What techniques has anyone with neuro lyme found to help increase work effectiveness? I am going to try to go back on Monday - after a week off of finally accepting this dx and will be talking to my boss about my reality.

I can relate. I live in constant fear that I'm forgetting something and I have many days when I feel that I just need to be in bed. Although, as time goes on, and as doc has switched meds, I have fewer and fewer of those days... yet, the cognitive/emotional just stays and stays. Grrrr.

Here are a few things that have helped me:

1. Write EVERYTHING down. If you want to remember it beyond 2 minutes, write it down.

2. Don't stick things in 'safe places', unless you write down where you've put it. I've misplaced several files and other papers just by sticking them in a 'safe place'.

3. Make sure you always have a healthy drink (and a bathroom ) on hand. One cup of coffee in the am is ok, but try to stick to water, with lemon in it, or I have really taken to iced green tea (sweetened with splenda). Anything that's sugar free and essentially caffeine free is good.
(Though I must admit that I go for that afternoon caffeine once in a while).

4. Eat a healthy breakfast and lunch. Meals with too many sugar/carbs can promote yeast which can definitely exacerbate your lyme symptoms (physical and cognitive).

5. Get enough sleep if possible.This was one of my doc's priorities. She believes that this is key. Your body cannot help to heal itself without enough sleep. She even prescribed, sonata, a milder sleep aid for me. (to take as needed) Besides, going on less sleep than needed can cause, brain fog, fatige, grumpiness even in non-lymie people!

6. Have a healthy snack on hand in case you need to take meds or if you just need that late afternoon pick-me-up (like me!).

7.Plan ahead as far as you can for work type stuff for deadlines, meetings and other things you are resposible for. Try to choose one person (someone you can trust, personally) whom you can ask to pull things together or help you out if you can't come in to work.

8. Don't talk about your illness a lot at work. People may take things the wrong way and treat you differently. They may be more hesitant to give you responsibility, they may not take you seriously and they may worry that your illness is affecting your job performance. If you plan to go back to work with this disease, you need to be committed to kicking butt, especially on the bad days.

I have spoken frankly with my superiors about my lyme, but I've been discreet.
I didn't tell everything. I only told what they need to know. I wanted to avoid unecessary worry on their part. If they ask me how I'm doing, I tell them that I have good days and bad days and that, for me at this point, the major hurdle is overwhelming fatigue. Now, I have a LOT more symptoms plaguing me from time to time, including the physical pain and tingly stuff.

However, I also have a lot of the cognitive and emotional symptoms that can be quite disconcerting to an employer. They just don't need to know everything.

They are very supportive and have no problem with me taking off work to travel to my LLMD. I feel very fortunate that I've not needed to take a bunch of time to recover from this illness. Though, I know they would support me in this if needed.

I must admit that I have not read your post "finding a balance". But I've had that same question from time to time as I work full time, teaching young children and I have a 5 yr old of my own and a 12 yr old step son who is with us on weekends. My husband owns his own business and works a lot. It's all I can do some days to come home from work, make dinner and get the little one to bed before I practically collapse.

In a few words, my house is a mess.

I'm still looking for that balance. I guess it's a matter of priorities. My house is a mess, but my work is not, and hopefully my children and my marriage are not...

I hope all this rambling helps and I wish you luck.

Know that I'm here to talk if you need it.

Pea

[This message has been edited by GreanPea (edited 08 May 2004).]

I am meeting with my boss on monday to discuss my needs. I am a relatively new supervisor and feel like I've let my team and co-workers down with my inadequate performance over the past year.

I work in a facility with a Christian mission and with people who are extremely understanding when it comes to taking care of physical and emotional needs.

Finally today, i woke up feeling the most rested yet - and hope the healing continues.

I will definitely post again if I have more questions.

by the way, the finding balance is in general support, may be at the bottom of this page or on the next by now - i posted it a few days ago.

I worked for years and years with neurolyme. I had a fairly high-stress job with a lot of deadlines, a lot of writing, a lot of editing, and a lot of people interaction.

It got to be too much for me, but I did manage for about 10 years.

The biggest issues I had were anxiety, finding a brain fog window, and exhaustion.

I learned to work like crazy when my head was clear. To do this, I had to

-- really limit office socializing (which was hard -- the only time I felt like talking to people was also the only time I could work productively).

-- Keep strict priority lists, with dates and milestones. Learn to delegate/negotiate deadlines BEFORE it becomes a crisis -- you won't be able to do the catchup stuff you used to do (like a weekend at the office) without a crash afterwards. This can be hard when you're brainfogged!

-- Like Pea said, write EVERYTHING down. There's nothing like a lyme moment when someone says, Remember what George said in the meeting yesterday? And you're thinking, Meeting? I was in a meeting?

--Show no fear.

-- Find a new way to work. You just can't do things the way you did. Enforce quiet times, when you concentrate on one task adn don't answer the phone or look at email.

-- Take time out to do deep breathing exercises. Get to meetings early and set 5 minutes aside so that you can do some deep breathing and calming, and go over the meeting priorities in advance, and what your role in the meeting is. Do the same after the meeting.

