Anyone who has known me for a while knows I love being outside, especially hiking and riding my bike. I used to go on 15-mile bike rides pretty regularly, and occassionally 20-mile rides. But that all changed when I got Cdiff in the spring of 2015. (Cdiff is a bacterial/intestinal infection. I talk about it more in this blog post.) The Cdiff was gone after a few months, but it took all my engergy with it. I was officially diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome just a few weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure I've had it for a couple years.
Sometimes I'll tell someone I'm tired and they'll reply with "I am too." I know they are just trying to be understanding, but sometimes this frustrates me because I feel like they don't really understand what I mean, and I don't always have time to explain myself. So here are a couple of examples . . .
The other day I got up for work, and I could not get myself to wake up. But I got up and ate breakfast. Still tired. Took a shower. Still tired. Had caffeinated tea. Still tired. But I went to work. Had lunch. Still tired. Took a walk. Still tired. I finally had to leave work an hour early because I was too tired to concentrate on my work. Fortunately, I normally make it through a 20-hour work week, but that is pushing myself.
On Saturday I wanted to ride my bike in the afternoon and hang out with friends in the evening. I slept 12 hours the night before and was feeling pretty awake when I finally got up. I took a shower, and it made my arms so tired and weak that I had to take a short nap afterwards. Then I went on a half-mile bike ride around the neighborhood. When I got back I realized I was shaking. I used to get like that after 15-mile rides! So I took another nap and then hung out with friends in the evening. So I was able to do everything I wanted to do, it just took a lot of resting and saving up my energy.
I know that many people who have Chronic Fatigue and other illnesses have much worse fatigue than I do. Some people are bedridden and can't work at all. So the point of this post is not to say, "Look how bad I have it." I just want to point out that being tired can mean totally different things to different people. And Cdiff can totally mess up your health and take a long time to recover from.
But some good news--my stomach has been doing better lately, so I am finally able to eat some more normal foods!
