I've presented a letter from my doctor and my boss had me get a document from HR updated with my restrictions. In todays work environment though although they do is "harrass" people to get the work done yesterday. Although I understand it happening, getting passed by for raises and promotions because I can't work 6o hours a week makes me angry.

My doc had tests run, and found that I also have sleep apnea. I cannot take the breathing masks at night because it terrifies me that it is taking my breath away. Stupid, huh? So...the doc said for me to go to an ear nose and throat man. Haven't gone yet.

But, I keep noticing that everybody here takes different sleep medication. Oh, I have found a million that can knock me out!!! But, none allow me to get to the right level of sleep. I am afraid some of you might need to be checked for the sleep disorder too. The fatigue will not go away with sleep if the depth is not reached.

sally

Groundpounder....I am so sorry to hear that your job is very stressful. But I will say again. Because of your FM, the ADA does back you up. I ran into the same problem before I gave up and went on disability 5 years ago. In July I finally went back to work so far its been a much better environment for me than the other place of business.
Please try and find support where you can.
Feel free to IM me or PM me. I can totally sympathize with your situation.

Completely understanding here as well. And yes, I find the CFS very disabling. But, I'm wondering how everyone here manages to fall asleep so often!!!

My fatigue is just that...I have such chronic fatigue that my house is messier than I have ever imagined it possible. I used to clean on the weekends, and now I can't even do that.

I know the depression plays a part in that, but seriously...I feel like I'm living in a pigsty.

I work 40 hours a week and when I get home at 5 pm...the very last thing I want to do is clean anything!!! I basically collapse until it's time to go to bed.

I can't remember when I last slept without sleeping pills and I've taken a lot of them. For a while now I've been taking Restoril. A neurologist I saw (and was diagnosed with sleep apnea) told me that he wasn't very fond of people taking Restoril and thought I should consider other meds. I try Trazadone, but that stuff just does not put me to sleep unless I take at least 100 mg of it.

I also can't remember the last dream I had, and my dreams used to be very vivid.

For me, the chronic myofascia pain is the pits. People can touch me anywhere and it hurts.

Sorry I can't be of help to you in how to deal with the energy deficit!

I think we live in the same place Doody. I have to play catch up to catch up!
Now I just do what HAS to be done like laundry and dishes. Also the daily pickup after my husband. But beyond that, its rough.

Fatigue - ugh! I feel like I'm wearing a floor-length overcoat made of lead when I'm having flares.
I'm working full-time right now and have 2 teenagers and am single. I can barely scrape by when I have no energy. I had to change my own values and behaviors (and re-train my family!) Here is my fatigue triage plan:
First, I resigned from housekeeping. I redefined "bare minimum" to mean - Bathing, dressing, and sleeping ONLY. I don't do dishes anymore (paper plates, cups, and take-out dinners were made for people with FM!). I do laundry only every two weeks, and then only my own, nobody else's. I buy a lot of new underwear! Cleaning? Close the doors. Hire a teenager to take out trash. Squirt some toilet bowl cleaner in when it gets furry. I keep ONE room clean and serene for myself - the rest, I let go.
Second, I take Trazedone, and I take it early, and at the same time every night. This is essential - you must sleep. You can adjust your dosage up and down by teeny micrograms until you get exactly the length and depth of sleep you need, and also play around with your bedtime. Nobody can function on 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night for more than a few months.
Third, at work, I found the nursing mothers' lounge and [because at present there are no nursing mothers] I sneak in at lunchtime and nap!!
So far I haven't gotten caught. Honestly I couldn't sit up in the afternoon if I couldn't lie down for a while.
I don't know about you - I hate the pain, resent the mind fuzz, but the fatigue is what I hate the most of all - I feel trapped inside my own body.
I hope you keep trying to get help. Don't give up. Keep trying the night mask... if panic stops you, get your panic disorder or anxiety treated by a doctor and by medication. Then the mask. Then sleep....... You can do it, and you are worth it!

One of the first sx's of my FM was fatigue. Sure, I had noticed body aches and pains, but just tried to ignore them. Fatigue cannot be ignored, as it hits hard. I found myself falling asleep if I even sat down and put my feet up in the afternoon.

If I don't take my Clonazepam and Trazadone at bedtime, I would never sleep. I had to give up my job due to the fatigue and pain my body was going through.. I'm like Wendy, I have to pace myself and sometimes just DO what I have to do....

Hope you can get some rest Sally; that's a must for FM, but yet so hard to achieve. I get so tired of being "TIRED". take care all.

Hi everyone!

I'm new here. Actually my CFS (which never came with fibromyalgia pain- only migraines and neuro symptoms) was found out to be something called Hashimoto's Encephalopathy, a rare complication of autoimmune thyroiditis (I had no idea my thyroid gland was under attack- my hormones always tested normal).

Though HE gets better with steroids, I don't think it was diagnosed early enough, so I am prone to relapses of fatigue. My illness looks a lot like CFS.

Boy, can I relate to all your stories! I think the worst part is not knowing what the day will be like ahead of time. For this reason I just stopped planning a whole lot of things. I used to be good at following a schedule but that's not realistic now.

I can also relate to Doody and the messy house. I used to be neat as a pin but now have learned to be tolerant of clutter and dust. I did get a lot of cleaning done when I was in remission, but when the fatigue came back had to stop cleaning.

And then the posts about work... It's really hard to fit in when you don't look sick but are profoundly fatigued. Very isolating! And if you aren't peppy you are looked at as having a bad attitude. To try and fix this, I am going to try and work from home. Not sure doing what, yet, but I don't want anyone to see me or judge how fast I work on my bad days.

I wish more doctors realized just how disabling fatigue is. I think that chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are hardcore neurological diseases. I suspect that the fatigue in these diseases is the same "central fatigue" that is seen in MS and considered its most disabling symptom.

I don't know if this applies to anyone here, but for years my HE was mislabeled CFS. I guess it makes sense, since I had swollen lymph nodes in my neck (which I now realize were draining my thyroid) and there is a lot of overlap between these diseases...

I wonder if anyone here has been checked for HE? You can have totally normal thyroid hormone levels, it's the thyroid antibodies that are elevated but doctors usually do not check antibodies unless the hormones are off, first. Most doctors have never heard of HE.