What you are calling exhaustion is what a "normal" person experiences after a day of hard work. BUT those of us who have fibromyalgia suffer fatigue which hits us first thing in the morning and we haven't done anything!! That is what other people just don't understand. They might say, "How can you be exhausted when you haven't done anything?" We cannot answer that. I think our fatigue is partly the result of never waking up feeling rested because the sleep disorder that goes with fibro does not allow your body to get into the deep restorative level of sleep. So, no matter how long we sleep we never wake up fresh and rested. I can't even remember the last time I felt rested as I have had fibromyalgia for so many years.
I can totally relate to not being able to cook nor to prepare food for yourself never mind other people.
Rachel
absolutely! People seem to expect that you'll eventually "catch up" on your exhaustion and feel better. I wish! I got about 3.5 - 4 hours last night. I'm surprised I'm making sense to anyone today.
Meg
Meg, I know the feeling. Nobody knows what is really behind our smile or our focus on a task.
Rachel
When I first started going to Drs for help, I remember telling them, "I cannot begin to tell you just how many boyfriends would ask me over and over 'why are you so tired all of the time' "? Boyfriends were relevant because they came and went so often that I recognized that many, many people would ask me this (and they would often leave me as a result.
Huh...as I read what I'm writing, I remember how / why my husband and I got along so well. We are both tired all of the time.
I finally had one Dr (after she told me, 'you know, fatigue is very difficult to diagnose' as I thought 'okay, so where do we start?' She actually did stick with me (where my previous Dr sent me a 'we can't treat you anymore (because you are a hypochondriac' letter) and did lots of tests which uncovered, literally all of my sex and adrenal hormones near 0, and lots of other things -- chronic Epstein Barr, various infections that never healed, etc. So she treated me for adrenal failure. She also diagnosed me with Fibro, but I didn't want to accept that because I thought the only determining factor was the 18? point test, where I don't have all-over nerve pain -- just immense swelling and pain in my upper body. Like I have an 'egg' in my collarbone that no one wants to look at (drs), let alone diagnose.
Do the rest of you have swelling? I know that SeatleMeg dose in her knees. Does anyone else have swelling (like fat) the size of an egg in their collarbones?
I hope you all have a restful night.
I'm sorry to hear it, Meg. Do you have sleep meds? I am more and more grateful to my Dr for what she has given me.
P.S. I researched Norco after someone posted it and was happy to learn that hydrocodone comes in a lower-dose acetominophen! Thanks to whomoever that was. Hopefully you can get more of that.