Why are all my symptoms so severe at weekends when I'm not at work?

[deborah27]

Feeling really down about this. It takes everything I have to hold down my job. Come the weekend, Saturday and Sunday when I am in so much pain, the stiffness is grinding and the fatigue is like walking through treacle. Looking forward to the weekend isn't my experience. When colleagues talk about the weekend, chilling out, going shopping and having a coffee with friends or just doing nothing... I feel so down. Even my normal basic chores, hoovering, laundry etc... are enormous and exhausting at the weekend. I am always on catchup with nothing ever getting done completely. What am i doing wrong?

[Hidden]

Hi

I'm so sorry you are feeling so rough. I think that you are burning yourself out at work Monday to Friday so by the time weekend comes you are cut for nothing.

Does your boss know about your condition? If he/she does or doesn't then I think it is time for you to have a chat about flexible working hours or if you can afford it, cutting your hours down. I know this might sound drastic but you are making yourself feel worse by the hours you are doing. I had a really good boss who did her utmost to accommodate me but I have many conditions and in the end I had to take ill health retirement last year, it was very hard . I know that my boss was right. I'm still in touch with her now. Love and hugs Lynne xxxx

[deborah27 in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou so much for your reply. I know you are right. Yes my boss knows, but he is temporary and isn't fully engaged with us. I am not in a position at the moment to reduce my hours, but that may change. I do feel as if I am having a flare every weekend, not good. I have been working on pacing myself throughout the week, not quite there yet. I crash when I get in from work and sleep for about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, that's not working out as I cant sleep when I go to bed and nothing gets done. Oh dear, I sound like a real moan! I am going to have another look at how I live day to day, instead of everything piling up at the weekend I might try and do a couple of things through the week. Trial and error is how things are I think for most of us. I hope you are ok and not suffering at present, thankyou for taking time to reply.

[Hidden in reply to deborah27]

Hi

You are very welcome. It must be so hard for you . You do not sound like a real moan. Have you been to see your Dr to see if you can be referred to pain management. I do hope you will be in a position to reduce your hours very soon . As you can see I'm still awake due to pain. I'm waiting to have trigger point injections but I've got to get my blood sugar down first. Please don't worry about housework, you come first, the housework can wait!! Does your partner help you much? I'm very lucky to have a brilliant support network of family and friends and all of you on here. I hope you don't read this straight away because it will mean you are managing to get a little sleep. You can pm me if you would like to. Love and hugs Lynne xxxx

[deborah27 in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou so much, I appreciate your advice. Xx

[Hidden in reply to deborah27]

You are very welcome. Love and hugs Lynne xxxx

[Bluenordic]

Hi, I am in a similar situation to you and I think the simplest answer for me was about adrenalin. When I am on the go at work, or even going to work I have high levels of adrenalin protecting me, even if I don't know it at the time, in the same way that it does for a car accident victim, who can appear fine because the adrenalin is high, which can ofter mask injuries. But at the weekend my body/brain doesn't perceive a risk so doesn' t produce the same amounts, plus the fact of having worked all week in that state and physically tired out my body it finally says Stop. I don't have a solution yet but I found that the explanation helped to understand what was going on.

[Hidden]

First, you are not doing anything wrong. How anyone holds down a job when they have fibro amazes me every time. You’re using up all your energy reserves during the working week—- you’re running on empty at the weekend.

Any re-organisation you can do will help. Do you have children who can do half an hour’s Vacuuming ? Or hang out/bring in washing? Go for any labour saving things you can afford —a dishwasher ( train everyone to stack it properly) tumble dryer, slow cooker, electric soup maker. Order groceries online for home delivery. Is a cleaner for a couple of hours a week possible ?

I hate ironing so I just wear clothes more between washes—- with daily showers, deodorants etc.. clothes don’t get to be minging after one wear.

I have house clothes ( joggers and old, soft sweatshirts) that don’t need ironing.

I hope you have support at home and don’t ever forget how well you are doing.

[deborah27 in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou so much, I do so many things the same as you lol. There is only me at home, grown up family doing their own things. With the support from you all here, I dont feel alone. Xx

[deborah27]

So true, thankyou for your reply. I will re-think things. Xx

[Midori]

Firstly, I congratulate you on your work ethic; however, and putting it bluntly, are you working to live, or living to work? If you are so tied up in work that you are too exhausted to live, then you are overdoing it, and it will rebound on you.

Please have words with your employer about this, no good being the richest person in the cemetery!