Tired? Women and Fatigue Part 8

I got a walk in today! Dinner was over, the kids had cleaned up, the little ones were occupied upstairs so I just sneaked quietly out and roamed through the trails around the back of our forest. (Now that I have my camera, I should bring it some time). It was so fun and since we had just had a rain shower that broke the high temperatures, it was cool and beautifully fresh, too. Cindy at Dog Day Afternoons reminded me of my daughter’s motto, taken from Chesterton, about doing things that you love and letting the side benefits come of themselves — in his words: “A man ought to take exercise not because he is too fat, but because he loves foils or horses or high mountains, and loves them for their own sake.”

That’s actually quite a philosophical statement, when you think of it.

This section of the book Women and Fatigue was about medical roots for fatigue. The book points out that fatigue is often the first symptom and sometimes the only symptom of some medical conditions. The author gives a brief summary of several different ones such as: hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, adrenal insufficiency, cardiac problems, respiratory issues (like asthma or allergies, for instance), liver or kidney dysfunction, hypoglycemia, UTIs, STDs, and of course things like cancer. She gives some advice on how to deal with doctors (she is an MD herself,) and mentions studies that show that womens’ symptoms are sometimes treated differently than mens’ similar symptoms when a doctor is consulted. Women are more likely to be told that their fatigue or depression is caused by psychological factors.

The basic advice: be informed, be persistent, keep careful records so that your language when you consult the doctor is clear and confident, not vague and half-apologetic. Ask questions. She gives several examples of women who were found to have treatable conditions that were not immediately apparent during the first tests.

In my case, I have several lifestyle changes I can make. I think that cutting down on simple carbs is probably the one thing that is helping the most. If I can get out for a daily walk I think it would make a big difference.

Now we are up to the epilogue of the book. The author gives a summary of what she learned as she was researching and writing the book. Her opinion is that the major general reason for the problem of women and fatigue is societal. In other words, since we are living in a time of transition for women, where traditional roles are being replaced by new ones, this leads to a lack of restfulness and peace in many ways. Result: fatigue. Women question themselves, they are questioned and sometimes doubted, the medical research is sometimes not focused particularly on womens’ health issues as opposed to those of men. To some extent, we are operating on trial and error.

She says she foresees that in the near future, more and more children will be going to daycare and more women as well as men will be working outside of the home. But she does not think change will end there. The next phase will be that more and more women AND men will work in the home by telecommuting, using the new information and communication technology. Work will become much more flexible in terms of hours and geography. Hmm, this is much closer to what I personally would see as a good thing. In some ways, something like this has already happened with education. Homeschooling is so easy nowadays — with a computer and a library card and your community, you have what no school had in any time up till the present. I’ve read many many books on this especially John Taylor Gatto’s and John Holt’s. Here’s one bibliography online. I guess my family is trying to skip the “both parents in offices and kids in daycare” and just go straight to the “everyone working together at home” model. In some ways, that is a return to tradition, of course; an older tradition than the “dad at the office, mom in the kitchen or beauty parlor and kids at school” one.
Aidan is rolling colored duct tape across my floor . I don’t think I can concentrate enough to write out a proper conclusion. I just would say that I found going through the book carefully enough to write about it was really helpful. I can remember the details much better than I would if I hadn’t written about it, and if I get fuzzy on the details I can go back and look at my notes. I feel a lot better about this whole fatigue thing with a few coping devices in my toolbox. I guess that is part of the “taking control” thing she mentioned. It helped me stand back a bit and take stock of a few things that were going on in my life that I wasn’t being proactive about.