Coping Strategies

For the most part, my fibro symptoms are under control at the moment. I've hit on the right combination of meds, supplements, diet, and yoga that allows me to sleep fairly well, alleviate the worst of the pain, and have better mobility.

The one thing I still struggle with are the cognitive difficulties - fibro fog. In my personal life, it's more of an annoyance to those around me when I don't remember things or lose track of where I put things or just zone out sometimes. Thankfully, my husband and mom are very patient and have learned to look out for me in these areas.

But at work it's more than an annoyance. Inattention, inability to concentrate, and disorganization can add up to poor performance. And since I'm your typical over-achiever personality, and one who worries a lot, I live in fear that I will mess up something really bad one of these days. Because of where I work, that could be a very bad thing.

I'm having to change my mode of operating - not relying on my formerly fantastic memory and doing less multi-tasking. I can't carry everything in my head as I used to do. It's like creating a new persona for myself. For a while, I mourned my old self. Now I'm accepting the way it is and looking for ways to cope.

It occurred to me that some of my cognitive issues may be similar to adult ADD issues, especially when it comes to focusing on work tasks and managing them. So I'm currently perusing several books on the topic and finding a few useful suggestions that I'm going to implement. Not that there is any connection between fibro and ADD, but if you can learn a good technique that helps you, I say go for it.