru food or drugs, I have to have infusions, this was caused by antiinflammatories, they have caused fibrosis of my intestines so my body dosn't absorb iron or other nutrients. Check that out if you take antiinflammatories on a regular basis. Best of luck Janie.

LEV, I'm glad Rosita doesn't charge very much, but I can understand why you would have to pay to get any.

Hillhoney,

Why is it that you think that i have to pay to get any? Just a suggestion Hillhoney, be careful where you go with this question. You aren't a very smart person and the east coast sometimes has very bad weather.

LEV