Jody’s Blog . . . a life after chronic fatigue syndrome

Saturday, September 26, 2009   
 
It’s my birthday today. I am now 54 years old.
 
And still recovering from CFS. Both in the long term (17 years and counting) and in the short term, from a crash that started about a month ago.
 
I had been hoping that with better health this year, that this couldn’t happen anymore. And now I know. It not only can happen, it can usher in all the old symptoms with all the old intensity.
 
Horrifying. Stopped my life in its tracks once again.
 
But the difference this time, has been that I have had breaks in the symptoms each day, sometimes only an hour here or there, other times I’m good most of the day, just get worn out and fragmented after too much activity and not enough rest.

“Too much” just happens to take a lot less than it did, and “not enough” means I need way more rest than I’ve been needing most of this year.
 
So! I have learned a valuable lesson once more. It is still possible to fall off of this cliff. I will try to be more aware and respectful of my very real limits. Again.
 
For the present, I am planning on enjoying my 54th birthday.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

September 3rd marked Ncubator’s 4 month milestone. And then I had a crash.

We chronics use this word to indicate an ugly relapse into old symptoms, lasting anywhere from a few days to a few weeks … to months … to years … depending on the crash.

You never know till you come out of one, what severity or length of recovery time you’re looking at.

I guess I would term this one a bounce, rather than a crash. Symptoms will lift considerably for awhile, say a few hours, and then descend to crush once again.

The upswings are lasting longer. I have cut way back on activity for now, even my beloved writing.

Live to rise up another day.

Monday, July 20, 2009