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@Robean 

Last reply

Robean

Is it fatigue or am I just tired?

I feel tired a lot of the time. No matter how much sleep I get, I still feel tired. I have a stressful job and work 13 hour shifts and I always feel worse on my first day off after 2 long days at work in a row. But it’s hard to tell whether this is just general tiredness or if it’s MS related fatigue. Recently I went on holiday for a week and every single day I woke up feeling refreshed, eventhough I was getting the same amount and quality of sleep most nights. As soon as I started back at work, I felt wiped out again after the first day. Some days, I just don’t have the energy to do anything. I have to force myself to even get out of bed and then I sit on the sofa all day watching TV (often this makes me feel even worse and by the evening I’m even more tired). I don’t have the energy to do simple things like the washing up or even showering. I know everyone feels tired and my husband is always saying he’s tired as well and he doesn’t have MS. So how do you tell if this is just tiredness from everyday life and working long hours or if it’s fatigue related to MS?
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@Highlander
@Highlander
 

@robean Hi and welcome to the club 😀 Fatigue for the and many others with MS it's part and parcel of every day life. Under your post above you'll see some boxes relating to some of the things that you mentioned. Click on them and it'll take you to other posts made about each subject. You'll find some great advice there. Welcome again 😀

@cameron
@cameron
 

I'm wondering if the tiredness relates to brain fatigue. When you were on holiday, you probably had far less to occupy your mind and you almost certainly weren't doing the multi-tasking that is part of any working schedule. Perhaps have a close look at the sequence of what you do at work. For example, how much of your job is multi-tasking? Are there particular parts of the day that find you under more stress? Have your responsibilities increased recently? Is there an element of your job which you find particularly hard, and if so, why is that? Can you have a proper lunch break or is it 'on the go'? Sometimes making a small change can have a real effect. It's what Prof Giovannoni calls a 'marginal gain' and if you make enough of them, it does make a difference. xx