Fatigue

[sianjones96]

Hi everyone! I work full time in finance as well as studying for my exams to become a Management Accountant. I was diagnosed with stage 2 endometriosis in May and I’ve been trying different things to help with the pain (the pill, provera, cocodomal etc) and I’ve managed to get to a point where I’m coping with the pain during the day. However I’m still up every night with the pain (I feel like I have a full bladder so need to go the loo and the pain is near unbearable sometimes). I’m trying to study most nights after work and both days at the weekend, however I’m really struggling with the fatigue. I was wondering what others do to tackle the fatigue as it’s affecting my personal life and work life too now? I’m conscious that I’m now making mistakes at work too which is also getting me down as I’m usually a perfectionist!! Any advice is much appreciated xx

[JackieBo]

Hello Sianjones96,

Chronic fatigue is def one of the worst aspects to this thing. My work set me up with an occupational health appt and, after that, my work hours were adjusted to half days, max of four hour shifts. Granted, I am still waiting for my lap to fully diagnosis this thing so this was done as a temporary measure to help me cope until I can get this thing treated.

I wish I had an answer to the fatigue. In the past three years, I've gained 30 pounds because I just can't exercise like I used to, I can't go out dancing with friends, I can't take my dog on long walks like I used to, I can't walk to and from work like I used to, etc... the fatigue has destroyed my life. It started as me always having to cancel on dates with friends because I always felt tired, but now, between that and the growing pain levels, I've been signed off entirely.

A lot of folks swear that changing their diets to strict anti-inflammatory diets helps them, but I was already on a pretty good general diet of very little processed foods and heavy on the fruit, veg, and whole grains, plus additional vitamins due to stomach issues I have and now I've graduated to full veggie/pescatarian with no sweets aside from dark chocolate, no junk food in general, no soda, no coffee, no booze....

It hasn't changed anything. I still feel exhausted all the time and my pain levels are just as bad, if not getting worse. I do feel slightly less bloated, but that isn't saying much.

I wish I had an answer. I feel like my life has been taken from me. I used to be such a go getter, high achiever, packed schedule sort of person and now I've been signed off of work for a month and I've barely been able to leave my flat.

If someone finds a miracle cure for this, I would love to know about it. 😉

Best of luck, hun. There are loads of people who understand what you're battling against, if that helps at all. I hope you're having a good Sunday!

[Skelri]

Hi there,

I was in exactly the same position with work and studying.. you have to remember that you need to give your body time to rest! I got to a point where I’d sleep for 12ish hours at a time so I’d have the energy to study weekend afternoons!

If possible, try and speak to your manager about deadlines etc. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself with the exams.

One thing I did find that helped was the depo injection. It made me much less tired and took away most of my pain. The only downside being I bleed every day now. But might be worth trying for a short period - speak to your gp about it (you don’t HAVE to go to your gyne)!

Best of luck with your symptoms and your exams!

[flossy24 in reply to Skelri]

Hi skelri

So sorry to hear about your fatigue, I have been struggling with this a lot. Did your docs say where your endo was? It sounds very similar to mine (based on the pressure and always needing a wee) they couldn’t take mine off and my fatigue after my first lap has just got worse and worse. I am now going for round 2 and pushing to go private!

I would really recommend talking to your boss if you haven’t done so already. I am a manager at a high profile investments company and my job is stressful, which in turn makes the endo worse. I was worried about the impact endo was having on me so much to the point where it was making me more stressed. Vicious circle! As a manager I thought, I’d want my staff to tell me if they were struggling as I’d want the help. In the end I told my male boss, I thought he would shrug the matter off and not understand but he was really sympathetic he told me that whenever i was bad I could go and work from home and that they would do what they can to support me.

Any company worth its salt will look after its staff. I have a good diet, I exercise a lot. I have found that alcohol really flares my endo up but I struggle to not have a drink...stressful job!

I’d say try light exercise like yoga or Pilates, it’s really good to do something and it keeps releasing those feel good endorphins.

I hope this helps! Wishing you less fatigued and painful days!

[Skelri in reply to flossy24]

I had a lap, and they confirmed it was through mouth my pelvis, but they didn’t take anything away. I’m waiting for another referral to go back, but up until now have just been happy that the injection took away most of the pain!

Luckily, I’m an IFA, so get to juggle my own schedule and very lucky that my (male) boss was also incredibly understanding!

Sounds like we’ve been trailing the same things! Pilates, good diet - iron supplements are also working for me to reduce some tiredness!

Good luck with your next steps!

[JOSANDY40]

It's very hard to be as active as others, This autoimmune disease takes its toll. You need to give yourself more rest, Take vitamins. Keep away from people with colds Eat regular or late nights.