I generally don't describe in serious terms, since humor is my coping mechanism, but for an example?

I am so fatigued I literally fall asleep sitting on the toilet. The moment I stop moving, when the fatigue is "flaring", I can fall asleep mid-bite of food. It's as if the exhaustion is emanating from my bone marrow, and shuts down my brain, and I wonder how I am still breathing. "Tired" is "Ah, I lie down to sleep at end of day and am immediately asleep." For me, "Fatigue" is "cannot function mentally or physically without exhausting myself further."

Pain exhausts me. Pain ruins my sleep, Pain gives me fatigue. Fatigue makes pain harder to cope with, since it robs me of all the energy needed to concentrate on relaxation and meditation and breathing techniques to control pain and tension.

Fatigue is an Eff Word.

I love Leo's descriptions! So accurate. For me, the fatigue is mind-numbing, literally. I cannot concentrate. At times, it makes me feel like I am in a surreal place, just like a dream world, where I float around. I cannot process things. I feel like my body is weighted down with concrete sometimes. I feel like I cannot take one more step.

I have numbness in my arms and legs, and am nauseous. At times, I have had to sit or lie down, or I would have passed out. At times, I am exhausted, but have insomnia. Other times, I can sleep 20 of 24 hours. And still wake up exhausted.

Quite simply, there is no reprieve from the fatigue a flare brings. And for me, there is some level of this fatigue nearly every day. It is also worse than the pain in my case.

Hope this helps.....HUGS from own south :)

So much great stuff has been said... but to add on - the way I try to describe it to people is that literally my eye lids feel too heavy to lift... like my entire body is made is weighted down and I am physically not strong enough to move it anymore... and as Leo said, I'll feel so tired that breathing feels too hard.

No one every understands - they'll reply back "oh yeah - me too, I'm exhausted!" and I get so frustrated... no!!! it's not the same as just being tired!!!

Unfortunately but fortunately for some aspects of my life - my husband was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism two years ago and his medication will sometimes make him go "hypo". He then will describe his fatigue the exact same way and I will literally sometimes find him just sprawled on the floor because he said he was too tired to make it to the bedroom(!) - so now when he's bouncing around "hyper" again - I remind him how I'm feeling and why I didn't finish the dishes or make dinner, etc. :(

The fatigue is definitely worse than the pain. It is my arms and legs are weighed down with sand bags. Talking takes too much effort to keep the words in order. My brain can't think at all. It's not a sleepy tired and sleep does not help it. It is by far worse than any "tired" I've ever felt. It is life altering!!

Fatigue is different then being tired!
It is like something drained all of the energy out of every cell in my body. Most of the time I'm to tired to sleep & just lay there having my mind go crazy - till the pain meds kick in and let me sleep.

There never seems to be a time when I can do anything effortlessly... I literally have to push to do everything. Push to get out of bed, push to get dressed, push to make coffee (even that doesn't motivate anymore) push to eat & on & on...

As for thinking, some times it is impossible to think straight. I am always second guessing myself. I do stupid things sometimes (I find the strangest things in the freezer .) I used to be really good at computers, databases & programming. Now I look at a DB form & know it should be simple to add a field - but I can not even remember where to start. It is like the knowledge is just out of my reach, I know it is in my mind somewhere, but I just can't reach it. It is very frustrating... Knowing you can/should be able to do something but you can't - no matter how hard you try. It is just out of my reach.

Fatigue will alter your life & laugh at you while you try to keep upright.

Good descriptions. I get that incredibly heavy feeling in my limbs. Yes, even breathing takes effort. Forget about eating. It's not the same as being tired. But if I miss my window for sleeping (like when I'm this exhausted but we're out to eat) forget it . I won't sleep that night. At all. I also get scrambled brain. I can't think. I can't speak correctly. Fatigue deeply affects my mood. I tend toward anger. It is very difficult to explain.