Fatigue and Bad Choices

Of all of the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, honestly the one I fight the most is fatigue. Overwhelming, unending fatigue. Having a “normally” busy life with three children, I know that fatigue is a part of everyone’s life, but PsA fatigue is unlike any other.

Prepare for the unexpected

The ability to plan our days and prepare for the unexpected can help keep life going despite fatigue. But sometimes, even when we try our best to plan, life happens, plans change, things require more energy than we anticipate and before you know it, fatigue sets in. My mind gets blurry, I find it hard to think straight, much less keep up with my kids.

What do I HAVE to do?

I find myself looking ahead to what’s left of my day. What do I still have to get through before I can lay down? What MUST get done and what can be put off until later? Is anyone around that can help me? What can I do to make this more manageable while hiding the fatigue from my children? This, my friends, is where fatigue and bad choices meet.

The intersection of fatigue and bad choices

It requires much more energy to cook a healthy meal than to whip my minivan through the drive thru for a quick dinner pick-up. While not an altogether terrible choice for my children to do this periodically, I have found that for me, it takes days for my body to recover from a fast food dinner. Inevitably the fatigue gets worse, my joints ache worse. I even get a stomach ache and feel light headed.

Consequences of bad choices

What seems like the only logical choice at the time, avoiding cooking, and avoiding a sinkful of dishes. Over the next hours and days it becomes abundantly clear that I make some pretty bad choices in the name of managing life with PsA fatigue.

Life is just hard sometimes

Sure, I could offer some great suggestions to deal with days when the fatigue is extra bad. Suggestions for when the unexpected happens and your energy is drained. Broken bones send you to the ER with your youngest, or schoolwork takes more time and patience than usual. These are all parts of life and are even harder when you have psoriatic arthritis.

Super-Mom

If I was Super Mom, I’d have frozen meals ready for nights like that. I’d be able to share tips and resources to make life a little easier and somehow I’d manage to still keep it all together. But the truth is, I’m not Super Mom. I’m just a mom, with PsA, trying to do the best that I can to navigate the intersection of fatigue and bad choices.