Norwegianne.net

Tag: health

  • Acceptance

    I am better. I am. I don’t get as fatigued as easily – it takes a lot more to push me to that point now than it did in February. Of course, I am also incredibly tired of the whole thing – and yet I know it is nothing compared to other people.

    But I am also better at handling it, I think. I still go out to events that I am invited to – but I may leave earlier when I reach my limit. Just getting out there feels like a huge triumph.

    I am also trying to factor in that if I attend big events (lots of people, lots of things happening.) I should not be making plans to do a lot of stuff the day afterwards. It is okay to lie in bed the whole day after I have been social and out and about. And anything beyond that – is a bonus.

    A month or two ago, I had a very full week. There was a birthday celebration, a national day celebration, an overnight trip with work, and Eurovision parties. By the time the Friday came around, I was knackered. And a trip to drive to Bergen to a friend’s Eurovision party was deemed too much.

    And on the Saturday, I was very low key, yet the Sunday saw me in bed. All day.

    I am trying to learn to listen to my body – but not listen too much. Accept that aches and pains are there, and then push it a bit to the side and deal with it later. But at the same time, I feel the need to push a bit.

    To do fun things.

    To see fun people.

    Of course, it also means that when I plan a holiday for later in August, I am trying to factor in *when* will the fatigue hit – when will the depression hit. And the solution is actually at the moment to plan that I will likely end up spending some time in bed during the day while on holiday – and then not fill up the days by set appointments. And book an apartment hotel, so I can buy food for the refrigerator and not *have* to venture out everytime I get hungry – but adapt to the situation.

    Accepting it.

  • Burnout: week 1

    One week of staying home from work. Honestly, it does not feel like it. It feels like I was at work yesterday.

    One reason for that is that the majority of the days go by quickly without feeling like I do much of anything. I  sleep a lot, and it takes me a long time to get started in the mornings. I read a bit. I watch a bit of the cross country ski world championships. I knit a bit.

    I have reblogged a lot over at Tumblr. Not that that really says anything about how much energy I have. Basically, it requires about as much concentration that I have.

    When a trip down into the basement feels like a long hike. When a trip to the kitchen feels like a long hike… I think that not going on my work trip this week was a smart decision.

    I said to my sister as she came home from work today that my head feels less foggy today than it has done in a long time. It does. But at the same time, there are also huge variations in how I am feeling just within an hour, so I am also expecting that to go back and forth over the coming weeks…

  • Burned out

    On Thursday, I went to my doctor. (We have been having bi-weekly appointments since November/December.)

    Back in September the theory was that various physical ailments that have popped up since January 2013 (at least) were depression and anxiety related. (Dizziness, nausea, headaches, tiredness, feeling down, etc.) So I have been having sessions with my GP for that.

    But after listening to me on Thursday, she said: “I think you might be burned out. And the anxiety and the depression are really symptoms of that, and not the main cause of the other symptoms which also come in burn out mode.”

    There was a theory on why it has lasted so long, and have gone in waves on how strong it has been – basically it has been building in strength until I hit the top of a wave, and then it crashes and I am forced to take time out. This time we are sort of hoping that we have caught it before a major crash, and just a minor one in the aftermath of the flu two weeks ago.

    I am therefore on sick leave until our next appointment in three weeks, with a strong admission to not do any work. I disconnected my work email from my phone.

    A planned work trip next week got cancelled – which felt like such a huge relief (not have to wonder whether I would have the energy to be around co-workers and be “on”.) that, while I initially wondered about the doctor’s decision, it made up my mind that it was the right one.

    For the next three weeks, it will be a matter of first relaxing completely, and then gradually try to fill the energy back up with activities that I enjoy. And then we will evaluate where I am and what we need to do to stop it from happening again.

     

  • Review: 10% Happier

    10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True StoryI can’t remember where I first saw the review for this, and when I picked it up, though I know it is recent, and I might have seen it on one of the many book blogs I skim through Feedly. (Amazon tells me I bought it 9 days ago.)

    I’d like to say I picked it up because of the catchy first part of the title, but I think it might be the “reducing stress” part of the title that caught my eye first. Though I certainly wouldn’t mind being 10% happier either.

    The book is 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story by Dan Harris

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  • Can 2013 be over soon? Really?