-- Give yourself more time on deadlines, and don't over commit. And over committing now is probably your normal workload before. Be very clear about what your assignment is, and do detailed task lists. The anxiety can really get in your way and make you feel like you have to do way more than is really necessary, or than anyone expects.

-- If you're brainfogged, don't sit there and stare at the computer. If you can, go sit somewhere else, calm down, and come back and do something simple. If you're in a meeting, have a backup person who can take on the agenda and move through the steps. Treat it like a training exercise for them, rather than a crutch for you. If you're in really bad shape, call in sick.

--Whenever possible, don't send email immediately. Wait for an hour or two to review them, and ALWAYS use spell check and grammar check.

-- Keep your comments to yourself most of the time, unless you're pretty sure you're in good functioning order. If you're brainfogged, you're liable to ramble or to have missed the point all together. Or get very snappish. Write down specifics of conversatons, and summarize them: "I'm going to do this and this by this date." Do checkbacks later with other people to make sure you understood all the points. A lot of the time, you may think you missed something because you were brainfogged -- and find out everyone else was confused too!

--Stress was very hard on me, and eventually did me in, workwise. But I pushed really hard, and when I started feeling a little better I'd take on more; very dumb. In the end I started relying heavily on coffee to keep going -- very very dumb. I did know better. So do everything you can to support your adrenals and get your body the rest it needs.

The funniest part about this diagnosis is that my whole life I've been creative and a bit flighty - but it's what fuels the creativity. So the big joke, since dx is - how do I know the difference?

However joking aside, I do know that I am not 'myself' and have to believe that eventually I will get better, otherwise I'll sink into that depressed abyss.

My biggest fear is that I will fail at my job. But as it is a nurturing atmosphere I think they will work with me.

Reading pea's response, about not focusing on it at work - unfortunately people do ask how I'm doing. Recently on crummy days, I'd say "crummy" - in the past I'd say fine... Denial can be so much easier.... I think I'll just say, i think as recommended "i have good days and bad days"

I've always had trouble keeping my mouth shut, but will definitely need to work on this - I've stuck my foot in my mouth worse than ever these past few months.

Did you take anything for your anxiety? I talked to my dr and he rx an anti anxiety/dep but, as we are working on upping the abx, said i should wait a week or two to see if the abx help.

Sorry if i'm rambling... this has been one of those anxiety days along with decreased motivation and focused days.

I am so thankful I found this site - it has been a blessing and a place to vent - although I wonder if it annoying to others to read what I'm saying - there's that paranoia.......

I guess we all get different things from being here.....

The best I did was on a tincture my ND concocted for me using muscle testing.

I also used some store-bought stuff with valarian, hops, and passionflower -- I think it worked OK.

Someone recently posted that theanine helped them with anxiety, and Phosphatidylcholine with brain fog. And Magnesium also, for anxiety. Haven't tried them, but plan to. There are a lot of sources for all three, but Jarrow is one place you can go.

Yoga and breathing exercises help me, too. Sleeping is really really important.

Nothing gets rid of the anxiety entirely, in my experience -- manageable is good!

I just have one other thing to say.

People are a lot more forgiving to your face than behind your back. And more understanding over the short term rather than the long term.

I don't want to do anything to add to your anxiety level -- but do not make presumptions about people's good will and willingness to make allowances. Work is a performance environment, no matter how caring everyone professes to be, and things are a little extra tense these days. People tend to be harsh in their judgements, especially where work is concerned.

So if you need to cut your hours back, and can do so, then do it sooner rather than later. Better to have a lighter schedule than get a reputation for not showing up, or not being functional when you do show up. Aim for doing a reasonable job, not a spectacular one. If you can be the grunt in the background for a while, and stay out of the spotlight, do it.

When I was reading your first post, I was thinking, yeah, yeah, what she said... that's what I meant to say!

But your last post, well, that is very important stuff.

I would take that piece very seriously, Smiles.

People ARE more forgiving to your face and for the short term than behind your back and over the long term.

That's what's behind my advice, "Don't talk too much about your illness at work." and "Find someone you can trust, personally."

This is not us lymies simply being cynical after getting burned.

It's just that it is completely natural for people who don't truly understand the stealth nature of this illness to have difficulty dealing with it over the long term. Many of us have had to work at bringing even our families around to understanding and supporting.

I also think it was a very good suggestion to cut back your hours sooner than later, if you need to.

And the part about limiting socializing during work hours. VERY true! Along the other reasons mino mentioned, I totally agree that it's important to use your energy and focus to fulfill your responsibilities while you have it.

Well, heck, why didn't I just copy mino's posts and just past them here!

Silly, silly, Pea.

Well, Smiles, you've been given a lot to consider over the next few days.

Let us know how you're doing, ok?

Today is the first day all week I woke up without nausea and could walk straight! I was actually able to put in a load of wash.

Of course, since I have a little energy - what does it get focused on ---- what else but anxiety...

Now, I feel like I could jump out of my skin.... Is this rollercoaster ever going to end????? I want to get off this LD ride - just wait till I find that tick that bought me this tick-et (hahahahaha).