How Do you deal with MS Fatigue? - How you handle MS style fatigue can mean the difference between life you can enjoy or not - Personal - http://maxpages.com/happymspage/How_I_deal_with_MS

UPDATE Oct.8,2006 I went to my doctor (neuro) he ntook notice
I wasn't wearing my braces.so he said," Why are you not wearing the
braces i prescribed?"I said I do some days when i feel especially
spastic or weak. "that isn't why I prescribed them.They will
take away much of your fatigue and you really use up more energy
than you realize just maintaining your standing and walking
and the braces will greatly assist you and you will be surprised
at the better feelings and less fatigue you will experience
when you wear them(braces) all the time."
I took his challenge to try wearing the braces all the time
and discovered that I di feel better and some fatigue I had thought
was here to stay ,really disapeared.My sexual interest alkos came
back . Richard

MS fatigue is probably one of the most over powering
things about the disease. It hits all.It isn't just
physical fatigue,it is also mental. It can put you
into a condition of lasitude. You just can't find the
strength to make it throught the day. The nap and the
desire to have one is over powering upon any thing else.
I have had times when I was driving when I just had to stop
SOON just to get a brief nap.
Somewhere in our brain is a center which seems to
shut down all else except get some sleep.I can always feel
it coming on. It is worse now than it was in the early
parts of my "MS Career". If I have excerted my body it
seems to come on for sure.
This fatigue is one reason my earliest therapist said
get a set of hand controls. You need them to save your
legs from becoming over fatigued.It has never taken much
to do so.Now it is something I wouldn't think of doing
without when I drive. I would rather have devices than
chemicals to fight off my fatigue.

The MS fatigue is the results of nerves which have
lost their Myelin sheath of protection. The nerve doesn't
then convey the message as good . And some nerves in the
progression process will die and there goes the
communication . The muscles are not receiving the nerve
message at the right time. They therefore pull or
contract at the wrong time. The muscles which should
be companions in work are working against each other.
Therefore there is diharmoney in the legs or where
ever the nerve is failing us. The nerves that go to
the legs are usually the first to go as there is the
longest distance and the most connections that have to
be made to make locomotion of the body.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you who would be
reading this article that MS fatigue is often the
real cause why many of us have to retire early in
life. we just can't make it through the 8 hour day
of work. I'm tired now days after I have shaved, had
a bath and dressed myself. Muscles start to shake
and fatigue comes on fast. We really make up uric
acid which is a byproduct of muscle movement which
must be gotten rid of through the kidneys to the bladder.
By the way as most of us know the spininter muscle
which controls our bladder is also one of the first
muscles to fail us who have MS.
We have if we are smart discovered ways of saving
what little energy we have to expend before we are
"MS tired" As The disease progresses we loose control
of groups of muscles and others are forced to try
to handle the load. Usually they don't do so good
and we become what is disabled and our gait is worse.
Then as a stratigy we start using assistive devices
like canes, crutches and walkers,AFOs and wheelchairs
to make it throught the day. The sooner we need these the
more we have been the victom of progression.

Those who from the start don't have any remyelation
of nerves then they don't have any remissions. They then
are classified as primary progressive MS. The ones
who do get nerves covered with myelin are then the
Relapse/remission style MS. Eventually most of the
R/R type MS breaks down and slowly becomes secondary
progressive MS.
As we loose in this disease and become more disabled
we tire out sooner.The fatigue will do strange things.
Most of us see less because the muscles in the eyes and
the ones that turn the eyes become affected and don't
work as they were intended. We see double. this is frequently
one of the first things that go wrong in our early
MS days.It was mine.Then we start to loose visual
acutity or we get blurred vision when we are
fatigued. Stronger lens can't really touch this problem.

Some get so tired that they give up and are unable to
make it through even simple events. you can even
get MS fatigue in a power wheelchair.It has happen to me
many times.
The heat will make the nerves even poorer conductors of
messages. May of us know all too well.The heat is a huge enemy.
It can make you think things are worse that they really are.
This is why I love to go north in the summer. although I can't
afford to stay all summer It is still a welcome out.
I have watched my fatigue get to the point where even
a liitle walking will make me not only very tired but muscles
start to tremor and my gait becomes dangerous to do any
walking. This is why at the urging of both my wife and my doctor
I went into my wheelchair for all day.I have found that my
saving of energy from using the wheelchair is greater than I
had expected.My sexual energy has come alive and it was
nearly dead before.
My attitude to others is better as I'm not worrying about
myself any more.I have taken to more prayer and mostly
for others.

When you accept the road you are traveling, regardless
of the bad curves, and terrible pot holes, You will start
to see the sights and enjoy your self.RET Dec.5,2000

Eileen Lukeman and Richard Tanner

FL.

Eileen(Lobosgirl) and Richard (RET1000) both at aol.com

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Page Updated Wed May 7, 2008 9:45am EDT