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exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2015 4:05 pm
by Bats&Hummer3
People without RLS say they're grumpy when they don't sleep well. Just imagine 0 minutes of sleep with severe RLS when it is out of control and the meds are no longer working. It affects perception, mental processing is slowed, mood is incorrigible, energy is completely lacking to do the required job and housework of the day.... oh... did someone say exercise regularly? Meds are always needing adjustment - costly. I've had RLS for a long time and I have a good sleep specialist.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2015 6:58 pm
by Polar Bear
i can empathise with all you say.
Unfortunately I don't have a good neurologist or sleep specialist.
My GP admits he knows little about RLS and he is guided by information that I provide.
A case sometimes of the blind leading the blind !!
However, I am fortunate that here in the UK we have free prescription medications.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 4:56 am
by Yankiwi
I agree with Bats that RLS affects practically everything. It's the pits.
In New Zealand prescriptions are practically free—$5 for three months of the ones that are "funded". The catch is that not everything is available, for instance oxycodone.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:09 am
by badnights
The effect of poor sleep - even when medications are "controlling" the symptoms - is devastating. It's a life changer. It's the difference between generating a scientific paper and being unable to even read one, let alone do original research. It's the difference between doing all the things on your to-do list with time to spare, and being unable to do even one of those things. It's the difference between smiling easily when things go wrong, rolling with the punches, gracious acceptance, and falling apart at the slightest downturn, unable to even think of how you might deal with one simple thing, let alone dealing.

It sneaks up on us, too; it fools us into thinking maybe we were heading down a long slow decline anyway. I've been lucky enough to have it back off from time and time, so I get a sniff of how things used to be. And I know, then, that I am failing at all the things I try to do only because the Sleep Thief has robbed my brain of acuity, of the ability to think. Not because I am getting old or was declining anyway; no, only because of this damn disease that sucks the life out of me while I go on walking and talking as if I still exist.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:21 pm
by Polar Bear
badnights - what a really good explanatory post on the effects of lack of sleep.
This is why 6 years ago I was happy to retire from work - when just a few years previous I could not contemplate the possibility of full time retirement.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 3:29 pm
by Aipulu
Dear Abby,

I have been living with my companion for 20 years. We are constant companions and have grown very close over the years. I can't imagine living without her.

But I am questioning our relationship, telling myself that am giving too much of myself and getting so little back. I am obsessed with her but compelled to meet her every need. She is moody and demands my attention doth day and night. I feel that I have no choice but to give into her every demand. Yet the more I resist the more she demands. I have little time or energy to enjoy the things that used to be me joy. I am emotionally flat and depressed; I take my SSRI daily. I am often tired and exhausted, having spent many nights dealing with the painful sensations that define our relationship.

Yet I am powerless to leave her. How did I get myself into this.mess? My dreams have become nightmares. What should I do.

Restless in Paradise

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 3:44 pm
by Rustsmith
Thank you Aipulu. This topic (an the entire board for that matter) rarely have enough humor. At first you had me wondering what this was and where it was going. But I really enjoyed it once I figured out what you were saying.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 3:21 am
by Aipulu
Thank you Steve. I was up all night with you know who and wrote this about 5 am. Then I went to bed not knowing if what I had written was funny. In fact reading it now I realize how it would take a while, if ever, to figure it out. Glad you did.

Richard

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 4:49 am
by ViewsAskew
I figured it out, too, but only after a double read :-). Then I had quite a giggle.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:00 am
by badnights
Well, if you guys hadn't responded first, I'd have been replying in all seriousness :oops: :lol:

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:22 pm
by Polar Bear
I am glad of the previous comments...... I thought we'd got a post on a wrong thread...
Like badnights..... I took it seriously and at face value :oops: :lol:
Clearly, as Steve comments, we need to find and get used to a little humour.

Excellent Aipulu.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 1:46 pm
by fuz_mind
Polar Bear wrote:badnights - what a really good explanatory post on the effects of lack of sleep.
This is why 6 years ago I was happy to retire from work - when just a few years previous I could not contemplate the possibility of full time retirement.



