Help me cope with fatigue (glandular fever)

[Coffeeandchocolate9]

Just seeking advice from anybody who has been through illness that leaves them very fatigued. I've been in hospital for 2 weeks, liver doing weird things, meningitis, UTI, various other things suspected and eventually diagnosed with glandular fever of all things. I'm awake for a few hours max and then have to sleep. When I'm awake I'm varying degrees of tired, achey, brain foggy, or sometimes quite well feeling.

I'm aware of spoons theory and most definitely having to make choices between e.g. having a shower and being able to prepare a basic meal.

I don't know what I'm asking for really - advice, suggestions on coping with the fatigue, any clever ways I can cook (I like cooking from scratch, and all my other interests and hobbies are out of the window right now), any particular vitamins to focus on getting, anything else that could help at all?

Oh coffee ... I sincerely hope you get over this soon with no additional problems.

My 20 year old dd had glandular fever in May ... it attacked her liver (whole other thread!) ... she’s still suffering extreme fatigue now, we’re not sure if this is a result of the gf or her ongoing liver problems.

My only advice is to go with how you feel and what your body tells you. You might live on toast and soup for a while but so be it. Don’t over do things ... it’s just not worth it.

@Liverprobs that is really interesting to hear! The first part of my system going wrong to be diagnosed was my liver - (tmi alert) I had weird enzyme levels in my blood, and I ended up peeing blood and bile, and puking bile that should have been going into my gut. They said my liver tubes had probably got blocked, (the only way I can make sense of it it is thinking my liver replumbed itself!) and diagnosis focused on liver infection, hepatitis and so on, initially.

I've got more blood tests tomorrow but the last ones were showing a good amount of return to normal of liver enzymes. I've certainly got normal looking pee again!

Perhaps if your daughter had similar the link is more common than I had realised.

I have multiple chronic illnesses and had meningitis a year ago, so fatigue is something I live with constantly.

You can 'bank' energy and 'loan' energy. If I know I'm taking DC for a big day out, I do nothing outside the absolute essentials for a couple of days before and after. I also try to find things that make life easier such as condenser tumble dryer in lieu of clipping all the washing out on the line.

Work our what's essential and what's not. If I have a rare burst of energy (maybe a couple of hours a fortnight) then I batch cook decent meals- good nutrition will really help.

Go to bed at 10 and up at 6.30-7 so a good 8-9 hours minimum. DH did all night feeds when DC were little as I physically couldn't cope without my sleep.

Accept sometimes you'll have to say no to plans/favours/activities because if you do 2-3 busy day's you'll be half dead for a week afterwards. It really is about making sure you have energy for the important stuff and if you can afford it, get a cleaner!

That’s really interesting about the liver. I always suspected the liver was involved when I had glandular fever but I didn’t go to hospital, I ended up at home for two weeks or so and it took me about 15 years to recover. Even now 30 years later it still shows up in my blood tests every now and then.

coffee ... dd now has normal liver levels apart from bilirubin. It’s through the roof, went toxic a couple of times and almost needed a liver transplant. We think she’s over the worst of it. She’s now 4 months down the line and still has months of recovery ahead.

I’m not good with links, but if you search mumsnet for raised LFT’s and bilirubin you should find my thread if you fancy a long read 😂