Oh My Aches and Pains!: schedule

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Are You on a Schedule or Just Going with the Flow?

Welcome to another edition of the Question of the Week.

As you may already know, I started Hepatitis C treatment this past Thursday. That means I am now on a very strict schedule when it comes to taking the 12 pills a day and the one shot a week that comprise the treatment. And this new emphasis on being "on time" presents a big new challenge for me too!

You see, I am by nature a "go with the flow" kind of gal. I have never been big on detailed schedules or planning my waking time out hour by hour. Sure, I have used these tools when I was working and when activities I was involved with demanded them. But left to my own devices, I preferred to be more spontaneous and less clock and calendar driven.

Just ask my husband. Since we have been together (way before I was disabled) he's been constantly frustrated by my tardiness and my "let's do this now" and "let's do that now" approach to life.

That doesn't mean I don't plan ahead. In fact, I probably do more planning now that I ever have before because managing chronic illness well demands it. It's just that my plans often get implemented when the time is right and my body is willing and able, since my level of functioning changes every day.

But now my life is ruled by a clock. Every 8 hours I must take my medications with 20 gram of fat. I have a little wiggle room, a window between 7 and 9 hours, but I'm trying hard to stay on time. That's because I know myself. If I start pushing my medication time back, I'm going to mess up one day and breach the 7 to 9 hour window, which might be all this darn Hep C virus needs to mutate and become immune to the treatment.

Talk about pressure.

Because I knew this in advance and planned for it, buying tools like a pill box and timer and preparing myself mentally, this hasn't been too bad. At 4 days in and 80 days to go, I think I am off to a good start. I just need to stay vigilant...

That said, I know some people with chronic illness who do really well with a detailed daily schedule. For them, it is an important way the manage their limited energy and get the most out of life. I can't say I understand how it works so well for them; perhaps this is why I have not been able to replicate their success for myself.

But who knows? Maybe my new pill routine will teach me a lesson about the power of scheduling I overlooked or missed the first several times around...

So what works best for you? Does your chronic illness respond better to a daily schedule? Or do you find flexibility is a more important management tool? Either way, I want to hear what you have to say, so leave me a comment here or over on the Oh My Aches and Pains! Facebook page.

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Mission 2011: Getting Back On Schedule

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Welcome to a new month of Mission 2011 posts.

This month I want to focus on the related topics of schedules and routines, mostly because my recent increase in life stressors has almost completely and totally thrown off my own habits. Since things have finally started to calm down, it's time to get back in my groove.

When I initially set out my plans for my year-long series of posts for Mission 2011, I set this goal:

Making and sticking to a schedule of rest breaks throughout the day.

Now that is still a great goal, but I have recently realized I need to work on so much more than rest breaks when I comes to my schedule.

For example. the other day I could not remember if I had taken my once-a-day diabetes medication. You would think that since it is an injectable, I would remember poking myself. I literally stood in front of my diabetes supplies for several minutes racking my brain for recall. In the end, I decided against a possible second injection for fear that I might take too much medication and have to deal with the consequences.

Not a good way to start my day.

Back in 2009 I wrote a whole month-long series of post about developing a daily routine. One of the earlier posts in that series was Can Routine Help Me Manage My Fibromyalgia? Two years later and it seems I am in need of a refresher course on this topic.

The good news for both you and me is that can take that refresher course together by clicking this link: routine.

In the meantime, I did one thing this week which I hope will get me back on track. I call it a brain dump. I recognized I was getting bogged down by a bunch of things rolling around in my brain. So I took the time, a few minutes each day, to write down all the things floating around in there.

I've found that a To Do list and/or scheduling tasks with due date makes me feel pressured, overwhelmed and unproductive. So this brain dump was more about creating a prompt I can reference to help get me focused when I have the energy to accomplish something.

When using this prompt, I emphasizing flexibility and breaking things down into smaller steps, which works so much better with my fluctuating pain and fatigue levels. Sure, there are things in my life that have specific due dates, but I've learned that the majority of things aren't so time and date dependent after all.

I have to say that getting those things out of my head has really helped me get clearer and more focused. I am also being diligent about adding to the list whenever I hear myself talking about other things that need my attention. Yes, the list is long, so I hide it away when I am feeling tired, overwhelmed and not up to taking on tasks.

One thing I have come to accept is that not all the things on that list are going to get done...and that is just going to have to be OK.

I'll be back next week to write more about this subject. At the very least, by the end of June, I will schedule those regular rest breaks during each day and figure out a daily routine that ensures I take my diabetes medication every day without fail.