Hi All,Hope you're all keeping as well as you can.
I'm approaching 3 years since the injury and subsequent surgery, and recently my fatigue has been getting worse. I can't make it through the day now without a sleep ( and still can't nod off at night until gone 1, but that's not changed)
Has anyone else found it getting worse, been steadily getting more knackered over the last month or so.
Cheers
Andy
HiHi B, it may be that you've been overdoing things. I was told in my rehab, that staying in a boom and bust pattern of fatigue reinforces an ongoing downward spiral of fatigue. I think for me, that triggering a ' bust'means that I have more days of inactivity, and that adds to my physical deconditioning, which is then correspondingly harder to get myself out of again. Plus being in a 'bust' phase makes me depressed, which doesn't help the fatigue either - there's a lot of overlap between the symptoms of fatigue and clinical depression. (Plus I was told that there is a very real possibility of triggering burnout after a BI) We all tend to try and do 'too much' from time to time, whatever 'too much' is for us individually.
Perhaps try going back to basics, try either the hourly ten minutes timeout brain breaks, or thirty minutes nap morning and afternoon, or indeed both, and then see what (little) you need to do in order not to be shattered at the end of the day. Then try and build up activity gently week on week. Keep a fatigue diary, log your level of fatigue out of 10, three times a day, and what you did beforehand - you might be able to see a pattern emerge, and be able to cut back or modify /breakdown your activities into smaller more manageable chunks that don't trigger those 10/10 levels of fatigue.
Don't forget to check in with your GP to get some blood tests too , including for vitamin D (deficiency in D makes you exhausted) because not everything is caused by our BIs of course.
Hope this helps ( can relate to the insomnia - is only just dawning on me that I have to make a conscious effort to get to sleep every night now)
Hi, there has been a few times I have been so tired i can sleep all day if I could plus all night. I have found out that that happens when my sodium level drops. I have changed my diet and drink only 1.5 litres of fluid a day (2 litres) max if I have too and it has changed me a million. I o ky found out what was happening through Endocrinology who gave me blood tests to do all the tests they needed to find out why it was happening. I also have vitamin B deficiency and on Thiamine for rest of my life but I'm fine with that. Blood tetanus will definitely help as your pituitary hormone can be causing it too. Hope this helps a little bit.
Hi Bushman1926
I’ve just read Painting-girl’s reply and agree with everything she says.
If I don’t take enough rest in one day, I simply can’t get through the next without literally falling asleep in the afternoon. It’s embarrassing and one friend even had to wake me up in the middle of a Group Meeting which we have held in my house. I profusely apologised but, as you’ll know, people really know the effects of brain injury at all-and that’s why I find this Health Unlocked group so helpful.
I personally have found some Relaxation Albums on YouTube helpful and there are several available-I like ones by the ‘Honest Guys’ and ‘Get sleepy’, and am usually asleep way before the end!. If I’ve been exposed to much brain input for any length of time, just lying quietly on my settee, emptying my brain from overthinking, is enough, although my therapist had to teach how to do this, and it took some time
I do have to take medication each day but I’d strongly agree with Painting-girl’s suggestion of going to see your GP to get your bloods levels checked, and maybe a thorough check-up. We’ve through a lot brain trauma.
I’ve it said by more than one person,
‘Be kind to yourself’, and that doesn’t mean wallowing, it’s very good advice in general. I constantly push myself too hard and expect to much.
Take care
Lite
Yes. I have an acquired brain injury as a result of brain surgery. I have suffered for the 6 years post surgery with fatigue with no sign of it improving. Exercise is helping but it feel like being an old phone battery.I start the day with maybe 70% of the energy most people and by the later stages of the day I am exhausted.
I often need a daytime nap due to being tired but that then makes it harder to go to sleep.
I have been referred to a neurology team to look in to what can be done but it often seems to come down to trying to exercise more and possibly reviewing the side effects of any ongoing drug treatments.
You are not alone in your struggles,
Hoping you keep well,
Rich
Hi Rich, still have those daytime naps, but try to limit them to 30 mins and try not to sleep after 4pm ( not always possible!) - the trick is to rest without affecting your night's sleep. (Though if I overdo things in the day, my sleep at night is worse.). Try a meditation / mindfulness exercise based on breathing rather than visualization - that way you get the rest/ 'brain break' without going into a deep sleep, and you can usually choose different lengths of time to suit yourself. I used to use Headspace for example but I don't know if it's still free? Sometimes a ten minute break every hour keeps the battery charged up, without having a bad effect on your sleep at night. Hope you go on ok.
Thanks everyone, Some great ideas in there I'll definitely look into them.
As always with this site it's good to know I'm not alone, I'm still struggling a bit with the loss of the person I was before,
Thanks again 👍👍👍
You are certainly not alone, Bushman. In terms of mindfulness exercises, as opposed to falling asleep, I can say that I have found this useful. If I sleep too much in the day, I can't sleep at night. Yes, 
I too find I am looking at 1 am very often.
I have found it really useful to go to the youtube channel of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Walk around it and see what you think. I have found the short items by Professor Mark Williams really helpful and easy to follow.
Yes, loss of the person I was before is a big thing - but if you can say that you are struggling, then you've found some distance, haven't you. keep going. I am too.
Come back and tell us what you found useful.
Thanks Mark, that 1st one is spot on, i need to work on the 2nd one
Getting back to work
Colds etc: are they worse after BI?
can it be worse?
Crushing Fatigue
