Re: Trying to understand labs and fatigue

Good luck tomorrow with the OB - it's wonderful you have a level of trust with them and feel you can explain your situation and ask for tests without being ridiculed, which most go through with their docs! It's important to keep a good physician/patient going when you find it :-)

I can relate to your words so much. Everyone else, except my partner who witnesses what i go through, has the mentality of 'you don't look sick so you must be fine' attitude. It's actually really annoying now! Despite my family making comments of 'you look tired, you're losing so much weight' over the past 4 years...now i am barely functioning day-to-day they refuse to see there's a problem and, as you say, seem to think it's possible to just 'think' myself better etc etc...'go out and have fun' type of attitude.

Pulling back from such people in my life has been hard but i've done it to focus better on figuring these imbalances and putting together protocols to heal. If i had just 'carried on' and not focused on myself when i did i would have ended up more ill than i am. We all try to carry on, but there comes a point when that physically becomes impossible and it's important to try to eliminate as many activities/chores as possible to conserve energy and give time to the 'self'.
Modern life doesn't enable this very often so we have to really prioritise what's important - as i have discovered, like many on here, without health we don't really have a full, active life, so the priority has to be health, of self and family.

I can imagine your life to be very busy, also with daughters, so it must be hard to have adequate time to really pull back from the stressors...but even small things like having a long relaxing bath, with Epsom Salts , candles, nice scents...sitting in the sun for half an hour to just be at peace and be relaxed....listening to relaxing music, these small things add up to help us heal too :-)
My favourite thing at the moment is to wander in the countryside looking for edible wild mushrooms, now it's autumn time and the season for mushrooms. I get plenty of fresh air....it's peaceful...i'm focusing not on my health, how i feel...just on the ground and looking for little surprises which might become dinner that night :-)
Resting the mind aswell as the body is very important.

You mention gut instinct regarding the lupus...i'd say go with that, in my personal experience my gut instinct has yet to fail me, even with the most ridiculous notions!
Do you have the tell-tale facial and/or body rash of lupus?

Keep us posted how you get on tomorrow.
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