It hurts to talk

Good posts come in waves I suppose. I have a number of other CFS and/or Lyme bloggers that I follow and sometimes they articulate things so much better than words I could ever find. I linked to CFS Warrior yesterday b/c of her link to an article on how to help a person with CFS.

As I mentioned on my post yesterday, sometimes talking and interacting socially is more than exhausting; it's really physically demanding. So, today I am linking to Sue's blog Learning to Live With CFS. I really encourage you to go read her entire post, but I wanted to point out a few things that I can't find the words to describe like she has.

Like Sue, I've always been an outgoing social butterfly, but lately I find myself more reserved ... sometimes just b/c I don't feel well and other times b/c I'm trying to space out my effort. As in the article yesterday, sometimes other things take priority -- like playing with littleA or doing the laundry. I'm no longer spunky & sassy, organizing group training rides and hosting parties. As Sue says, "I think that's one of the cruelest things about CFIDS...that social interaction of any kind is so completely exhausting."

However, sometimes I really crave the social interaction (us extroverts get our energy from other people after all), so I just have to go for it. Like Sue, it's not unusual for me to find a chair when I arrive - many people find it off-putting but it's a CFS reality. As Sue says, "but then I was out there by myself, with everyone else chatting while standing around in the kitchen. I got my glass of ice water (whoopee!) and went to the back deck to find Ken .... no mingling for me."

"I felt sicker and sicker as the evening wore on, but Ken and the boys were having fun, and I was enjoying the company. Dinner helped my energy a little, but then my stomach bloated and cramped - must have been some hidden dairy somewhere that I didn't notice. When we finally left at about 9:30, I had a headache so severe that I felt nauseous from the pain. I somehow managed to walk home and just collapsed into bed. I felt so bad and the headache was so awful that I couldn't fall asleep, until I finally took an Ambien. Monday, I woke with a severe sore throat, achy and exhausted, and had to spend the day resting. It seems so cruel and unfair a price to pay for just sitting around and talking to people."

It seems so cruel and unfair a price to pay for just sitting around and talking to people.

I think if more folks understood the price we pay for socializing, they'd be a little less hard on us when we don't plan spontaneous get-togethers like we used to and when, " ... I can't even enjoy a glass of wine, yet I end up with a worse hang-over than I ever had in my old party days. It's as if I've lost a part of my identity."

As Jean Mosher says from the article yesterday, "The spirit of a person never really leaves them, whatever their physical condition," so party on in spirit, Sue, party on.