Stephen, thank you for posting this link. Fatigue has been an issue for me since my experience with cdiff in 2011, and I thought I was alone with continual fatigue. My last hospitalization was for a flare up UC in 2012 and I reached an all-time low physically and emotionally. I learned to live with the fatigue in the months following this flare up. Each day I used whatever energy I had to do whatever was mission critical. There were days I felt better and had more energy, but if I extended myself, the next day would be a total rest up for the next day. This is not normal, but it was my normal, and quite sad.
In October my new gastro said we should try Remicade, and I was moved to go for it. My QOL was not good, so at this point it was a no brainer. He said, “you will feel better”, and my eyes welled up. Thank God it worked, and the morning after my IBS and UC were gone. I had a life again. The fatigue is improved, though 3 weeks before I have the next infusion the fatigue creeps in, but I am not complaining. I’m not at 100% energy wise, but I feel much better, and that’s amazing.
Since the Remicade works to reduce inflammation throughout the body, I’m experiencing a happier colon, so I stepped somewhat aside from the UC/IBS diet, which was a combination of Dr. Weil’s Antiflammatory Diet and The Foods My Colon Accepts. I’ve since learned Remicade is not a license to eat whatever and whenever I wish, while maintaining a low fat, low salt diet. I’m ending this eating free for all and going back to Dr. Weil’s diet, found on his website. I’d love to hear about other’s experiences.
God Bless,
BB
Make sure you are getting enough nutrients, watch the sugar, and stand up once per hour during the day and just move around. I found this helped my energy level quite a bit. Then just start walking, when you can, it helped me.
Fatigue has been a HUGE issue for me. I use to work out at a Martial Arts studio 4 days a week and was in pretty good shape. That changed a bit before I was diagnosed with UC and spent time in the hospital. There are times over the past 15 years when I've felt good enough to work out. The last year and a half was really rough for me. I complained about fatigue to all my doctors and there was no response other than, "you should diet and exercise". How can you exercise when it takes all your energy to get out of bed, and go to work?
The first thing I found that helped was testosterone injections. A friend of my wife's recommended it, I checked on it, and I was very low, so the testosterone clinic got OK's from my other doctors and we started. This did help although there was still something keeping me down.
Last Dec, I ended up in the hospital for a breathing problem. I was diagnosed with a heart problem, low ejection fraction. This also played a part in my fatigue. I asked the heart doctor what to do. "Diet and exercise", so I started changing things. I was also put on meds for the condition.
I started with breakfast, I have a green smoothie every morning. Usually some fruit, nuts, spinach and kale. I started taking my lunch to work, or eating salads if I had to eat out. I also started walking. Currently averaging 3.5 miles / day over the last month. Last week I started an exercise program that is 30 min / day of resistance training, and I keep walking. I have so much more energy than before it's amazing.