Posted by medlib on November 15, 2000, at 13:16:11
In reply to The Fatigue Factor, posted by Greg on November 15, 2000, at 7:43:59
Greg--
Congratulations! You are clearly clinically normal. If you were NOT exhausted by the situation you described, you would be obviously manic. I only wish my fatigue were so honestly earned. BTW, it does sound like delegating may be absolutely essential to your mental and physical health.
RE: knee swelling
Have you checked in with your orthopod? It is not uncommon for significant swelling to last 2+ months post surgery; unless skin over the operated joint is consistently warmer than the other knee, or pain or swelling increases unreasonably, it's probably WNL. (Exercising the joint will increase both, temporarily; but it is important in the prevention of adhesions--internal scarring.) Also, that knee may remain slightly larger, even when completely healed.RE: sleep
Extreme fatigue may be your body's way of telling you that you need more than 6 hours sleep/night to heal while coping with a horrendous workload. (Contrary to popular opinion, you can't "catch up" on sleep. Extra weekend sleep merely disrupts your circadian rhythm, which can increase fatigue.) Ambien is very short-acting; I can't sleep more than 6 hours on it, either. You might want to try one of the longer-acting sleep aids for the duration (though you may need to program in a little extra wake-up time).RE: recovery
I don't want to go all Linus Pauling on you, but both wound healing and infection fighting require extra Vit C. Since you are quite rightly drinking extra fluids, and since Vits B & C are water-soluble, it would be helpful to spread intake of these extra vitamins throughout the day. Viral infections often reduce appetite; if you don't have time or inclination for lunch, an ice-cold protein drink plus StressTab should help. Take another STab with dinner. (However, if you exceed l000 mgs. Vit C daily, you may have a problem with diarrhea.)WARNING: Here follows the grandmotherly-type admonition which always accompanies chicken soup (a good source of Vit C) and other such remedies. (Feel free to disregard.)
You may be too young to remember Jimmy Carter; but, (IMHO) he is a highly intelligent man who was a lousy president, largely because he could not transcend his engineering-based inclination to do everything himself. Go ye and do differently.Now, if this excess of pedantic advice hasn't put you to sleep, you're probably at least a little annoyed. Do you know the reason that the tired are easily ticked off? Irritation is energizing--clears out the fuzzies, raises the heart rate and upsets the stomach just as well as caffeine! Awake and alert yet?
Well wishes---
medlib, aged but not yet venerable
poster:medlib
thread:2726
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001031/msgs/2744.html