I used to be so absolutely offended if a healthy person told me they were tired.

Of course, I can’t possibly know everyone’s health conditions unless they come right out and say it, but let’s assume the person I’m talking about is in fairly good nick.

I was such a ‘judge-y’ person and would look at people saying they were ‘too tired to function’ with wide eyes and try not to die inside. I really did feel like it was minimising my fatigue.

I have spoken before about how your pain is worse than mine.

This week, I have literally slept away my two full days off work.. so you would assume I’d had enough rest, but no – I could have done it today, if I hadn’t been seeing a friend, and I would do it again tomorrow, if I didn’t have an appointment!

I’ve always been ‘go go go’ and I try not to let my health problems get in the way of my life, which is near impossible with my health conditions, but I still manage to give it a good go! I have continued to work, from before my diagnosis until now, through battling intense fatigue, fighting against drug withdrawals, going blind in one eye, struggling working in ridiculously unsuitable work environments. I have done it all.

So it used to really bother me when someone much more physically able than myself would say they couldn’t do something because they were ‘too tired’. I guess I was taking this as a personal attack from a place of pure bitterness, because I was still coming to terms with my own fatigue and I didn’t quite realise that energy levels, just like pain, are all relative.

If the worst thing your body has to endure this week is that you’re tired from a seven hour shift.. you’ll definitely feel exhausted by the end of the week. If the worst thing is the fact that you have chronic pain, I guess working in an office for a few hours doesn’t always seem too bad, but the first person won’t know this, because nobody can feel exactly what you feel. On the other side of that, I think a day in the office would tip me over the edge with how drained I’m feeling right now, so I’m really glad I have a few days off work.

Plus.. I’m really too tired to win an argument about who’s more tired!

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Trigeminal Neuralgia