I would like to wish a belated Happy New Year to everybody. I hope that your 2016 is off to a good start.
This year we would really like to get conversations going about a particular topic each month so that we can share ideas and experiences with one another and produce helpful new articles.
The topic for January is, ‘Fatigue’
Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms experienced by people with lupus and it is also often described as one of the most debilitating.
We’d really love to hear if you have any tips for managing your fatigue. Perhaps you have a great pacing technique or a change in your diet or lifestyle which has helped improve your energy levels? Maybe you've tried countless 'solutions' and experienced no improvement. Either way, we would like to hear from you. We’ll compile all the best tips and experiences at the end of the month for an article. Please leave your tips and experiences in the comments section below, or email paul@lupusuk.org.uk
The article itself will be posted on the LUPUS UK Blog at lupusuk.org.uk/category/blog/
All submissions will be anonymised.
I don't have lupus - I have another autoimmune disorder with FATIGUE! But I'd just like to say pacing and resting has to be the biggest help - and to recommend a blog you may not have come across: Despite Lupus by Sara Gorman. Sara has lupus, is married, has 2 small girls and runs a business as well as advocating for lupus (she's written a book and lectures). Sara's mantra is pacing - and she has loads of others tips for lupus people too. She helped me understand the importance of planned resting and how to use it best and I'm sure she has something useful for everybody, whether they have lupus or not.
Hi PMRpro,
Thank you so much for the suggestion. I think that pacing is very important when trying to manage fatigue, so any tips on how to do this well are sure to be helpful.
I've just written a small essay on it on my "own" forum - and the quick way to explain it is do things in bites and rest in between! Iron a few shirts, have a rest, iron a few more, have a rest, rinse and repeat. You can often do something else while sitting resting so it doesn't waste time really. And by doing that you can manage to achieve far more in a day than just bashing on until you drop and the next day is a washout as well. Or even inducing a flare.
Sara has a planned rest - at a given time in the early early afternoon and for a set time. Then she is able to get up and carry on with the day, into the evening as well. If she misses it for any reason, travelling or just thinking "I'm feeling good today, I won't bother", she find it catches up later, sometimes a few days or even more afterwards and if it is really bad, she even develops a real flare, needing bed rest and more medication. You have to know your limitations and stick to them - however much people try to persuade you to ignore them.
And to be perfectly honest - I can't explain it much better than in this allegory about living with chronic illness:
butyoudontlooksick.com/arti...
Though if you ever want an article about it - just ask!