Is exhaustion be dangerous for MSers

[Rubyrocket]

I need a little advice, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck today. Thursday thru Sunday I was on a road trip, not sleeping so well in hotels; we traveled over 1130 miles round trip. Monday I had only gotten 3 hrs of sleep and received the news of my DX of MS. I'm just exhausted today, my body is crying "uncle" LOL.

Tomorrow evening is the kickoff to a four day, three night youth mission trip that I had planned to be involved in. I know that this will also be very taxing on me physically; we will probably be sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags every night.

Sooooo am I setting myself up for flair ups? How bad is it to push myself like this?

Thanks,
Joani

[essdipity]

Here's my two cents worth:

The big effect of overexertion is profound fatigue, and then our bodies will pay with tiredness for however long it takes. There are times when we must overdo regardless, but we have to keep in mind that there will be consequences.

That, though, is not the same thing as having a flare. A flare is a time of clearly acting up old symptoms or obvious signs of new ones. Many situations can cause flares, and we talk about that here often, also in the Health Pages. But in the vast majority of flares, no trigger or cause can be identified. They just happen. I haven't heard of anyone having a flare simply from fatigue.

So I guess I'm in the club of being watchful and aware of how I'm feeling or how tired I am, and trying to moderate what I can. I keep living my life basically the same way, though, which is what I want to do. If I wanted to go on the trip you mention and honestly felt up to it, I'd go. If I felt exhausted even before the event, I wouldn't go. Both these situations have happened to me, and they both worked out okay.

You're in the beginning of things and I know it's so confusing. In time you will be able to relax more, and you'll get a sense of what's reasonably normal and what's not. We're here to help you anyway we can.

hugs,
ess

[Lulu54]

Joani,
Zacksmomi's neuro gave really good insight into this dilemma. Don't change what we're doing, but maybe we have to change how and when we do those things.

If this trip had been scheduled last week, before you had your firm dx, would you have gone even though you are exhausted?  

Right now you are coming off a very emotional experience  - being told you have MS even though you already suspected it, is quite difficult to process.

Maybe now isn't the right time to be doing this trip.  Only you know for sure - what does your body and instinct tell you to do? You may have to wait and do it the next time the group goes. That will give you time to go buy a good air mattress for sleeping on the floor! LOL  

I think just because we have MS we don't give up particiating in the things that we want to do - we just have to be smarter going about it.

either way you choose you won't lose.

later, Lu

[Zacksmomi]

Hi Joani,

I am sorry you got this dx, and I wish it came with an automatic "slow down life" button, but it sure doesn't.

I actually asked my MS Specialist at UCSF that question.  He basically said that although obviously you need to take care of yourself, if you are in a position where you will participate in an activity that wears you down, and you can afford the few days "tax" of pain and fatigue you will endure, then it is fine to choose to go forward with the activity.

So yes you will take several days to recover when you extend your body past its limits, but my Dr says this will not send you into a flare and/or effect the future of your MS.  

So I hope that part answers your question, but that does not mean you should push it.  Wearing your body down can make you susseptible (I am sure that is spelled wrong) to getting sick from a virus.

It is so special that you are doing this trip, but make sure that you rely on lots of other people, and if you are already in pain from your weekend, you may reconsider going as sleeping on the ground is not going to help there.  

There may be ways you can accomodate yourself and still make the trip, but think hard about it and listen to your body.

Take care
D

[jensequitur]

It depends upon how recently you've had a flare.  I have better recovery right now - if I had just gotten over a flare, it would take me a week to get better.

On good days, a four day trip like you describe will wear me out, and it'll take a couple of days for me to recover.  So you may not be up to snuff tomorrow evening - keep that in mind.

I have been able to do camping trips and not be completely worn out, but I'm not doing anything - just sitting and relaxing.  

Is this trip going to be outside in the heat?  That's another thing that really bothers me - getting too hot can take several days to recover from.