Real Life for People with M.E., (CFS): Strange Symptoms Part 2 - Difficulty with Hurrying for Deadlines

Tight deadlines at work or anywhere else, which require us to hurry present an special challenge for people with M.E., Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, otherwise known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a misleading term generally disliked by sufferers of the illness.

We need to know before doing anything that we can do it, and how, and how long it will take. We have to gear up for it energetically. Just imagining it and preparing to do it takes a lot of energy in itself. We need to know where everything is we will need to access, where directions are if we need to travel, and need to know the directions back, because it may be hard to reverse the information in our heads. We need to know all the details will be covered rather than having to think on our feet in a pressured environment if something unexpected happens. That can cause us to have a meltdown, so we need organization, planning, and plenty of time, more time than healthy individuals would require.

We need time to gather our thoughts at each juncture, walk slowly if we need to, rest if we need to, eat a snack if we need to revive. Looking at things takes longer in itself, as the brain needs more time to take everything in and process it. We can't always do many things at once, and if there is clutter, background noise, something emotional going on at the same time, or we have to stand long, we can have to push our restart button.

If we have plenty of time, we can get things done on time. If we don't, and have to hurry, are given something to do suddenly, especially after waking up, and there is a sense of pressure, we aren't good at getting things done extra quickly, much as we would like to.

I can't vouch for their assessment of the typical M.E., (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) patient, but according to the National Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyaglia Association's website, we really do want to do a good job, if such generalization is possible. "The CFS patient tends to be someone with high performance standards and a strong sense of commitment and responsibility. Thus, the typical CFS patient is not someone who will fail to come through when there is an important deadline or organizational event. ....

"During a crisis, when an important unforseen task needs to be accomplished within a short amount of time, the CFS patient will usually push very hard, knowing the extra pressure will exacerbate the symptoms...... CFS patients, however, are not the type of employees who will deliberately abuse corporate policies...... When given the opportunity to regain their energy, CFS patients will come through with a high quality work product. ...{T}he typical CFS patient is an intelligent, educated, ambitious, hard-working young adult.

"In the work place, the CFS patient is often a "star performer" with a good track record, who just seems to have a higher-than-usual number of what appear to be "off days," where productivity declines."

What happens if we are faced with sudden or too tight deadlines, unexpected developments, irrational requirements, too many things to handle at once? We go blank, we can't think of words, we say things completely different from what we mean to say, we go weak, may not be able to walk or lift our arms at all. We may have trouble holding things, our arms and hands shaking, and need to draw our upper arms into our sides, as holding them out at a normal angle can become impossible.

We may have trouble reading what is in front of us, and making sense of it. We may feel emotionally overwhelmed, cry, get irritable. We may feel nausea, shortness of breath, palpitations, go into a coughing fit, become dizzy, feel chest pain, bloating. Again, see the link below. We may look at all the ways the situation could have been avoided, the questionable decisions by others that put us in the pressured situation. In that way, we may be useful for coming up with ways to streamline, may be good people to listen to in order to avoid mistakes that others may overlook, as we may be motivated to keenly analyze them.

We may become more sensitive to temperature, toxic odors, florescent lights, mold in the air, annoying background music, poor layout of the environment, strident voices, being treated as if we are terrible people for having an illness. So, again, we can become good "canaries in the mine" for being able to assess what could be improved in the workplace for everyone who may be more unconsciously and subtly, but still effectively influenced by imperfections.

If a sudden deadline is presented to us under pressure, we may literally become unable to walk, lift our arms, smile, or process any information. We may read things wrongly, type like a dislexic, be unable to hold a pen to write, speak incoherently or take long pauses thinking of words, drop things, start sweating, need to sit down, even if there isn't a chair in sight. What good are we? Well, as long as we have time to plan for a deadline, we may function relatively normally, and do a great job. We simply are people who need extra consideration in the way that all people really deserve.

None of us should ideally be put under pressure, our adrenals over worked. We are the ones who show how humans should be treated, and if we aren't we can break down temporarily. Life doesn't always happen according to "shoulds." But if it is human error due to negligence, we are are good way to point out that the human body can't necessarily be pushed without consideration for biological reality.

If our adrenals are stressed like this, taking Royal Jelly, Maca, Ashwaganda, Licorice Root, or other adaptagens to help our adrenals recover can be helpful in the long run. However, eating whatever each person has found to be helpful, napping in a cool enough environment, and simply enjoying ourselves can go a long way towards being able to getting back to business. We have our bodies to thank for giving us immediate feedback about what is too much for human to gracefully handle time after time. Others' bodies may give them leeway for awhile, but eventually, they too will rebel, sometimes with a sudden heart attack or something out of the blue. Our bodies state their needs in the moment, and we can learn to treat them gently, as they deserve.

http://www.ncfsfa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=258