This article was sent to me by a good friend of mine who thought I could use some help explaining my ‘lack of energy’. As I began reading it, I began to cry…I have auto-immune hep. & suffer almost daily migraines due to triggers like perfumes and cleaners…as well as unexplained periodic nausea that can last from one day to three months. I have had the migraines as far back as I can remember, but the auto-immune was diagnosed about 10 years ago when I first became pregnant with my third child at 38! I had no idea how this would effect my future! Although I’d spent my pregnancies in bed due to complications, I still had no idea that auto-immune hepatitis would cause such fatigue…I have felt such guilt from not being able to do the things that I’d been able to do in the past even though the migraines had caused me to slow down & the nausea would put me in bed for days or even months at a time, I’d always recover and be able to accomplish several tasks for months before another severe attack would hit. However, now with the auto-immune I have found that it has become a task just to start my day…the things that I took for granted…such as cooking biscuits, serving my family a hot breakfast and cleaning up the house while getting the laundry done in a day has now become a thing of my past! I now know that I can only handle a couple of loads of laundry a day and it isn’t likely that they will get folded and put away the same day…while I do hang the ones that go on hangers since I have long since put away my iron and my husband has learned to do his own ironing! My adjustment has been a long and hard road since I come from a farming family and being ‘lazy’ is an unacceptable part of our life, but I had to learn that when I am tired I MUST rest otherwise I WILL end up in the hospital as has happened in the past!!!

Thank you Christine for giving me a wonderful article to share with my family and friends who have tried, but just couldn’t understand how hard it is to get through a LONG and very difficult day. After reading your article my husband sat beside me and rubbed my back and said, “I’ve lived with you all of these years and had NO IDEA just how hard it was for you to get through a day…I’m so sorry.” That meant the world to me…he has always helped and in recent years taken on so much more, without complaint! But now he really understands that it’s truly not a choice for me…Thanks again, my thoughts and prayers are with you…Jackie Green

Hi,

I found myself reading “The Spoon Theory” and feeling releaved that I finely found a way to explain my feelings as a Reumatic Artritis patient. – My house doctor read it too and liked it a lot.

Wishing you all the best.

Friendly Regards,

Marc De Jode