Of the Lupus symptoms, one of the most incapacitating and misunderstood is lupus fatigue.  No one can understand how far beyond normal tiredness it goes.  I hadn’t felt it in a long time and now that it’s back, I’m impressed at how the easiest thing, that we all do normally with no effort, can be a humanly impossible task.  Something as simple as smiling, as talking.  It’s a fatigue that seems to penetrate to the bone marrow, that makes the body 

 as if it was made of lead and moving it becomes a titanic effort.  Thinking is 

 as if the brain had rusty gears that took all available energy to move.  There is very little available energy.  I’m conscious of every breath, almost as if my body had to choose between breathing and other bodily functions,  A deep breath 

 me, the muscles in my chest complain at the effort of filling the lungs.  Who could, that hasn’t felt this extreme fatigue, possibly understand it?