Betty - how did you get to the point of being ok to retire from work? could you share your experience

I'm struggling with the idea of part-time work even though my neurologist has strongly recommended for it

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 12:25 am
by Polar Bear
fuz_mind - I was coming up to the age of 60 which was when I would get my Government State Pension. I never ever planned on fully retiring at 60 feeling that I still had plenty to offer as an employee, enjoyed my work and had a social side with my colleagues. This was 2009. The State Pension is quite modest and as I had no work pension I thought that working ... say... 2 days per week would be a good compromise both in keeping my brain going and supplementing my state pension.

It was the time of the recession. I worked in a local Lawyer's office and as houses were not selling well the cash flow in the office was greatly reduced. We were all put onto a 3 day week. This meant that all of our staff got to keep a job (albeit reduced hours) - when most lawyer's were paying off staff.
My employer still could not keep operating and had to make some staff redundant. I was made redundant, my finishing date to be 2 weeks before my state pension started. Of course I received a redundancy package but because our hours had been reduced to a 3 day week this reduced our redundancy payment.

Upon hearing that I was being made redundant with 12 weeks notice I wept buckets. Firstly, upset that he was 'letting me go' and secondly, I actually wanted to work about 2 days a week. It had never been my plan to retire fully. The awful effects of lack of sleep and RLS symptoms 24/7 which were not properly controlled were something I'd lived with for so long that it didn't cross my mind to just retire.

Thus retirement was really forced upon me.

I was in the fortunate position that my husband has an excellent work retirement pension.

Bear in mind that I had been working full time, and then for about 9 months on a 3 day week, whilst getting about 3 or 4 hours sleep nightly. Often I had no sleep and was still in work. Didn't have one day off sick in 15 years. Often felt foggy, spaced out and found it difficult to learn new systems.

And so I retired.

I took to it like a duck to water. Best thing ever that I was made redundant.

Then another local lawyer phoned me and asked me would I do a couple of weeks for them. And I did. It was a different software system and whilst learning the new system I was thinking.... why am I doing this ???
A few weeks later I was asked again to provide some locum cover and did so.
After another few weeks the lawyer rang me again with the offer of some work. It was 9.30am and she asked could I go in that day. I was still in my dressing gown, having coffee, and had slept little the previous night. Why do a 90 minute drive round trip in rush hour. Yes I would be paid quite well and indeed it was reached to me by hand, no tax etc deducted. But I could manage financially without it..

That was the day I said No, that I was now fully retired.
No work pressure and no clock watching.

Are you hoping to leave work altogether, can you manage financially without employment. My husband has an excellent work pension (that cost his a great deal of money while he worked) that took away the worry from me of dropping a salary and going to a state pension only.

Fuz - is this the information you were seeking. If I haven't answered your question fully please ask further. I am happy to tell you anything you want to know.

Re: exhaustion provides no reserve to deal with stress

Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:47 am
by leggo_my_legs
badnights wrote:The effect of poor sleep - even when medications are "controlling" the symptoms - is devastating. It's a life changer. It's the difference between generating a scientific paper and being unable to even read one, let alone do original research. It's the difference between doing all the things on your to-do list with time to spare, and being unable to do even one of those things. It's the difference between smiling easily when things go wrong, rolling with the punches, gracious acceptance, and falling apart at the slightest downturn, unable to even think of how you might deal with one simple thing, let alone dealing.

It sneaks up on us, too; it fools us into thinking maybe we were heading down a long slow decline anyway. I've been lucky enough to have it back off from time and time, so I get a sniff of how things used to be. And I know, then, that I am failing at all the things I try to do only because the Sleep Thief has robbed my brain of acuity, of the ability to think. Not because I am getting old or was declining anyway; no, only because of this damn disease that sucks the life out of me while I go on walking and talking as if I still exist.


This. Whole. Thing.

Exactly.