Saturday, 16 July 2011

Bad Day

I've been suffering through a bit of a bad patch for the past couple
of days, I even had to take time off work yesterday because I was just
too exhausted & in too much pain. The worst parts are first thing in
the morning, when I sometimes think I could quite cheerfully saw my
limbs off with a rusty hacksaw because it couldn't hurt any less, &
dealing with the connected symptoms like IBS or extreme nausea. I was
wondering if anyone out there has tips for dealing with this? I also
keep trying to make it to the local foggys meetings, which in theory
is a great place to share experiences & tips, trouble is by the time
the meeting comes round I'm usually too tired &/or following the pain
management rules of prioritise, plan & pace & am having to save my
energy for some prioritised task.
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Sent from my mobile device

Friday, 8 July 2011

The Little Things

I have been working really hard lately trying to get things done for work, at home, trying to fit in physio, & so much more & I looked around the other day & realised that I hadn't really accomplished many of the 'Big things' on my to do list. This really got me down & then I realised that part of the problem is I spend so much of my time battling over 'little things', things that other people take for granted, that this was sapping my energy & time so that I couldn't focus on the big things. For instance, I find it really depressing when something as 'simple' (?) as going to make myself a cup of coffee has to become such a big deal - I have to break it down in to parts, plan how to do each little bit (1. stand up, 2. pick up cup, 3. walk into kitchen, etc) including building in rest breaks, plan my route to avoid even the smallest obstacles or so that I have things to hold on to & on & on. By the time I've actually planned & completed the task I'm tired, depressed, & not looking forward to trying to do anything else. As you can imagine I was in a very depressed state of mind but then I read an article that was sent round our local Foggy's group about the Spoon Theory http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/navigation/BYDLS-TheSpoonTheory.pdf & I started to think about things slightly differently.
Instead of thinking about how difficult I find things I'm trying to think more about how achieving even the smallest of 'little things' is a good thing & I should give myself a pat on the back when I male it through a task. It would be so easy to just give up, not bother, collapse in a heap & get someone else to do everything for me (believe me at times this is very tempting). But if I did that then the fibro has won & I REFUSE to let that happen so I have decided that each time I complete a task or part of a task I'm going to take a minute to focus on the fact that I can still do stuff for myself & I can still enjoy & take part in things - I can get myself a cup of coffee, I can listen to music or read a book, I can do my own shopping online, & so many other little things - & this will give me the motivation to do the next thing, & the next one step at a time.