Fatigue the Great RA Equalizer

Managing RA fatigue is the #RABlog week day 2 topic. Specifically the prompt asks: We all know that fatigue is a big part of many of our lives. How do you manage that fatigue? Perhaps you like a warm cup of tea or a hot bath. We all have our coping strategies. Describe anything you do to help with fatigue.

Sources of Fatigue

This blog really hits home. I take so many drugs to suppress and manipulate my body that is difficult to know the difference between RA fatigue and medicine fatigue. I have tried all the things I can think of to overcome fatigue.

Before I had RA, I would of course get tired. But that tired is nothing compared to RA tired. RA tired, literally grips your body and makes you a bystander in life.

Dealing with fatigue

So the question presented is how do I deal with it? First I press through. I know that seems ridiculous to people who share RA. But it is in my make up to keep going, pressing, and trying to overcome anything that might slow me down. Pressing forward seldom works well.

So the second thing I do is bargain. I am a good bargainer when it comes to people, I have no such skill for RA. At best RA is a one way losing bargain.

So the best way to deal this oppressive fatigue? In my case the best way is to sit down and breathe. My wife says I am not a very good breather. So when I am feeling like things are difficult she advises I need to breathe. It takes little effort to breathe well, but sometimes even that seems difficult. Oh if you are wondering, no that does not work either.

What works?

So what works? A good night’s sleep works miracles. Doing everything I can to spend the night in bed is the best thing I can do for the fatigue I had RA. But as I said at the start of this essay that usually requires medication and that produces a whole different kind of fatigue.

This leads to the second part of my blog and that is about where I apply my energy. With RA, I have to select the things I wish to expend energy on. Does my energy expenditure benefit me, my family, and my community or is it just wasted energy?

Steamroller

I can say I have never been a bundle of careless energy, but more like a steamroller, tough to get started, difficult to stop once started. RA made is even more so. Choosing what I do is the biggest lesson I have had to learn and even after 15 years I am not there as yet.

I have pressed on and tried to overcome. Sometimes that works other times well not so much. Sitting down is just not me. At least it did not use to be me. Press forward was my motto. Keep going.

Applied enegery

That is what I want to do more than anything. So today I select where I apply my energy. I do the things I love, like walking with Sheryl, if I am not too slow, or riding my bicycle. All measured, and controlled to make sure I can finish, endure and have fun. I avoid news, I do not watch my beloved Indiana Hoosiers play basketball or the Colts play football, I get too worked up to do it.

So if I have found any answer it is to invest my energy where it pays off not sucks me dry.

-30-

rick