Fatigue

[Darlene]

and before i got this..POTS... I was full of energy..I only needed 5 to 9 hours of sleep... now i sleep for sure 12 hours everyday, and the other night i went to bed at 8:30 PM, and didn't wake up til 12:30 PM the next day, i have tried cerefolin, didn't help, is there anything i can do to feel not so tired?

[Guest Sandy Sims]

and before i got this..POTS... I was full of energy..I only needed 5 to 9 hours of sleep... now i sleep for sure 12 hours everyday, and the other night i went to bed at 8:30 PM, and didn't wake up til 12:30 PM the next day, i have tried cerefolin, didn't help, is there anything i can do to feel not so tired?

Try a sleep study and a CPAP machine?

Actually this was NOT the first thing I thought of when I started having sleep trouble and fatigue--DUH--I have no clue why not.

But I DID have apnea (even tho I didn't snore) and the machine DOES help me feel more rested!!!

Sandy

[Heiferly]

This may not be what you want to hear, but it may be an issue of pacing yourself and conserving energy. I know when I had my sleep study they didn't find any apnea or anything, and when you read about POTS you see the statement "POTS patients use about three times more energy to stand than a healthy person (Grubb, 2002). It is as if these patients are running in place all the time." To me it's a no-brainer: for those who don't have good symptom control, fatigue is going to be a major issue. I imagine almost everyone on this forum has had to give up certain things and make changes in their lifestyle at some point because they didn't have the same energy they had when healthy. I hope I don't sound terribly negative; I just think that is the reality of it and I think we can find inspiration in the people who are creative with it and manage it with a positive attitude. It may be about letting the dirty laundry pile up for an extra day or two so you can squeeze in the nap that gives you the energy to do something that's a higher priority; some people have worked out ways to take naps at their jobs or in their car if need be. Definitely talk to your docs and explore your options as to what can be fixed, but I think that fatigue is pretty inherent to POTS until they get your POTS symptoms under control.

[flop]

I still have trouble with fatigue but I have found ways to be more in control (when when I follow them!). Anyone trying to match this advice with the times I post on here can laugh freely!

I try to have a set bed-time (10pm) and getting up time (9am) and stick to them every day of the week. I was told by a health coach that the body does a lot of its physical repair work from 10pm-2am so it is important to rest then. Also she told me that when trying to recover from adrenal fatigue (as I am) that sleep between 7-9am is very important.

I use a "bodyclock" alarm system (daylight bulb that gradually gets brighter to wake you up in the morning) as a gentle wake-up call.

Pacing activities and allowing extra rest-time is important. For example I was at an all day meeting/workshop on Saturday (to do with voluntary work) and then had to travel back home (3 hrs sitting in the car). I knew that it was way too much for me to do so I planned to have Sunday doing nothing (spent most of the time dozing in bed) and didn't plan anything important for Monday either. By resting so much I have been able to travel and attend 3 health appointments today (yes three!) without making myself feel too ill. Wednesday is another rest day as I have a busy day on Thursday and will rest on Friday.

By spreading out activities I can manage to get more done overall. If I attempted to the Saturday meeting, the medical appointments and the thursday stuff on consecutive days then I would problably end up wiped out in bed for at least a week. This way I still only get half a week's worth of stuff done but I also don't feel dreadful. After spending years with POTS trying to work full time I have learnt that you can't keep pushing through the fatigue, there comes a point when you have to listen to your body and give it the rest it craves.

Flop