I'm such an idiot!

[Elmo333]

Help!! I was having a rare pain free week so being the sensible person that I am, I have played tennis 3 days in a row. I was doing ok. I did mtx inj as usual last night and now, boom...I've just finished the third game in a row and I feel like death. Sick, headache, cold, weak, pain everywhere😞. I've got to go to work in a couple of hours and I'm supposed to be playing again tomorrow but right now, I can't get out of bed!!!

[sylvi]

Oh darling i know how easy it is when you feel good you do things you haven't been able to do and wham bam thank you man it hits you in the backside and your in agony. Yes i feel exactly like that so know your not alone darling. Hugs from me.xxxx

[Eiram50]

As Sylvi said it's sooo easy to over do things when feeling more able. Pacing, for me is the hardest thing .

My advice would be not to go into work, rest and Kat off the tennis tomorrow .

Marie

[Elmo333 in reply to Eiram50]

Thanks to you and Sylvi. I have managed to find someone to cover my work and cancelled the tennis so it's chilling for me. Frustrating when I'm 34 and have just been playing tennis with a fit 82 year old. Oh well, lots of people have a worse time I suppose! Wishing you ladies a peaceful weekend

[Candy]

Hi, Yes it's hard to pace yourself when you feel well, and I've never been able to do this during my ten years of diagnosis. Glad you took time off work, although by the sounds of it you didn't have a choice! Hope you feel better soon. Take care. Candy

[Scottishlad]

I feel for you. In my 30s I had a chronic fatigue issue and had to learn to manage my energy resources. That experience was useful when fatigue returned as part of my RA. Now that my RA is under control I usually don't have too much problems but occasionally I still have take it easy if I have been particularly active.

My metaphor for the fatigue is that your energy store is like a phone battery. When you have RA the battery charger is faulty. It is like plugging your phone into a really slow charger which is not able to fully recharge the phone over night after a heavy day's use. You start the next day with the battery not full, say 75%. If you have another heavy day the battery maybe only recharges to 50%. Another heavy day and the battery only recovers to 25% overnight. Another busy day and you are really struggling. You then need a few days of taking it really easy to allow the battery to recharge enough for you be able function normally again.

You need to learn to understand the way the charge on the battery varies with activity and life in general. It would be great if we had battery meter like our phones.

I am sure that you will learn to get the best out of your energy reserves and therefore the most out of your life and allow you to do the things you enjoy. You need to plan rest periods to allow you to recover.

If you keep overdoing it, you will start to lose all the pleasure in your activities and become frustrated.

Ration yourself and keep enjoying it.