Anyone about? *feeling depressed*

novagirl

Good luck with it Jenna! I'm sure your boss will be understanding. Most of my days I reckon I think through cotton wool so you aren't alone there. lol

I'm off to bed now but feel free to PM when you need a chat. Take care x

Jenna

Thanks novagirl - and I'm a natural blonde too which doesn't help with my cotton wool! lol

Thanks for letting me rant on - much appreciated xx

spora

Jenna wrote: »

** edit - case in point - my continued sentence was supposed to read and therefore I'm concerned that I won't explain properly etc. I've thought of trying to make up a fact sheet to explain the symptoms etc but I'm not sure if that's overkill - I don't want to be seen by him as attention seeking. He's normally a really decent guy but I'm just a little paranoid of being judged/treated differently!

No, absolutly do this. Chances are your boss wont really know much about ME. A factsheet will not only help you to explain everything but it will also be clearer for your boss to understand as he can read it and re-read it. So you can say one part of ME is that X which means it makes it difficult for me to do Y at work. - sorry, cant think of any examples, i dont really know much about ME.

I suffer from narcolepsy and my family didnt understand it as they have never encountered anyone with it before. They thought it was just something in my mind that i need to just 'get over'. So i did research on the internet and made a fact sheet with the stuff i felt they didnt understand, e.g. narcolepsy is a biological issue to do with chemicals in your brain so i cannot just 'get over it'.

I think your boss would probably appreicate you telling him

flossy_splodge

Hi Jenna.
Don't worry, it's the english condition to expect to feel 'judged' by anything that relates to the mind, including tiredness!
We are our own worse enemies really as if we all shared more, it would become apparent that many many of us have difficulties we feel unable to share and hence suffer alone unecessarily!
I find this site to be full of such excellent people it renews your faith in the compassion of our fellow men (and women!).
Just share and as you have already found there will be people to offer support and comfort.
Grab all the support you can.:o

Have you considered that if your boss doesn't know you have ME and you tell him he may be delighted? :T
Shall I explain why?
It counts as a disability and employers are required to employ a certain number of disabled people, so you may in fact be helping him fulfill his quota without having to take a chance on an unknown future employee.
Good eh!!
Relax and enjoy the lovely people on here.:A

Jenna

Thanks spora I will have a search online then and just try to explain the basic facts of it. Then in the meeting I can explain a bit but then also give the list to him.

I did mention in my last review about the workload being high & that it was stressing me out and that this was bad for my health - I explained I'd been pretty sick during college and that it was an ongoing condition which I managed pretty well for the most part.

So he does at least know that ... I just never said what particular condition or how it still affects me.

The worst thing for me right now is that I know I could make myself really stressed out and get a nice hit of adrenaline/stress and then feel perfectly fine for a few hours & get lots and lots of things done. But then it will only make things worse in the long term so I know I can't/shouldn't. But it's just so tempting when I have so much I should be doing / want to do & all I CAN do is lie on the couch - SO bored and frustrated.

I've only ever met one person with narcolepsy - it was when I was working as an assistant on a training course in London. I think someone sat with him to wake him up as otherwise he'd miss bits of the training or something but I'm not 100% sure - it was several years ago & I wasn't directly involved! I've never thought it would be something you could "get over" though - the definition of it is involuntary sleep I thought?! - and besides sleeping itself (from my perspective) is so irritatingly boring ... speaking as someone whose symptoms include insomnia and hypersomnia (sleeping for a long time e.g. 12 - 15 hours at a stretch). I mean, come on, there's gotta be something more fun to do than sleep!! Wishing that I had the energy for said "fun things"...

Jenna

Hi Flossy,

Yes there are so many wonderful people here I am surprised but very happy at how many lovely replies I've received - even at this time of the night!

I hadn't thought about the "quota" of disabled people being employed lol I'm not sure if I'd really "count" as I'm a contractor but thanks you made me laugh at the idea of managers sitting round trying to decide how to employ more people with disabilities!!

xx

spora

theres different degrees of narcolepsy. I dont (luckily) randomly fall alseep. But i do have excessive daytime sleepiness. So to them it just looks like i am being lazy because i spend most of my time in bed. If i do anything, even just walk to my local shop i will need to nap afterwards.

'Wishing that I had the energy for said "fun things"'. I know exactly what that feels like

Jenna

I sometimes need to sleep in the day - I rest a lot too - like if I take a shower / bath I'll lay in bed wrapped in my towels first to rest before drying myself off. I've been known to fall asleep though too!

It's SO annoying because the "outsider" just sees that you appear fine as you can walk to the shop - not the repercussion that that action then has on your life.

Yeah it sucks huh? I want so much - to run my own business, to travel, to own my own house - and it all feels very far away tonight

spora

Yeah i know what you mean about everything feeling so far away. I am currently studying with the OU so become a counselling psychologist. I used to have some problems and i used to see a counsellor and it is honestly one of the most exhusting things. I think its all the mental concentration- so i do wonder if i am actually going to be able to be a psychologist.

Sorry, ive hijacked your thread and started moaning

Im going to bed now, i cant stay awake any longer.

Best thing for you would be to go to sleep too. If your having trouble sleeping because your thinking about all this stuff try the old counting sheep trick. Or what i do is try and do really hard sums in my head. Its so damm boring it sends me to sleep in about 30 secs (on the rare occasions when i cant sleep).

Anyway, good luck. Keep us updated on how stuff goes with your boss

edit: sorry if it doesnt make loads of sense, my brain has already fallen alseep. Night!

Jenna

Well done on studying with the OU & taking steps towards the career you really want - I think you could be a psychologist. My psych doesn't have health issues but even so she takes breaks between patients to write up notes, have a mental rest etc. Maybe you could do the same but just take a nap too?

Lol don't worry about it at least now I'm not the only one moaning! :P

I'm just looking online for some info for the fact sheet but I will go to bed very soon. I'm not great at maths (failed my GCSE!) so I'll try that lol.

Thanks for the chat xx