Fatigue isn’t the same as just being tired

The biggest side effect of my illness currently is fatigue. I’ve never experienced anything like it even though I’m someone used to having naps and enjoying sleep but also experiencing being tired through not getting enough sleep in the past.

This is not fatigue.

I can only describe it as constantly having a phone battery at 5% and running in low power mode. Everything is an effort, almost in slow motion. I feel drained all the time, despite eating and drinking I have no energy. Despite sleeping for what seems like 99% of the time I’m still tired.

I’m constantly told “its you’re body repairing itself”, which I guess is partly true. It not a great feeling though.

I’m now struggling to make it more than an hour or so without some sort of nap and when I do have a nap I have to make sure I set some sort of timer for 30 minutes to wake me up. This is so I don’t lose hours by falling into a deep sleep. I did this a few weeks back, went for a nap at about 4pm and despite waking briefly a few times was in bed until 8am.

And I was still tired after that!

In an effort to control my sleeping patterns I’m now going to bed very early, usually by 9pm. The amount of fluid I’m drinking each day, combined with the fact I only currently have one functioning kidney means I visit the bathroom at least 3 times a night (that’s not helping the sleep either!) and then I wake around 8am.

I’m informed that some of the fatigue is down to medication, some is due to the illness but some is also down to lack of fresh air, lack of exercise over the past few weeks. So I’m now making an effort to rectify some of this.

I’m trying to get out walking most days. A few weeks back I managed just over half a mile and was a wreck. This weekend just gone I managed a mile at almost normal walking pace while holding a conversation. Progress is progress but I’m still a way off being able to take the dogs out for 3-4 mile walks.

I hope the fatigue eases but compared to some of the possible side effects I could be suffering from I’ll take fatigue every day.