Tiredness

Hi , you're definitely not alone in this struggle. I used to stay in bed until 11:30-ish every morning. Actually, I spent around 23 hours a day in bed for the first five or six years of having PsA. The fatigue can be truly debilitating. Not everyone with PsA is fatigued to that extent, but the majority of our community members do unfortunately deal with it in some way. I hope they'll chime in with their experiences here too.

If you haven't done so already, it's worth checking in with your doctor regarding this - they may want to do some blood tests to rule out anything else that could be contributing to the fatigue. Are you on any treatments for your PsA? Some people experience fatigue as a side effect of their medication, although in my case the treatment actually helped with the fatigue. We're all different though!


The following article has some further information on the relationship between fatigue and PsA, which I thought may be of interest: https://psoriatic-arthritis.com/psa-symptoms/fatigue I hope today is kind to you. Warm wishes, -Catherine, Community Moderator

I have it. Milder than in your cases, but definitely noticeable. I found I was always falling asleep on the train home from work, sometimes in meetings at work (though I might not have been alone in that!) and very often in the afternoons/early evenings at home.


Methotrexate seemed to send me to sleep in the first 2 months or so of taking it, but not so much now.

Thanks for replying, Cathy D. I hadn't thought much about whether methotrexate has helped with fatigue, but perhaps it has slightly. If I think back a year or so, it was probably worse then (I've been on methotrexate since March).


More generally, I'm relatively newly diagnosed, and still having to get used to the idea that there are ups and downs with the condition. The pain seemed to be worse at the end of last week and the weekend than it had been for 2-3 months. I don't know if colder weather is too easy an explanation for this, or if there's something else.

Yes, the rheumatologist both prescribes folic acid and continues to stress its importance. I noticed that haemoglobin and RBC were the only factors in negative territory on my blood tests. I don't take other supplements (yet), but am eating a lot of spinach etc, plus occasional liver!


It's complex, as I think we all agree, but my experience of methotrexate so far is closer to Cathy D's. Overall, the fatigue has been slightly better than when I started with it, but in the initial phase it was knocking me out not long after I'd taken it.


Might be for another discussion, but I'm curious as to when (on which day of the week) people on methotrexate take it. I opted for Saturdays and it hasn't stopped me being active, going for hikes etc on Sundays - yet. Being at work tends to be more draining generally, hence not nominating a weekday at the beginning.


The dosage instructions also say you can split the dose, eg take half the pills after lunch, the other half after dinner. The doc was fine with this and it hasn't had an adverse effect thus far.