Fatigue is a Brain-Derived Emotion

[graemebenzie]

Hi tims,

I wonder if what this article says is relevant for MS.

"These sensations of fatigue are unique to each individual and are illusionary"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3323922/

Graeme

[Scott1]

Hi,

I looked at the article and the first thing that stood out to me is there is clearly a world of difference between what the author of that article thinks fatigue is and what fatigue means to someone with MS or a similar problem. His version of fatigue is related to the rapid expenditure of energy in an athletic setting. It's more akin to driving a racing car until it runs out of fuel. It's not our fatigue.

Our version would be more like leaving the car lights on all night and trying to turn over the motor with a flat battery.

In the first example you only need to refuel. In the second you need a new battery. The fuel is a secondary consideration.

Fatigue is definitely not illusory. Where your energy comes from is within each cell. It is dependent on how efficiently you make ATP . None of the references in that article will ever win a Nobel prize but the people who discovered the role of ATP did in 1997.

This might be worth viewing for some.

Regards,

[DrGeoff]

How one can discuss the relationship between cognitive activity and sporting performance without any mention of the Jones and Hardy book "Stress and Performance in Sport" escapes me.
Geoff

[LizardKing]

BULLSHIT!
Not an "emotion", but my anger at people with no experience of chronic fatigue IS.
This statement is double bullshit:
"These sensations of fatigue are unique to each individual and are illusionary"
I know plenty of other people who suffer from serious fatigue and they all sound like they have the same sensations
and they are very real.
All of this is clearly someone's OPINION and not based on any data or facts.
That is now pretty typical of the medical industry these days.

[1eye]

I agree this is bullshit (MS fatigue is NOT an emotion, though you probably get emotional, and may cry due to the frustration, and the emotional lability). Come to think of it there may be MS fatigue behind MS emotional lability. You might think of it as not your body or brain getting tired. It is each and every cell in your body individually becoming unable to make ATP, the substance that makes your muscles contract. Does that sound like an obstacle your brain can somehow overcome? If it is you are smarter than most human beings. What it sounds like to me is that it is a short trip to the kind of fatigue you get in ALS. The only difference is, people who have ALS can't turn their ATP production back on by getting some sleep. It is not only on strike, it is locked out. Scabs (scleroses) won't help.