Oh, this body dragging fatigue!

I know this is not unique to me.....you get up and are feeling fairly well and you get some stuff picked up around the house (nothing strenuous), you get dressed and in your mind you are going to go and run some errands....and BOOM, your body is just soooooo heavy and tired there is no way you can go and do anything! 

 

 I really hate this part of MS.  My family still doesn't understand that you can look fine, you can be ready to go somewhere and it just hits you like a ton of bricks (literally!). 

 

Or, you go somewhere and when you get there you basically feel like you've already run a marathon in the heat, washed the entire house inside and out, given your gorilla a bath and given birth to a 20lb. baby!  And there is no way you can do what you came to do.

 

How in the world are we supposed to cope with this feeling?  I haven't found a way to shake it.  Some days I try to press on because I have to get something done but it is monumental to do it!

 

Any super-duper stratagies?

Michelle,

If you figure it out, please let me know. 

The other day, I got up, got dressed, walked downstairs to feed the cats, and was almost floored with fatigue.  I've had to work this week (first week back in classes since May) and I have been dragging like snails carrying lumber. I feel like I'm trying to run a 20K race through neck-deep mud.

And last night, the muscle spasms returned with a vengence. My baclofen isn't working, and today, I am just miserable.  My muscles are so stiff and sore that I can barely move. I feel like I'm having a full-body Charlie horse!

I'm so sick of this whatever-it-is disease!  (Since I'm in Limboland, I don't even know what to call it!)

Hey Michelle

Geez, i'm sorry u'r battling this so hard. It really is something u have to experience or have first hand relations with to be able to uderstand. It's frustrating. U'r mind is racing with all the things u want and need to do, yet u'r body just can't keep up. No matter what u do at that time, u'r cemented to a resting/collapsing place until it passes. As u know, i have three young children to keep up with and this is exactly the time of my life when i need this NOT to be here the most. I agree with Kimber and Uppity. Be flexible and pace urself. It's the only way i see that things can be accomplished and u still be a part of them. I never promise anything at all anymore...not even the smallest of things. Not that i'm so bad off, but just not knowing when i'll be out of sorts and not able to keep my word. Sounds bad, but works well for me. Take good care and put urself first when u need to. I'll keep u in my prayers.

rhonda

 

Michelle I can totally feel your frustration.  Being so new to this I don't know what to tell you other than do what you can when you are feeling "up" and relax when you're not.  I can tell early in the day now whether it's going to be one of those days by how much effort it takes to make coffee.

Somewhere.. I don't remember where of course.. I read about strategies to make other people understand what it feels like.  Like having kids (or husbands) wear rubber gloves while trying to set the table to help them understand arm numbness, or put weights on their legs and have them go for a walk. 

Whether they understand or not, they will just have to adapt to your limits.

Take care,

Shar 

Labor Day, noon

 

Hello Michelle:

 

I have asked everyone here before to name the worst MS symptom.....and their are many....but fatigue is the WORST!!!

 

And a non-MS'er could never understand the depth of the fatigue,....

 

I take Provigil twice a day....it helps a bit. but not like the old days....

 

Ask your neuro...there are a series of meds available..

 

Great luck.

 

Tired on Labor day, John