FATIGUE!!

[Guest guest]

Hi, its me again....since my diagnosis of Reiters/reactive arth. I

always thought that I was Tired, because I had been ill, and was

admitted to Hosp...I just assumed that I was tired, but the last few

months, the 'Tiredness' has become more regularly, It can skip a day,

on my OK days, I mite not hav the Fatigue, and even on my Pain days,

I might have pain, but Not the fatigue....but these last few weeks, I

have been getting the Fatigue for two days, then it goes, and now

reappears a couple days later!! Im so exhausted!! Its only since ive

been a Member here that I now realise that the Fatigue is part and

parcel of the spondy conditions!!...It all makes sense now, but my

conditon and how I feel tells me my syptoms are getting increasingly

worse(seeing rhummy March)....Has anyone got any Ideas about the

fatigue....I go to hydro twice weekly and do my exercises in the

home, but taking me all my effort to just 'keep house', take kids to

school etc......Help any Suggestions??......... or even when the

fatigue might just go???

thanks for listening

Jill uk x

[Guest guest]

Jill,

The fatigue is more disabling than the pain, it seems like. I find I get

severe fatigue starting about a week before a bad flare of inflammation and

pain. I was on prednisone for a year which helped some. I was on

methotrexate for a few months which helped a lot at first but it stopped

working and I developed intolerance to it. I have been on Enbrel now for 9

months which has helped a lot with the fatigue.

When the fatigue is really bad, I sleep all afternoon on the weekends and

don't move once even if my arm falls asleep. I call it " arthritis sleep. "

Enbrel has helped a lot though. The effective Disease-modifying

anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS), if you get the one that's right for you, it

helps a lot with the fatigue. That's a big part of how I tell if a

medication is working. In fact, when I first get better from an effective

medication, I get extremely hyper. I had been sick for so many years that I

thought I had matured and was older, wiser, and calmer. Then, I went on

methotrexate and got temporarily all better and I was my hyper young

impatient self again! I had to laugh at myself. I hadn't matured or gotten

wiser at all, I was just really sick for a really long time. Kind of funny,

in a black humor kind of way.

Oh also, the Arthritis Foundation in the U.S. did a survey of patients

asking which is more disabling, fatigue or pain, and nearly all the patients

said, " FATIGUE!!!! "

Good luck with the doc! I hope they start you on something effective soon.

God Bless,

Janet in San Francisco

Reactive Arthritis (Reiter's Syndrome) since 1973; diagnosed 1997; HLA-B27+

Turning 41 tomorrow (don't want to think about that!)

[Guest guest]

Jill,

i've always wondered about that as well. people on these lists often

say, fatigue is caused by

chronic pain. i don't believe this. i read recently

that studies involving IL-6 (a pro-inflammatory cytokine) show that it

causes

severe fatigue and cognitive impairments. Therefore, fatigue may be the

result

of inflammation.

since all of my scores of symptoms involve inflammation in one way or

another,

i'm banking on it being the reason for my fatigue as well. i don't

tolerate or

believe in western meds but i constantly take fish oil and herbs (nettle

leaf) to combat inflamatory

cytokines.

Steve

drakehugs2004 wrote:

Its only since ive

>been a Member here that I now realise that the Fatigue is part and

>parcel of the spondy conditions!!...Has anyone got any Ideas about the

>fatigue....I go to hydro twice weekly and do my exercises in the

>home, but taking me all my effort to just 'keep house', take kids to

>school etc......Help any Suggestions??......... or even when the

>fatigue might just go???

>Jill uk x

[Guest guest]

Steve,

Chronic inflammation definitely causes fatigue. It always felt to me like

my body was fighting a losing battle. Also, chronic inflammation can cause

anemia which also causes fatigue.

I usually get severe fatigue preceding a flare, so that's definitely from

inflammation rather than pain. However, once a flare starts and I'm in a

lot of pain, the fatigue definitely gets worse. But, without question an

autoimmune disease can cause fatigue even when you're not in pain, because

your immune system is so stressed.

Janet in SF

ReA since 1973; diagnosed 1997; HLA-B27+