I experience persistent chronic fatigue, as a result of having Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Learning to live with this fatigue is an ongoing process for me. I’ve been working on it for many years. I made this video to share what I have learned, my tips for coping with fatigue. It’s the follow up to my living with chronic fatigue video.
I first started to experience chronic fatigue in 2011 after the birth of my youngest child. I visited my GP, and was tested for many of the obvious causes of fatigue. Before eventually being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2014.
Though my fatigue has always been persistent it became life changing in 2018. When I found myself completely unable to function. I spent many months housebound, mostly in bed. Alongside my fatigue my other symptoms of pain and gastric issues became much worse. Again I visited the doctor and again they ran tests, they found no obvious cause.
Eventually I met another autistic women who was experiencing similar symptoms, she had a diagnosis of hypermobile Ehlers-danlos syndrome. I’ve been hypermobile all my life, which was an advantage when I was studying dance, and later working as a circus artist.
This is how I ended up with a diagnosis of hypermobile Ehlers-danlos syndrome. Finding out the root cause for my fatigue has been helpful. Now my main mission is to learn to live within the constraints of my condition. This includes learning to live with fatigue. Here are my tips for coping with fatigue;