Helping Friends and Family Understand RA

October 3, 2003

Well, not saying that this totally worked. But, I posted pages like

the following up on my kitchen cupboards with certain lines

HIGHLIGHTED. My younger brother told me during a visit, WOW, thanks

for putting that up, I had NO idea!

I found more at:

The Fatigue Factor

I often hear, " My family just doesn't understand how exhausted I am. "

And it is probably true. I don't think the average person can

comprehend the constant fatigue of inflammatory arthritis. I'm going

to explain the fatigue factor in a very unscientific way, without

journal references to back me up. This is how it was explained to me

several years ago and I hope it makes sense to you.

Pain is pain, everyone has experienced some degree of pain in their

lives. You can probably understand to some extent the pain of

arthritis. I describe the pain as my worse toothache pain x2, and in

multiple joints, not just one tooth. As bad as the pain can be at

times, I can handle it, it's the fatigue that gets to me.

At the root of most cases of inflammatory arthritis is an overactive

immune system. I picture the immune system as an army of tiny little

soldiers. The soldiers' job is to fight off whatever might invade and

attack our systems. Some of us ended up with very confused soldiers,

they attack our own bodies, usually starting with the joints.

Do you get very tired when you have the flu? When you have the flu,

your immune system is fighting off the invading flu army. Fighting

takes energy, fighting makes you tired. When the flu is over and your

immune system stops fighting, your energy returns.

Our immune systems never quit fighting, they are continually at war.

On a good day, those of us with inflammatory arthritis feel much like

you do when you have the flu-tired, lethargic, generally yucky! On a

bad day the fighting sucks up every once of energy we have. We are

exhausted right down to our bones. This exhaustion can stop a person

dead in their tracks. And very often this horrendous feeling of

exhaustion can last several days or even weeks.

So the next time your friend says, " I can't go, I am just exhausted. "

She isn't making an excuse, she isn't lazy or lacking motivation, she

is honestly totally exhausted, there is a war going on in her body! A

little understanding on your part would be greatly appreciated!

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