u/Lucky-Inevitable-146

Hello everyone!

I just saw my rheumatologist and my biggest complaint is fatigue. Very debilitating fatigue. I asked what the heck do I do to make it better?? Rest doesn’t help, ofc. No meds for it. Like .. what do we do? She said to try and do resistance training and Nordic pole walking. Nordic pole walking was specifically researched for Sjogrens patients, she said. It helps with stability and also works as upper body strength not just the legs.

I was a gym “rat” up until maybe 3 yrs ago. Then my health got worse, and I switched to just walking. And now I’m at the point where I can’t do any exercise 😭. I’d love to at least walk, as much or as little as possible again. So, before I invest in $100+ poles, I wanted to check if any of you tried it and what your experience was/is? I know we’re all different ofc, but I’d still love to hear about it.

Thank you so much and I hope you’re doing well today!

I just need to vent. To start with, I’m 44(F). I have a few different chronic illnesses. I was diagnosed with some of them mid 30’s I think. I loved hanging out with friends and family, playing games, laughing, cracking jokes, being silly, I loved spontaneity, meeting new people, and just generally being positive and optimistic. Then I got hit with one thing after another with my health. Now in my 40’s I barely hang out with anyone. I don’t play games or any of it. I still laugh when something is funny, almost daily. But I haven’t cracked a joke in a while. Even if I try, my brain can’t think of words fluently or I forget what I was going to say, so I just gave up. Every now and then I manage but mostly just give up. I see other people who are silly, funny, welcoming.. and so on. And I just feel like I’ve lost all that. I am polite and welcoming, don’t get me wrong, but initially I just dread socializing because it drains the life out of me. If I go out to meet someone, it can’t be longer than an hour otherwise I’m of no use to anyone. I’ll space out, start hurting from sitting, or walking, or whatever or get so fatigued I just need to shut up and lay down. Even for phone conversations, I have to either wait for a good day, or just force myself if I can. I can’t work, or take on any college classes. I had to give all that up, too. For the most part, my family understands how it is. But sometimes I feel like maybe they don’t to the full extent, and then I feel even worse. Idk.. I’m in therapy and I take meds. They help, so I don’t think it’s depression necessarily. That comes and goes. Anxiety is well managed for the most part. But I just can’t get past the fact that I’m not that happy, chirpy person I used to be. I made this longer than I wanted, but that’s the gist of it. Please someone tell me if you’ve been in this situation and how did you get out of it? Just the personality part, not the illnesses part. Were you able to “find” yourself again? Thank you for listening. 😔