Working Part-Time and Still Exhausted

Hello dear readers!

How is everyone?

Well I am working part-time since January.  I was supposed to be part-time only for about 3 months or so but as I am not doing as well as expected it has been prolonged till August.

In a previous post, I discussed how I don't have interests in much, well that is still going on.

I also have a really hard time focusing.  But most of all I am just so friggin tired!  And when you are tired, well it causes a whole lot of other issues right?

I read up on ways to become less tired.  Mostly I have to sleep better, so to help I try to avoid caffeinated products past noon.  Caffeine can have a half life of up to 5 hours!  That means that it can still have a strong enough effect on you 8 hours after having consumed it.  I read that I should stop using caffeine altogether, but lets be realistic here, there is no way I would be able to work, drive or do anything really during the withdrawal period.  So the next best thing is being strategic about my intake as much as I can.

Another suggestion is to do more exercise.  So I have taken up taking at least one walk per day.  The walk succeeds in making me tired and it does help me fall asleep.  It does not help me stay asleep all night, nor does it help me sleep well.  I often don't feel like taking a walk because I am tired and my legs just are not being very cooperative.  I recently even tripped on my own feet and almost fell flat on my face.  Boy that would have hurt.

One of the things that could help me stay asleep is if the nighttime pain was reduced.  Well the gabapentin that I am taking for my mood was helping for a while but it seems to no longer be helping.  Most over the counter pain medications don't last through the night.  So I am waiting for the rheumatologist referral to find a better way to manage the pain.  That referral was done quite a while ago.  I was told it should only take seven months but it has already been longer than that. Or has it?  When you are waiting, sometimes it seems like forever.  I know the referral was done sometime before the winter holidays.  I think it was done before I went on sick leave.  If it was then it definitely has been more than 7 months as I went on sick leave in early October 2012.

I am doing group therapy and taking a class to help manage my depression but the added effort these require make me more tired.  They both have "homework" and the therapy has much more homework to do than the class.  I have to read chapters of a book which I find extremely difficult to do.  I also have to fit in extra activities in my week for each of the groups which is not always easy.  Some people have already quit the groups and sometimes I wonder if I should not quit at least one of them.  I may be pushing myself too hard in my attempt to get out of my depression that the chronic fatigue and the fibro are flaring. 

But I am afraid that if I quit one of the groups that it may have a neagtive influence on my insurance.  I would not be able to work only part-time and take these groups and spend so much time working on getting better if the insurance was not helping me financially. 

Stress is also not good for getting a good night's rest.  Though in all honestly, I really don't think I am that stressout lately.  Sure I get overwhelmed by my lack of ability to focus but I am not really stressed.

I think I will leave it at that for now.  Thanks for reading as always!