Why are you tired, you didn't do anything today? What do you mean you're tired, it's not like you go to work or anything? Just a few statements me and perhaps others with MS receive on a regular basis when we are trying to deal with life under fatigue because of MS!
You may think tiredness yes but fatigue is something far from just basic tiredness. One may think all that is needed to deal with tiredness would be a good nights sleep right? Anything but when it comes to MS.
Getting more into things, fatigue can be described as an overwhelming sense of tiredness with no obvious cause. This may have a mental, cognitive or physical exacerbation of symptoms for a period of time that the fatigue is lingering. This could be heavy limbs, balance or sight issues or concentration problems. Fatigue can also leave an MSer having a nice long and fruitful 8 hour sleep only to wake up feeling as gruggy as you did beforehand. And along with other symptoms fatigue can help slow down the process of waking up in the mornings, so for example the mind being fresh but the legs forever taking whatever means to wake up a bit later.
Fatigue affects people in different ways, and it may change from week to week, day to day, or hour to hour. The reason for fatigue in MS is still fairly unknown but there are a few slightly proven theories ( proven by scientific study but not completely identifying a certain cause). Primarily a result of damage caused by MS, a thought that damage to certain areas of the brain are associated with fatigue in MS. Another being that fatigue is caused by the way in which the brain adapts to the damage, simply put the way I saw and thought of it, the extra work required to send signals over damaged pathways leading to fatigue. MRI scans have shown MSers who suffer from fatigue ( the majority just to note) that larger areas of the brain are used for carrying out activities than people who don't suffer with this symptom.
Fatigue like all MS symptoms vary from person to person, some are exhausted (in the MS sense!) by going to the shop, some by preparing something to eat and some by merely standing up. Fatigue is a symptom that isn't very tangible, many times I am asked by people if I feel fatigued, but usually the fatigue would result in a difficulty giving a yes or no answer! Past the usual comments I would receive like I shouldn't have slept/ woken up so late or should've completed my meal, a lot of the time fatigue can halt or cause problems in carrying out small 'normal' and 'basic' actions. To add further, after I tiresome day of doing 'nothing' sometimes, fatigue can stop an MSer from falling asleep properly! It can induce other symptoms like pain, spasms, bladder issues, spasticity or heat intolerance ( ignore the ones not yet discussed!) and thus leave a pretty double sided sword if anything, and to mention further; psychological impacts also affecting the sleep and fatigue, things like depression or anxiety which could be another thing caused by MS in more abnormal ways ( still to be discussed and I do look forward to it!) that could result in feeling more fatigue and not being able to fall asleep.
I know for many, sleep is the best part of the day ( or night) along with the above mentioned things that affect sleep, there are further symptoms that may disrupt the quiet time we get in our days, everything but checking Facebook or Twitter before bed! Restless leg syndrome being an overwhelming, irresistible urge to move the legs ( or arms in some cases), this due to the short circuit effect because of damage, this isn't restricted to the night but it obvioisly would make sleeping harder.Lastly sleep apnea, where the regular breathing pattern of a human is 'off chord' whilst asleep, this affects the amount of oxygen that enters the blood, this may wake a person up mid sleep with a choke feeling to get the airways working again or occur without notice, but it can have an effect on the person the following day, the accomplished sleep feeling isn't felt due this symptom.
I think I've went on a bit too long today, would try lie down but I don't think I'd fall asleep so easily, but honestly, as fatigue can impact the whole bodily systems working, it has made me forget the more entertaining parts of my blog but hey, just one of the joys of MS!
Sleep apnea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgC_S09Xea4
RLS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqke9lRn1h8
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