Rheumatoid arthritis has decided to take up residence in my hips over the past few months. Yesterday I went to the rheumatologist for cortisone shots after almost 2 months of constant, sleep interrupting, pain. Yes, I’ve woken up more than 2x each night for the past 7 weeks because I’m experiencing hip, knee, or back pain.
I’m so tired I feel like I could sleep for days. The cortisone shots themselves aren’t painful. The day after the injection sites are quite sore, however. Tonight I’m lying on a heating pad waiting for the pain to decrease enough to fall asleep.
People with autoimmune diseases aren’t lazy. It’s hard to understand the fatigue we experience sometimes when it seems like we are spending enough time in bed to get a restful sleep. The problem is that our sleep is often disturbed. Couple sleep disturbances with an energy zapping, over active, immune system destroying our tissue and it’s a recipe for exhaustion.
I am sure sorry you are going trough this. I am having more shortness of breath and I am reading about it on the internet. My heart is OK, but I will have it checked out on my next doctor visit.
Hope you start feeling better and are able to sleep.
frank