    So, back in January I posted about my health

    I have serious doubt as to whether it really was Benign Positional Vertigo – because two weeks after that, when I was at the doctor, it was suddenly Sinusitis. So I got antibiotics for that.

    While I did seem to get slightly better, I still had some recurring issues.

    I went to the optician to check if it could be my glasses (nope)

    I went to a physical therapist to work on my neck. Apparently a stiff neck can cause less blood to the brain, leading to dizziness. It helped some. I trundled along.

    Most of the time this past year I have been okay. (Very important for me to note).

    In the summer I got referred to a gynecologist to see if my PCOS was acting up. I got referred to a psychologist to see if there was anything psychological about the whole thing… We talked a bit, he gave me some coping techniques, and said that there was not much more to be done at that point as he didn’t think my headaches/dizziness were caused by anything psychological.

    I had a mild case of it back in November, just before my period. Which, looking back over 2013 – a lot of my issues have tended to crop up just before my period is due – a PMS depression so to speak.

    Only, this time the health issues continued after the period came along. And the headaches are accompanied by gastrointestinal issues (loss of appetite, small vomits, stomach ache a bit after eating) . But considering the timing of the gastrointestinal issues – it could well be the holiday season with the heavy food that started it.

    The chief problem I have is that all my blood tests and other tests are fine always. So naturally, I feel like a hypochondriac when I head to the doctor.

    The interesting thing (well, depressing is probably a better word than interesting…) is that I also had similar issues back in December 2009 though back then I blamed the swine influenza vaccine I had taken 8 days  earlier. (though four days before, I’d bragged about not having any after-effects of the vaccine.

    “I haven’t had a fever, so I didn’t think that it was a flu… I just had no appetite, no energy, (the two kind of go together), wasn’t getting enough sleep (another one for the no energy thing), chest hurt, headache and so on.”

    Though my post on my apathy from December 1, 2005 predates that vaccine. As does my posts on projectile vomiting gastrointestinal issues (and how my family is horrible and tempting me with roast beef sandwiches when I’m eating dry crackers and water) from December 2003. (And the gastrointestinal issues are probably what keeps coming back. *crossing fingers for that*) And in November 2008, I had a recurrent cold headache. In December 2008 I got knocked a bit sideways with some news, which I obsessed about to the point of feeling rotten.  In December 2010, my doctor thought that I might be having Tietze’s syndrome.

    Last year I said I was getting a case of the November blah’s and I know I do tend to get a bit lethargic around this time of year.  And I know that I usually tend to get this in January, since Christmas is over, and January is dark and dank and…

    But it may also very well be that I’m prone to living in my head and exaggeration because of that… and this time of year is excellent for being pensive and introspective.

    Things I’m thinking
    – it could be the PCOS hitting the ballpark on me.
    – Stress issues – it’s not like 2013 has been a stress free year, work wise, or leisure time wise. Stress can promote a lot of odd body activities – brain is powerful like that.
    – stomach issues could be IBS, which apparently isn’t uncommon in conjunction with PCOS.

  • Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s history of ailments

    Crown Princess Mette-Marit had her surgery yesterday, and, according to reports, came through all right.. She will have a few days of recuperation at the hospital, and then some re-training at home.

    It is just the latest in the line of unfortunate ailments for the Norwegian Crown Princess. Ever since the marriage in 2001, there have been incidents and cases where she either has been ill, or just plain unfortunate,  have ended up on sick leave, or similar.

    For a lot of the incidents, it is something that could happen to anyone of us – and most likely do. It just becomes so very visible when it is the Crown Princess, and she has to cancel stuff.

    Below are some of them. I highly suspect there are much more. Some which she may have worked through, and some that have gone fairly unnoticed because a light schedule.

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  • Mette-Marit to have surgery

    On October 8, the Norwegian royal court announced that the neck prolapse of Crown Princess Mette-Marit had returned, and that the Crown Princess was on sick leave for two weeks.  On October 21, they announced that the leave had been expanded 6-8 weeks, as she was not better.

    She is still not better and the doctors have recommended that she will undergo surgery.

    “We had hoped, for a long time, to avoid surgery, and we have waited as long as possible. She is in great pain now, so surgery is a necessity,” Marianne Hagen, Communication manager at the Royal Court, told NTB.

