Saturday 21 June 2014

MS Symptoms (3) Fatigue

Fatigue


Fatigue in MS is not just an ordinary tiredness, like you might get at the end of a hard day's work. It can be described as a feeling of mental or physical exhaustion.  And one of the annoying things is that despite how much you sleep, you wake up feeling as tired as you did when you went to sleep.
It is also described as an overwhelming sense of tiredness with no obvious cause, you may feel extremely tired after very little activity, your limbs might feel heavy, and it becomes harder to grasp things or to write. And other symptoms might get worse alongside the fatigue, like like difficulties with balance, vision or concentration.

Fatigue affects people in different ways, and it may change from week to week, day to day, or hour to hour.

All kinds of activities can be affected by fatigue: from going to work, to going to the pub, cooking a meal or playing with your children. Balancing these activities can become a daily issue when you have got limited reserves of energy. 

Because it is hidden, people with MS may find that those around them don't understand fatigue and its impact.

Why does fatigue occur in MS?

The cause of fatigue in MS remains unknown. However, the likely causes are a structural abnormality in the brain caused by demyelination and axonal loss, a product of the immune activity in the brain itself, problems of hormone production from the pituitary gland in the brain, or due to problems with control of the heart or chemical changes in the muscles.

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