alex3619
Senior Member
- Messages
- 13,810
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, Australia
Tired and wired versus exhausted verses sleepy are all different phases in my opinion. I have experienced each of them, and more. I have seen, in an experimental program for which I was a subject, that dietary changes alone can shift these patterns, and rarely even fix them or partially fix them. I have written about this before. Though I am not saying this is about diet alone.
Over time I have also had long stretches when I was one type or another. Mind you I am talking years of one, or years of another, though they can also happen over hours or weeks.
By sleepy I mean things like mental and physical exhaustion from sleep deprivation, on top of the other ME symptoms. Also for some years I have experienced something that resembles narcolepsy, yet isn't. I would suddenly start to fall asleep, no matter where I was or what I was doing, and my body would start to slump, my head fall, and then I would have a sudden response and jerk awake. This was unpredictable, and only a nap would fix it once it started as it would repeat again and again until I had that nap.
When shifting to thinking about fatigue in cognition, its suddenly a whole other problem. I will repeat something I wrote to someone just a few minutes ago:
I have enough cognitive limitations to load a flotilla.
Some years ago I started writing a book on babble and medical failure. For most of two years now its essentially on hold.
For years I wrote detailed technical referenced blogs. Now they are opinion pieces for the most part.
I used to be a book-keeper. I have also studied university level math. I have experienced times when I could not count to 3, and anything to do with numbers exhausts my brain in seconds. I can do stuff, rarely, in bursts, but not for long.
I do not multitask. Even when I was a mild patient this was a problem. It takes all my attention to do anything. However I discovered over the years that when I am on a roll I can very fast serial task. That is, do one thing, then switch, then switch back, etc. Most of the time I cannot do this though.
I don't handle 3d geometry. How can I not see how to open an open plastic bag?
There is something wrong with planning execution. I can name all the steps in a complicated plan to do something. Yet when I try to do it ... how do I do step one? Stumped.
I love adrenaline based computer games. I also get very nasty responses to them. So I cannot play them. Which sucks.
What I do is use what capacities I have left to the fullest. As capacity changes so do activities.
I also pace and switch mental activities. Different activities throughout the day.
Over time I have also had long stretches when I was one type or another. Mind you I am talking years of one, or years of another, though they can also happen over hours or weeks.
By sleepy I mean things like mental and physical exhaustion from sleep deprivation, on top of the other ME symptoms. Also for some years I have experienced something that resembles narcolepsy, yet isn't. I would suddenly start to fall asleep, no matter where I was or what I was doing, and my body would start to slump, my head fall, and then I would have a sudden response and jerk awake. This was unpredictable, and only a nap would fix it once it started as it would repeat again and again until I had that nap.
When shifting to thinking about fatigue in cognition, its suddenly a whole other problem. I will repeat something I wrote to someone just a few minutes ago:
I have enough cognitive limitations to load a flotilla.
Some years ago I started writing a book on babble and medical failure. For most of two years now its essentially on hold.
For years I wrote detailed technical referenced blogs. Now they are opinion pieces for the most part.
I used to be a book-keeper. I have also studied university level math. I have experienced times when I could not count to 3, and anything to do with numbers exhausts my brain in seconds. I can do stuff, rarely, in bursts, but not for long.
I do not multitask. Even when I was a mild patient this was a problem. It takes all my attention to do anything. However I discovered over the years that when I am on a roll I can very fast serial task. That is, do one thing, then switch, then switch back, etc. Most of the time I cannot do this though.
I don't handle 3d geometry. How can I not see how to open an open plastic bag?
There is something wrong with planning execution. I can name all the steps in a complicated plan to do something. Yet when I try to do it ... how do I do step one? Stumped.
I love adrenaline based computer games. I also get very nasty responses to them. So I cannot play them. Which sucks.
What I do is use what capacities I have left to the fullest. As capacity changes so do activities.
I also pace and switch mental activities. Different activities throughout the day.