Prior to, and for a year or so after, I was diagnosed with MS in
2002, I often felt very tired and fell asleep in various inconvenient
places like on the train, at the table, at my desk, chatting to my
children, at parties/concerts etc.

Once I discovered that fatigue was a common symptom of MS, and also
other types of brain damage, I learnt to pace myself and not to over-commit.

I've also noted from my MRI films, the regions of my brain where the
plaques are largest. There is definitely a link between the damage to
those areas and the way my symptoms manifest, like: an inability to
articulate words or understand what is being told to me - I still
cannot repeat directions or phone numbers and have to write them
down; terrible fine motor control like typing - I'm a writer and
jewellery maker so that's a bummer :(; walking (staggering!) - it's
fine at speed but if I slow down to walk with others, I'm terrible.

My late mum-in-law suffered three strokes in the final year of her
life and she and the members of her stroke club told me of similar
experiences with their damaged brains.

The brain is a very resilient organ and, although it has a phenomenal
level of redundancy - some 92-98%, it still takes a lot of metabolic
energy to create new paths to work around the damage. This, plus the
wastage due to the leaky nerves, causes profound fatigue and seems to
be part of the disease. I liken it to a positive sign that things are
'being repaired' which is a lot like bearing the pain due to
physiotherapy after an op.

So, in summary, fatigue is a part of the condition and we have to
modify our lives to manage it but having friends, family members and
colleagues who understand can be a great help. It's just our learning
to ask for help that's the tricky bit!

I hope this helps and best of luck,

Jayne