letsfeelbetter.com

As if the politics weren’t bad enough this year, as you sit down to your family dinners or get ready for your holiday parties–you’ve got one more worry on your mind–sorry, scratch that. Wonder about whether or not I’m really safe driving to the bakery with how tired and dizzy I am and get to the party, dance through the stomach cramps, eat through the migraine, talk to everyone and their cousin’s mother’s Maybe it won’t be like this every year, but if you’re having a flare that you know is going to last into the holidays–then set your (and your family’s) expectations more realistically. ‘Tis the season for running yourself ragged trying to please everyone, feeling utterly exposed to the judgement of others, and just wanting to throw the holiday parties in your own imaginary fairytale home, where your private bathroom awaits and you can rest comfortably on the couch with the fire going, everyone having a great time as your legion of maids, private chefs, waitresses, and security guards get everyone fed, sedated by good wine and chocolate lava cake, and home to their own couches before 9PM.

Companies want their employees to be as functional as possible on the job and under the Americans with Disabilities Act, they are required to make reasonable accommodations to help you do your best despite any disabilities. Here are some on-the-job accommodations you should feel open to asking for if you feel they will help mitigate the effects of your symptoms on your job performance: * This way, patients can test their ability to find income while receiving full benefits—regardless of whether they make more than the SGA amount for a none-month period. Even after completing the nine months of a work trial period, patients can still receive SSDI benefits for any month where their earnings fell below the SGA level for a period o 36 months.

So during my downtime I tried to find ways to entertain a brain that was addled by pain medications when I couldn’t use the rest of my body to do anything useful. Entertain yourself with shows you won’t necessarily care if you need to recall at a meeting of the minds a few weeks later. Don’t dive into serious work or work-related tasks before you’re ready. The last thing you want to do is send in an incoherent document to your boss that made perfect sense to you while you were in the OR’s recovery room.

Last week I travelled to Nashville to attend to the 2018 Dysautonomia International Conference. I was there to speak at the conference, do a book signing, network, see all my friends and fellow POTS patients…