Sulfasalazine - Fatigue

[Rascotland]

Been on 3g/ day for RA since Dec, slowly improving, but suffering from fatigue/ lethargy. Have seen this in other posts, but checking if just something have to put up with or if anything can be done to improve.Cheers

[KittyJ]

as you will have read in other posts there’s no remedy or cure for fatigue sadly. Rest when you need to and pace yourself as much as you can and hopefully once your meds get fully working it will improve 🤞🏻

[oldtimer2]

Part of the fatigue may be due to your body taking its time to adjust to the new situation. If it's busy doing a repair job - like after any illness or operation - it takes its time to get back to more normal levels of energy. And psychologically you have a big adjustment to make to living with a long-term illness.

But it's always worth discussing this with your rheumy team - do you have a specialist nurse phone line or email line to contact? Have you got other symptoms of continuing inflammation? They can check to see if your inflammation levels are at all raised which might suggest adding in other medication.

Have a look, too, at the NRAS website for suggestions on how to cope and techniques of 'pacing' yourself. I've been trying for years to achieve the happy medium of doing enough but not too much! And failing....

[Hidden]

Fatigue is my biggest issue. All you can do is sleep deeply, eat healthily and pace. Cutting stress out was what helped me the most.

Your body is fighting 24/7. It’s no wonder we are exhausted x

[EmmaS-NRAS NRAS]

Hi Rascotland,

Glad to hear the Sulfasalazine is having a positive impact on your RA. Sadly fatigue is one of the most common symptoms and the reason for us creating a new publication just dedicated to it: nras.org.uk/product/fatigue... A lot of people with RA follow 'spoon theory' and find it helpful when trying to explain how the fatigue affects those living with autoimmune conditions. rnsnurse.org/the-spoon-theory/

Hope that helps,

EmmaS-NRAS

[Beadie]

Hi there, I've been on sulfasalazine for three years and I to get little bouts of fatigue but it always eases off it is one of those things, but I have learnt to ride it as it does pass, but I know my limits too, so I take things at a slower pace, no more rushing about here there and everywhere. I have learnt to listen to my body much more, but I will say I would rather a few bouts of fatigue than the pains I was having before being diagnosed with RA, the fatigue will ease off but sulfasalazine does takr longer to work and if you've not taken anything else before your body has to adjust too. So stick in there it will improve as I say I've been on this for 3 yrs and nor my ESR and CRP levels have this last year gone really low, so it's worth it to keep going!

[Indersisive71]

Hi I have been on sulfasalazine for quite a few months now no problems I am on 4 tablets a day

[medway-lady]

I’d just add to make sure it’s nothing else like thyroid or lowb12 etc. I’d suggest getting a blood test from gp and if everything else is normal then assume it’s RA because other conditions do cause fatigue. If you’ve already done that then of course it might be RA but best to cover all the other likely causes too.

[jeffee]

I've been on SSZ for more than a year now for IBS/Fibromyalgia. It improved my bowel function but did not affect my fatigue or pain.

Lyrica was helpful but it made me fat and stupid. I'm currently tapering the dose down.

I've been taking LDN 4.5mg/d for about 2 1/2 months. It's helped a lot with both pain and fatigue. It did nothing at all for the first month and I have no side effects.

[Chockyuk]

Hi

I’ve been on it for a while in combination with MTHX, it’s worked wonders for my pain and inflammation, but my fatigue is absolutely dreadful, I think it has definitely got worse since I started taking Sulphasalazine. I have recently had my thyroid tested which came out as under active and my GP prescribed me Levothyroxine. It’s only been 3 weeks, I still feel no better, but I’ll see how it goes.

I hope you feel better soon and it eventually eases. 👍