If you’ve suffered from ulcerative colitis or Crohns, or experienced rounds of chemo therapy and radiation, you know what fatigue is. It’s SO much more than just being tired. It’s that feeling you get when your body says “You’re going down NOW!”. And the best thing to do is just stop what you’re doing, because if you don’t, you may pay the price in secondary infections or an inability to function later when it’s important. The best advice I got from my doctor was to just give in to the fatigue. At first it was counter-intuitive – of course, I can keep going! What’s a little tiredness? But that only leads to more episodes of fatigue so extreme you really can’t function at all. So when that feeling hits, listen to your body and take the hours (often it’s hours) to recover the best you can. Sometimes the sofa was my best friend for the day. The good news? You can recover after your therapy or surgery. It takes quite a while, and there can be setbacks, but the best feeling is actually feeling just tired, without the debilitating fatigue.