User:Brettz9

On-site to-dos

 * See Brett's to-dos

My strategies for coping with CFS

 * See Brett's palliative strategies for copying with CFS (nutritional, sleep, etc.)

Phase 1: Contraction of CFS
I got CFS in 1995 when I was teaching the Chicago Public Schools. Commuting three hours total a day between the city and suburbs, facing my first year of teaching, and imo, not having administrative support for removing disruptive students with severe disciplinary problems (even temporarily), the stress built up in me, contributing to several bouts of bronchitis, sinus problems, and, as diagnosed later, my somehow getting mono during this period as well, and with the fatigue never disappearing and years of searching for answers from doctors.

I had a few short stints at teaching afterward, but my health kept interfering with my ability to continue.

Phase 2: Hodgkins lymphoma
I then went to China to teach English in college, where there was considerably less stress as well as fewer hours, but as I was leaving after two years, I discovered I had a Hodgkins lymphoma for which I was successfully treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Unfortunately, the chemo in particular left me with a much more severe degree of fatigue.

Phase 3: Toll of further work
I was forced to retrain myself in something not as relatively physically taxing, and as I had an inclination for it, I chose programming which I was able to do, with some limitations for a few years, as well as move on to managing a team of programmers, but then the stressors of the job took a further physical toll on my health, rendering me more fatigued as well as increasingly unable to physically tolerate stress and handle work.

Phase 4: Bad sleep
Although I have seen it suggested that "unrefreshing sleep" is even a requirement of CFS, in my case, while sleep of course never addressed my fatigue, I had been able to feel normal sleep until the last year or so. Taking Trazodone and occasionally taking a small amount of melatonin have helped, and I had a sleep study which seems to have indicated I will need a CPAP machine to deal with disruptions in my sleep. These may not be related, or only partially related, to my CFS, but it certainly compounds my CFS, both physically, and especially cognitively, at the very least.

Range of current health limitations
Of those who are bed-ridden, I simultaneously feel great pity (not the bad kind, as we have twisted the word) as well as a desire to appreciate the opportunities I do still have. It can often feel like "Flowers for Algernon" though in terms of seeing such a dramatic relative degree of decline (and sometimes a temporary swing back when I get my supplements like DHA working right).

My ability to exercise has been very variable over time as well. For one period, I was actually able to spend a good amount of time in the gym on the treadmills or ellipticals, though with frequent breaks.

I have so many odd gaps in what I can do, mentally, in particular. I can chat for a while on subjects I already know, but must disproportionately exert myself in any kind of academic subject matter (the kind of thing I could excel at before). I have good days where I can still do some programming, and then weeks or months where I can almost get nothing done.

What doing now
I grew up in the Chicago area, lived for about 12 years total in China, and am now living in Tucson.

I am working very gradually on some programming work with the hope that, despite it being very slow-going with my limitations, it may become commercially viable in the future.

My (non-committal) inclinations for contributions at MEpedia

 * 1) I have an interest in high-level organization, enhancing the efficiency and avenues by which people may come across information they are seeking (or, by good categorization, such information as they didn't even know they were seeking).
 * 2) I expect I do some sparse copy-editing, mostly in the course of trying to learn a little more for myself. I have a Masters degree but am not trained in pure sciences and brain fog makes learning hard, though the decrepit condition of the health and financial stability of our community may motivate me to try to gradually overcome this as my abilities allow.
 * 3) I hope to be able to offer some of my IT skills to the project. I really enjoy the collaborative nature of wikis and their propensity for fostering ever-increasing degrees of organization.