Dear all lupus sufferers

[summer32]

Can you close your fingers to palm/ fist in the morning??. Im query lupus now from original diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis, do you have high fatigue levels and need a nap in afternoon... I had a positive ana test

Thank you

[Slowmo]

Hi Summer32, my fingers/palm/fists etc like much else of my body is stiff first thing in the mornings and take some time to loosen up, I can do things around 11a.m. that I won't even try at 7a.m.

I've been diagnosed for almost 3yrs now and fatigue is one of the things that drives me mad, whilst the pain (varied joints/problem areas) is difficult I'm sure I could cope if I didn't suffer with extreme exhaustion so frequently. However, I often think that the pain causes the tiredness as it is so draining.

Personally I try not to take a nap in the daytime as I have difficulty sleeping at night and try my best to keep a normal routine - however, there are times when I have to give in and take the sleep during the afternoon as it's so much worse to get overtired as this results in even more pain etc, lol.

All the best to you, I hope you have some answers soon and keep using this site and getting support from others.

Slowmo

[Thaddeus]

On a bad day, it takes me about 2 hours to have full use of my hands. During this warm up period, they are slow, painful and get things very wrong indeed. Brushing teeth, is not easy and typing is out of the question.

As for sleep routines, some days I have no say in the matter.

[Flavnix]

I echo everything Slowmo has said.

[Zoezoe752]

My hands are really bad in the morning and the fatigue causes me to be so teary I cry all the time jst out of pain and tiredness when I open my eyes in the morning I take my time to move everything very slowly checking what hurts and what doesn't there's no jumping out of bed for me takes around 2 hours to get full movement that I can have during day which is stil not normal hope your ok x

[Petey]

One of the first symptoms to trouble me (I had others but didn't realise their significance), was reduced strength in my hands on waking. I have no grip, strength or dexterity and the time it takes to get to a better level of functioning varies. Throughout the day when I think my hands have improved, I still have trouble opening packets.

[tiredmum]

I was given simple exercises to do in bed before attempting to get up, as like yourselves, nothing seems to work of a morning until around 11am.

It's just simple things like wiggling your toes and fingers and then flexing your ankles and wrists and then gently stretching your legs and arms ( I sleep in a ball so makes things much worse to get moving of a morning) and it really does help to get me out of bed.