    The royal court announced today that the Crown Princess will have surgery on her neck to remove the herniated disc as well as release some of the pressure on the nerves in the neck. The surgery will take place this week, and the Crown Princess will remain in hospital for a few days after the surgery. The recuperation and rehabilitation period is unknown in length at the moment, and the court states that it is too early to determine if the sick leave will need to expand beyond the current time.

  • Health issues

    So, back in January I had a health episode of sorts that lead to me being off work (to a certain degree) for three weeks. The issues remained throughout the year, to a smaller/larger degree. I did lots of stuff to try to sort out what it might be, beyond the initial diagnosis, my doctor suggested it might also be Sinusitis, which I got antibiotics for. Then there was – physical therapist for my neck (tight muscles in neck might be affecting blood flow to brain, might be cause of it?), checking out my prescription for my glasses, talking to a psychologist… who concluded that I possibly wasn’t being challenged enough in my job and I should look further.

    Apparently I’m a high achiever, who isn’t being challenged enough at my current job.

    So I applied and got the gig at the university college in Oslo where I will be teaching wee potential librarians for the next semester.

    (Fittingly, this time period is also when one of my favourite co-workers will be off on Daddy leave, so we’ve managed to coordinate our departures

    (I still have my job to come back to, though.)

    But an episode again this week have me down in the dumps again and feeling like I’ve regressed somewhat.

    (they seem to be tied in with my menstrual cycle, leading to a week of feeling stressed/depressed/anxiety the week before the period arrives. *the world is ending in 50 years because we’re too many people on this planet, we’re all going to die, what is the point of anything*- type angst. Fortunately the PCOS, which also may be part of the whole depression/angsty thing, leads to longer time between periods. Just understanding that they’re tied together makes me feel better about the whole thing, because then I can block time when the expected period might be and try not to stress out about anything then, and never read the news.)

    The sinusitis also seem to have arrived back partly with sinus headache for the first part of the week. I “cured” that, by reading sad books, bawling my eyes out, which also loosened up the nasal passages to the point where I could blow my nose and was markedly improved the next day. Plus, a good cry never hurts.

    I also have the realisation that while I do enjoy my job, like my company and I love working with the people I work the closest to – I only see some of them physically once-twice a year, and (in the long run) that might not be enough to sustain my drive in the slower periods of my job. In the busier periods of my job, I love it. It is an amazing job to have. In the slower periods, I miss the direct patron contact that I got in the public library service.

    Of course, it doesn’t help that we’re facing the Ghost of Outsourcing and cost-cutting so we don’t know if there will be a library next year or not.

    (I’m sitting in an office area with the other team in my department, but my team is divided between four different locations.)

    I was at a Girl Geek Dinner last night, at the local newspaper, and as the web manager, the advertisement manager, the journalist (talked about research driven writing), were talking, I could feel that itch in my fingers again. (Might have been the Coke I drank to avoid an anxiety attack, though) To be a reference librarian. And when I got my current job, I was very happy not to be in the fiction section of the public library – so it seems there is really no pleasing me job-wise.

    Gah, so many thoughts, so little time.

    And of course it could all well be winter depression setting in.

  • Health stuff

    Monday, almost two weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling very well. I assumed it was the beginning of the flu, and went home. I stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday, and went back to work on Thursday as the flu hadn’t broken out.

    Cue: Extreme dizziness and nausea at work when I was standing up or sitting. (It’s really not that fun to wonder if you’re going to make it to the bathroom at work without fainting, I’ve come to realize.)

    I went home to Mummy (because I didn’t want to go home and be alone when I was feeling dizzy) and got properly taken care of for the weekend. By the following Monday I was better, but still dizzy and nauseated when walking or sitting.

    With an office job, it is especially the latter part that is slightly impossible to live with.

    A trip to the doctor’s on that Monday, and it seems like I had a case of Benign positional vertigo. One factor, my doctor thought, that was making it worse for me is that I’m a lightweight in terms of how much I can take before I get motion sickness normally, and so standing up or sitting have resulted in motion sickness.

    For the past week now, I have been in a horizontal position as much as possible and it seems to have improved further and I’ll be back at work on Monday. And I can’t wait to start working out again.

    Fortunately I have been fine when horizontal, and I’m currently on season 8 of Frasier (started at season 1) and working my way to the end.

    It’s very odd how suddenly the body changes a function.