I have found ways to deal with being short of breath or breathlessness as it is often referred to.  I pay no attention to these symptoms until they are getting into the severe range.  After all, I am used to being short of breath from playing sports in my youth.  The Achilles heel for me is fatigue which sometimes results in total or complete exhaustion which requires extended sleep of 18-24 hours.

Because of this, I am always on the lookout for suggestions that will help me.  I first turn to the COPD Foundation website.  Here I do find several posts about fatigue especially morning fatigue.  I do not find information about how to deal with fatigue in the “Learn More” tab on the page.

I then turn to my friends at LPT Medical and I find a post by Duke Reeves that addresses fatigue related to COPD and suggests some things that may help with it.  I know prior to reading that these things will not eliminate the fatigue, but if I can learn something about managing it, I will be happy.

I will follow with a summary of the blog post.  You can read the entire post by clicking here.  The post starts out by defining fatigue. “Fatigue is a kind of whole-body exhaustion that takes “feeling tired” to a new level. It hurts your ability to concentrate, drains your energy, and often worsens anxiety. Fatigue makes you feel too tired to do things that you usually enjoy, and can make simple things like dressing, reading, or leaving the house feel like monumentally difficult tasks. Often, fatigue is a sign that your body is having trouble keeping up with its energy needs.”

This describes the reason that I enlisted the help of a psychologist because I felt that I might be experiencing depression.  A few sessions with this wonderful caring person led me to believe that the problem was indeed physical and not psychological.  This was her assessment as well.  We did continue for a few sessions which were helpful in making my living situation more productive.

The article lists exercise, proper diet, minimizing stress, staying hydrated, and keeping our mental health on the right track.

• These are the symptoms of fatigue that are listed in the article.
• Chronic feelings of sleepiness and tiredness
• Loss of appetite
• Irritability and mood swings
• Sore, aching, or weakened muscles
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Blurred vision
• Difficulty concentrating
• Slowed movement and reflexes
• Lack of motivation

I remember telling my doctor that I felt sick not just tired.  He assured me that it was fatigue and that it could lead to sickness if the episode were not halted.  He gave me the assignment to read an article about sleep and what sleep does for the body.  I find that my blood pressure gets out of whack, and I start to not be able to sleep if I fight doing what I need to do which is to rest.

As always, this is not so much about me as it is to share with you in hopes that my experience can be of help to another person with COPD.