When MS Fatigue Strikes

I never realized it, but I was dealing with MS fatigue for a long time prior to my diagnosis. I always thought the fatigue had to do with my depression, which may have been MS related, but I had no reason to look into the fatigue. Once I resolved or managed my depression, the fatigue would go away. I wasn’t sure how I would manage my depression, but it was in the back of my mind “to do.”

The last time I felt energetic, truly energetic and what I imagine it feels like for everyone else, was when I was a teenager.

Every day can be a struggle for me to get things done. It’s something I’ve talked about a lot on the blog, especially the feelings of frustration I get from not being able to get everything done. I have learned to adapt around the fatigue, but the unpredictability surrounding it and what affects it is still a learning curve.

I think I will constantly be working through the frustration the fatigue causes.

What is MS Fatigue?

MS fatigue, or lassitude, is something that happens every day for the majority of people with MS. This fatigue can vary day-to-day and person to person. At this point in time, researchers do not know what causes fatigue, just that it is something that happens more with people with MS (up to 80%).

My completely uneducated, unqualified guess is that it probably has something to do with how the lesions affect our body or the fact that our immune system is constantly in overdrive and attacking itself. Like how we feel when dealing with a cold, the fatigue is our body’s response to the attack.

Fatigue can so negatively impact a person with MS that it may be used as a reason for why a person leaves the workforce early. I know that it made going to a physical job more difficult, one day I had to lie down on my office floor for a nap because I was so exhausted from teaching. I was able to work, but by the end of the day, I was completely worn out because I couldn’t get any naps or periods of rest during the day.

For me, I have my most amount of energy in the morning (with or without a good night’s sleep) and slowly lose energy as the day progresses. By mid-afternoon, I am desperate for a nap and will have a minor surge in energy afterward for an hour or two, but there is no guarantee of that second wind.

Fatigue as a Background Feeling

I have found that the fatigue surrounds me so much that it has become a background feeling for me. There is a level of itchy-comfort that surrounds me every day. I know this is an oxy-moron, but what it means is that I have that weird cozy feeling all day that you get when you are just tired enough. It’s that warm feeling you get where you are just drowsy.

But it’s itchy and uncomfortable because it’s really hard to snap out of it, which is frustrating. My body wants to stay in bed and sleep all day, but my mind is “we have to move and get work done!”

I have learned to push the fatigue to the background for most of the day, working through it, but I know that it makes me cranky at times. That’s where self-compassion comes in, but also where goal-setting helps as well. I think my running training has helped a lot. Besides giving me some extra energy that comes naturally from exercise, it sets a blueprint for goal acheivement throughout the day.

Running creates this blueprint: I need to run to the next telephone pole and then I can walk for a few seconds. When I am so worn out from running a long race, I sometimes have to create these small goals to keep pushing myself towards my personal race goals. In my daily life, it is very similar: I say “I need to complete this task and then I can rest for a few minutes.” When I feel my fatigue winning, I remember that if I can push through it with running so can I push through it in my daily tasks.

Bad Fatigue Days

Bad fatigue days are some of the worst days and moments for me.

I may have a bunch of things on my “to do” list and I will not get more than one thing done on that list. And that feeling of unproductivity can be extremely frustrating and discouraging for someone who likes to get a lot done in the day.

If I do too much the day/night before, I can be wiped out the next day making getting out of bed near impossible. When this happens, I find that I am cranky for much of the day. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the fatigue, no amount of sleep helps revive me. I could sleep over 8 hours the night before, get 4 to 6 hours of naptime and still be able to go to bed early for another full night’s sleep with no relief from the fatigue.

On these days, I feel that my depression hits harder because I am so tired and frustrated with my body.

I get frustrated when dealing with exacerbations, but I find that I am less frustrated with an exacerbation than I am with the fatigue. An exacerbation can be managed with medication, my fatigue rarely can. I’ve tried several different medications meant to give me a boost in energy, but I find they don’t make a dent or make me more drowsy.

Fatigue’s Impact on Emotions

While I might take medication, drink copious amounts of caffeine, run a mile or two in the morning, drink a bunch of water, or just rest in order to raise my energy levels, I find that I get no real relief from my MS fatigue.

The lack of relief or lasting energy boosts is so frustrating and wearing that I think fatigue has the most negative impact on my emotions regarding my MS.

I really wish that I can get more things done during the day. I wish I could have all the energy in the world to do a bunch of things with Jai. I wish I could take a couple extra hours every day to work on my blog and do my daily tasks.

All of these desires lead to my feeling of helplessness and personal frustration towards myself and my MS. Any negative feelings I have towards myself stem from my complete lack of control over being able to get things done in the amount of time I want. I might plan to spend the whole weekend getting caught up on a project and then find both days are spent in bed because I can’t summon enough energy.

With these negative feelings, I have learned to embrace self-compassion as a way to manage them. I recognize that until they come up with a perfect drug to deal with MS fatigue, this is something completely out of my control. I cannot change something out of my control, so stressing over it will achieve nothing, therefore I have to be softer with myself.

On Friday I will be discussing more indepth how I deal with my MS Fatigue in my newsletter post. If you want to read more about my personal solutions to this common MS problem, please sign up for the newsletter here.


Featured photo credit: Michelle Melton


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