So it will be four weeks tomorrow since my LP and I was in good spirits! The LP was really bothering me and I was absolutely petrified of it, but once I had it done, I thought to myself that that was the worst out of the way and whatever will come will come. There is nothing I can do about it so I may as well try to keep my chin up and get on with things. I had serious trouble sleeping after my initial consultation when I was told there was a strong (98%) possibility I had ms, and the thought of the LP literally kept me awake at night, but since I had it done, I have got myself into a great routine of early nights and early mornings, but I was waking up with what felt like the worlds worst hangover every morning! I was exhausted, had a terrible headache and a sore neck, as if I had slept on it badly during the night. Every morning! So I thought that even though I seemed to be sleeping through the night, that possibly my sleep was being interrupted in some shape or form, so went to see my doctor. I explained all to him, and he told me…this is ms. Fatigue is one of the symptoms and is part and parcel of ms. Nevertheless, he did a full blood work up for me, just to make sure there was nothing else. When I was talking about it to my mum, she reminded me of how many times I have had my bloods checked for anemia etc, because I felt so tired and run down in the past. I am finding that a lot of things are clicking into place for me now. But the thought that this feeling, this hungover, exhausted feeling is going to stay with me forever is just awful! The doctor gave me an energy tablet that is usually given to narcoleptics, and when I read the leaflet it said to stop taking if I felt depressed. Well, I already felt seriously depressed when I left the doctors office, never mind taking these tablets. Does anyone else suffer from this fatigue? How do you do it? What motivates you to get you up in the morning? Sorry, just having a real pity party tonight!
Wow that tablet sounds good! I do also suffer with fatigue, but have got used to it really, it’s not every day but it comes in bouts. It’s so hard when it does, but I try to be kinder to myself and sometimes things don’t get done - I do the important stuff first, and leave anything else I don’t have energy for! The other thing to say, and I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I am a therapist, and one thing I do know is that the hungover feeling you describe is something that clients I see experience when their “stress bucket is full” as I would describe it. We can imagine that the stress bucket is full of all our emotional expectations (often worries). What happens is that during your sleep you dream away the stuff in your stress bucket, but this dreaming sleep is very exhausting for the brain and body, and also there needs to be a balance at night between this very active draining sleep and the deep restful restoring sleep. If we have a lot in our “stress bucket” then we tend to dream a lot in an attempt to empty it. This usually leads to one of two things: we over dream, and don’t have enough restful sleep (which coincidentally is when we produce all the lovely hormones and brain chemicals which helps us feel positive and motivated) which means that in the morning we feel drained and flat and just yuk (and if that wasn’t enough we are shattered too!). Or if things are really bad, we will find ourselves waking up in the night (presumably the brain trying to stop the overdreaming). So it is probably a bit of both. When things calm down a little, you have a bit more certainty and feel less worried, you will empty that bucket out a bit and your sleep will settle. You will still probably get times where you feel very fatigued due to the MS but probably less endless than now!!! I hope that explanation helped and didn’t sound lecturey or like I think your fatigue is in the mind, because I don’t. I just want to explain that there are other (normal non ms) things going on here too… Once the dust settles things may not be as bad as you think?! Leah 
Hey Leah! That was a bit of a wake up call. I never actually realized what you have just said, it I have sooooo many dreams and wake exhausted and then think now can I be tired I spent all night dreaming so I must have been asleep…duh! Thanks for the sudden bolt of realization lol J x
Wow Leah! That just makes so much sense! I am so stressed out at the minute, with everything that’s going on medically, an I’m also finding it hard to deal with how are family are responding to my news! I hate to ask you, when I am sure you don’t want to work when on this forum, but do you have any tips do empty te stress bucket, in order to stop the dreams? I normally am not a big dreamer, that I can remember that is, except if I wake early in the morning and go back to sleep, in which the dreams are absolutely crazy!!! Any tips would be gratefully accepted!! Thank you Smallie
Leah, that was really interesting as when I was first ill with what turned out to be MS I slept so badly! I was having bad dreams about being ill all the time and was waking up all the time, so what you said makes so much sense. Now, I just get MS fatigue unfortunately. I sleep 11 hours a night and also have rests if I need them. If I am having a relapse, it is more.
Smallie, I started mindfulness meditation to try to clear my mind and relax my body (and help with the pain I was getting) before going to bed, and it has definitely helped me. I use guided meditations or my mind wanders.