Coping Consciously with Confidence

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms ebb and flow like the tide except with far less predictability or consistency. How do you cope with a constant changing symptom list that varies in severity by the hour, day, week, month or year? Today, I am concentrating on my reliable coping mechanisms. These coping techniques to handle the invisible disease that CFS is, also help me handle the stresses I face in my life, working and living a life in 2015, never mind with CFS.

Hobbies, Interests and More

My techniques vary in only way, whether it’s a physical activity or if it is about observing or listening. Everyone’s list will be different, plus the way the individual technique is utilized could alter. Music is one of my coping mechanisms; this is all about listening to music with a little side brain activity of learning about the artist or the songwriting. Another person may play guitar, write music or sing (none of which has not happened in my world so far!). These are the most common ways I’ve found to cope with CFS and life in general:

• Music (listening to music, learning about the artists, how songs were written, etc.).
• Movies (re-watching favorite movies ranging from romantic comedies, classic movies (Hitchcock especially), to a random horror – ultimate favorites are an inspirational true story like Moneyball [official trailer], Rudy [official trailer] or a great mystery story like Along Came a Spider [official trailer]).
• Reading (when I cannot read either due to my eyes bothering me, falling asleep too fast or too busy doing other things, I listen to audio books).
• Crafts: knitting, crocheting, counted cross-stitch with a little of adult coloring books, drawing, card-making.
• Visiting with friends/family: regular FaceTime chats with my Mom plus on-going conversations with those closest to me,

Stampin’ Up cards

Crocheted Blanket

Coping with Confidence

These techniques are simple, easy and inexpensive. When I was very sick, I listened to music and learned inspiring stories of singers who overcame the odds to follow their dreams and reach success. This helped me immensely to know others struggles, while different, they persisted until they met their goals. Today, I still use music to de-stress. I almost always have music on in the car, cranking the volume for those fun, dance-able songs, singing along (out of tune and not caring!) to get my groove on and forget for three minutes about anything else but this moment.

Simple techniques that can be used whether you’re in bed 18 hours a day, working part-time or even cooking supper for your family and running out of time and energy can make all the difference in the world. This can alter whether you cry yourself to sleep, yell at your spouse or give your kids a hug good night and laugh at their silly jokes.

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What makes coping with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome the most difficult for you?

How do you handle the various symptoms and the different degrees the symptoms appear/fade? 

If you are a friend or family member of a person living with CFS, how do you cope?

 

Symptom Streaks Sinister Significance

Hidden in plain sight, symptoms are often present whether we are in the mood for it or not. Symptoms do not care if you’ve had enough of them. Symptoms do not mind if there’s just a few present or if it’s a full onslaught with either a massive crowd of a bunch of different symptoms or the really stubborn ones screaming for attention.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has a variety of debilitating symptoms outlined on the FM-CFS Canada website (italics added by me), describing it as a

“pathological exhaustion not reversed by rest, no matter how much one has. This situation results in a substantial reduction of previous levels of activity. In order to be clinically diagnosed with CFS, an individual must meet both of the following criteria:

1. clinically evaluated, unexplained persistent or relapsing chronic fatigue that is of new or definite onset, is not the result of ongoing exertion, is not substantially alleviated by rest and results in substantial reduction of previous levels of occupational, educational, social or personal activities; and
2. four or more of the following key symptoms are concurrently present for 6 months or longer:

• substantial impairment in short-term memory or concentration (attention deficit, memory lapses, frequently using the wrong word, spatial disorientation);
• sore throat;
• extreme joint and muscle pain without swelling or redness;
• headaches of a new type, pattern or severity;
• unrefreshing sleep (hypersomnia or insomnia, nightmares);
• painful lymph nodes;
• post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours.”

I am writing today about the impact of one of these symptoms and how I have learned to live a productive life with it. The cool thing about CFS is that the symptoms vary by day, week, month, year. This translates to having better days than others and needing to handle the rough days appropriately. Not only is everyone’s experience with CFS unique to themselves, it is also unique to that person’s life. In this post, I focus on the short-term memory/concentration symptom.