I know you all feel that way too, having read a few posts a lot of you are far worse off than I am.
Still, this is all very new to me and I feel tired and fed up and I need to have a whinge.
Daughter has been away since Tuesday evening at her friends down in High Wycombe, she will be home this evening, just as I will need to go to bed in order to get up for work early tomorrow morning.
Speaking of work, I have been off since Wednesday as on Tuesday night I was coughing most of the night and felt too tired to deal with the work next day, which is a manual production line job, and very tiring at the best of times. Since then I have not felt up to going in the rest of the week.
OH has been away since Thursday morning at Star Wars Convention. He comes back tonight but will be going to his mums as he will have to take her to the hospital to have a blood test in the morning. So I wont see him until Monday night after work.
So knowing that I would be on my own I had arranged a few things to do. A curry night, a friends birthday, a walk with a group of folk who do that stuff. Trouble is I cancelled myself from all of them as I have not felt up to doing any of it. Not because I am suffering with breathing issues or anything badly, I am just tired and dont feel like going, and I don't know if this is a normal thing with COPD.
Can I expect more of this, I have always been active physically, and I would like to keep going if I can.
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ericat659Asthma
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It can be an overpowering diagnosis. Looking for further information on the Net is almost guaranteed to be terrifying but you have found the right place now. Being on your own must have been a downer and I hope your family and friends can work around you in the future to make sure someone is there for you. As you gain more knowledge (from the BLF) you will feel more confident. Try to stay positive because otherwise dark thoughts can drag your mood down, although we are all entitled to a whinge now and again! I wish you good luck.
Hi I agree with Titchy52. You do sound like you are depressed. I would go and see your GP. I think depression is common for people with chronic illnesses. I was dx with COPD in 2006. And have recently been dx with another chronic disease. I finally got the courage to see my GP about how I was feeling and she put me on antidepressants. And I go for a review every month. It is good to have someone to talk to. Hope you get some help soon take care xx
At my PR group they told us we use about 2-400 calories per day instead of about 40 calories when we have copd simply because we work much harder just by breathing so its common to feel tired with COPD.
I was exhausted all the time and changed my diet by adding loads of high alkaline foods which did help raise my energy levels and i cant recommend this enough , there is lots of info on the web about high alkaline diets ....
If you havnt been on a pulmonary rehabilitation course i would ask your doc if you can go on one they are really good and very informative and they also look into depression and lots of other things
I was diagnosed at 22yrs old and am now 72 so I have a bit of practice living with it. I still have all the anger, why me?, and am tired all the time. There is a trick you can use to get moving that works for me, most of the time. If you can acomplish one thing, even a small thing, it can make you feel succesful and wanting to do more. Try making a list of things you need or want to do and crossing them off as you do them. Keep the list and count the cross offs. It may motivate you to do more. Next thing you know you're out of your funk. Success begets success for me.
Let those who love you help you, even if all they do is visit and be supportive. Try to look at what you can still do and not what you can't.
Your message has cheered me up a little. If you can live for all those years with it then I might not get such a severe and rapid decline in health myself.
Its a good idea to have a to-do list. I have done it for other things, like decorating the house, christmas preparations, etc. so it makes sense to have something on the go for this too.
I sometimes get overwhelmed by all the things I have to get done, which makes me think, why bother at all, it wont all get done anyway. So if I can get some of those things ticked off then I will feel better.
Today I went back into work, and had a good day. I did have to do a back to work interview and they raised concerns about the absences, so I laid it out for them, what I have, how its all very new to me, how I have to attend hospital appointments and the gp, how I try to arrange appointments for after work but its not always possible, how I am trying to come to terms with it, finding out what might set me off, learning how to live with it, how the medics will be messing about with the meds most probably for a while to find the best treatment for me. It was suggested that I might go to 5hour shifts instead of the 8hour ones I do now, and I said I had considered that, but today for instance I was fine, its like that, one day I am ok and another day wont be, and I really dont want to cut hours until I absolutely have to, so we will see how it goes for now. As I dont know what sets me off yet its hard to avoid possible triggers. I just have to try and live my life and note if I think something causes me to cough or wheeze badly.
Daughter came home last night and we fitted in a little chat before I had to go to bed, and when I got home from work today she has mopped the kitchen floor. She even moved stuff to do it properly, not like me, just doing the bits that you can see, haha.
OH will be home tonight, so I will get a cuddle to cheer me up.
And I made the appointment with the gp for Thursday evening, so I should be getting the preventer inhaler then, hopefully the chemist will have one in and I can start it straight away.
Glad you seem to have spirits lifted somewhat. It's easy to get discouraged but getting past it gets easier with practice. Don't know who I'm quoting here but, " I can choose to be happy or sad. I choose happy."
I love this reply Bruce. I have 2 daughters only 2 years apart so when my second was born I already had a toddler. And a partner who wasn't very hands on in the parenting dept. As you can imagine, tiredness & exhaustion didn't come into it..... I was permanently fatigued! My midwife, Morwenna, who was with me throughout my second pregnancy and post birth gave me the same advice as you're advocating; 'Just achieve ONE thing a day' even if it's just the washing up. It takes the pressure off trying to do it all, feeling overwhelmed then beating yourself up cos you simply can't. Best advice I was ever given in my life & I still live by it 20 years later. Much love, Poll X
I too, when my bronchiectasis acts up and I get an infection that leave me feeling sob and tired, get depressed. My husband and I are both retired and he exercises and plays golf, he's always on the go. Me, there are days when just getting up out of bed and making it thru the day is an acomplishment, I get very depressed. My mind wants to do things, but my illness sets me back.
After feeling sorry for myself, I try harder to take care of myself, so I don't get infections that will slow me down. It's like a roller coaster, days that I feel great, then good, then not so good, then bad. Then I start to get over the infection and slowly start to feel better.
It bothers me that I can't commit to any activity in the future because I don't know if I will be feeling well enough.
I had this issue when I was working. My boss (and company) was very understanding and I usually could be there when I had deadlines to meet. I think I was stronger due to the fact that I felt I had to be at work so there was no time to be feeling poorly.
Sometimes dwelling on the illness just makes it worse. I do great on trips (I had to have a bronchscopy a week before we left for a 3 week trip to Europe). I was so nervous that I would be sick during the trip, but I was having such a good time, that I didn't even think about being sick, I just made sure that I took care of myself and took my meds and nebulizer. I was able to keep up with the tour.
I try to do a little more than I want to each day, when I'm feeling bad. Being active helps the lungs loosen the mucus.
thank you all for replies, yes I am feeling better this week.
I am back at work. Only coughing and wheezing a little bit and mostly at night. OH and younger daughter are both back. Had a phone call off elder daughter and a nice chat about her which took my mind off my problems. Arranged to pay her a visit soon, so nice road trip down to Hereford for a couple of days to look forward to. Got new inhaler which is to be taken twice a day and is called Symbicort Turbohaler. I didnt take it yesterday even though I had it, just in case I had a bad reaction of any kind which would of put me off work today. After being pulled up about absences last week I didnt fancy risking it. Will take it tonight and over the weekend and should be ok one way or another by Monday.
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So fed up😢
Fed up and frustrated 
Fed up and tired! 
Cold and tired
Feeling tired .. and looking tired
