Chronic Fatigue & Running a barn

[CHT]

Does anybody else on this forum deal with Chronic Fatigue? I am really struggling. Fall and Spring tend to be the worst, so I know (hope) it gets better soon, but looking for any advice on how to better deal with it.

In the chronic pain clinic I took last year, we discussed pacing, but I don’t think pacing helps with this fatigue (but does with pain). It seems I can do a minimal amount, and still be exhausted. My main concern right now is that my husband is once again working out of town…he told me he would be home this winter so I filled the barn…but is working out of town (with some weekends home) until at least end of November, and is considering another out of town job after this.

On the plus side, my boarders are very helpful, and one of the new boarders is someone that used to help me out, and is quite willing to work off lessons, but the main issues I have is when something unexpected comes up…like fencing down, an injured horse, or, like yesterday, a leaking water pipe in the barn.

I don’t really feel like I have anyone to talk to about it. DH does not understand this isn’t just being sleepy. I am looking for an actually support group, meanwhile I am looking for any advice on what has helped other people.

[Color_of_Light]

Hi. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I know what you mean by other people not understanding that it’s not just being sleepy. I firmly believe that farm responsibility, years of competing too much, foaling watch season, competition season, summer projects season, winter prep season, hard farm work, all that fun stuff that goes with horse farm ownership…contributed to the problem. Stress (physical, mental) compounds chronic conditions.

So yes, I’ve dealt with CF in the past. Off and on for many years. And now I know why. It showed up on early diagnostics that all my doctors missed…for 15 years+. Just this very evening about an hour ago I found some old MRI films dated 2001, way before they were digitized. Yes, the beginning of my autoimmune disease is there in plain site. No one ever said anything! I had no idea! Oddly, the 2001 and 2005 MRI films were not accompanied by a radiology report. Just packages of plain films). I had CF here and there until I figured out the cause(s) and fixed them as I peeled back the onion to the roots. I don’t CF any more. But sometimes I have exercise intolerance (not severely like I did over a year ago). I also have chronic pain to various degrees almost every day. So that leads me to my first question:

Have you ruled out all causes of this symptom to get to the root of the issue? What all have you ruled out as the cause? Discovering the root will lead you to the most effective treatment. What all have you tried that hasn’t helped?

[CHT]

@Color of Light

Have you ruled out all causes of this symptom to get to the root of the issue? What all have you ruled out as the cause? Discovering the root will lead you to the most effective treatment. What all have you tried that hasn’t helped?

I have Scleroderma. I have tried a few medications to manage symptoms, but the side effects were as bad as the issue. There are more treatments available, but they are high risk, so only available once I have organ failure. What has been most helpful was going to a Chronic pain clinic (physio, OT, psychology), but it doesn’t address my fatigue.

What I am struggling with is: is running the barn good because it forces me to get up and look after the horses even when I really don’t want to get up, or is running the barn bad, because I can’t always take it easy when I need to?

Fall and Spring are just hard seasons.