Monday, November 9, 2015

     I am often open and descriptive when talking about most things that are happening to me due to multiple sclerosis, but chronic MS fatigue is something I have never been able to really describe. Fatigue is the most common MS symptom and is the reason most people with MS stop working, and it sounds like the dumbest thing in the world.

     You're just too tired.

     Not in pain, not numb, not tingly, just tired.

     I have maybe two or three weeks of extreme fatigue a year. Not enough to hinder my ability to work or function on a regular basis, but they are horrible weeks. It's like everything is impossible. It's not even that you feel like you want to constantly sleep, you just don't have any energy, and there is no reason. It always makes me feel horrible. I will have absolutely no excuse to be tired, I will have had a good nights sleep, maybe even slept in, but it feels like I haven't slept in days. It's really hard to explain that, no, I'm not being lazy, but my body physically will not allow me to do things.
     I'm generally a pretty tidy person, clutter drives me nuts. But when I get on these fatigue kicks, I have zero energy to do anything about the clutter that's driving me nuts. I leave the clothes on the floor, the papers all of over my desk, and my bed unmade. A good way of seeing what kind of day I'm having is to look in my room to see if my bed is made, but don't do that, that's creepy. It just makes me feel gross to not be able to do such simple tasks. My absolute least favorite thing about being fatigued is cooking. When I'm alone I have zero desire to cook anything. I'm vegan, so I tend to have to do a lot of cooking. I get too tired to cook which puts me in a bad mood because I'm hungry, but then the being hungry gets me ever more tired. Its an annoying never ending loop for days. I have had more granola bars for meals this week than anyone ever should. If I never had a granola bar again for a long time that would be great.
     I came across this video a year or so ago and it was awesome seeing  someone else explain exactly how I felt, especially someone my own age. Generally, most MS groups and forums are filled with people much older than me.



     Like I said these weeks don't happen very often for me, but it is definitely happening this week. I started a new medication recently and my body is just completely run down from adapting to it. It feels like I can sit all day but the inside of my body is running a mile a minute and its exhausting. The only great part of these fatigue weeks is that I feel a little justified in my netflix marathons. So for now I'm just going to ride out the week with Bob's Burgers.
     To further prove this complete exhaustion, I just put this post on my pastry recipe blog instead of this one.

No comments:

Post a Comment