"Busy" is the word of the month. October, as my mother put it, is a birthday blitz. My birthday, my mother's birthday, my father's birthday, and my sister-in-law's birthday all fall in October. In addition, at least four of my friends' birthdays fall in October. While not all of these people hold birthday parties or require presents, it's still a strain on the finances. Just in time to almost recover before Christmas. I like October, as months ago, but I don't really relax until after the 24th of the month. That's when everyone elses' birthdays are over and I can start to look forward to/dread the coming of mine.
In supplements news, I'm struggling again. I now recognize the vitamin B overdose episode I had earlier as a stronger version of what I'm currently dealing with. I notice, after taking my vitamins, that I feel wired. I'm presently reading a book that specifically calls out being tired and wired simultaneously, so clearly I'm not alone over here in crazyville. Something to talk to my LENS-doctor about.
I'm sleeping... somewhat better, since starting the melatonin back up. The timed-release stuff, by the way, not the regular "puts you to sleep and expects you to stay there afterwards" type. Most types in the store just put you to sleep, they don't keep you there afterwards. Timed release (or sustained release, or whatever your brand is) come in two parts- the initial one to put you to sleep, and the second part that goes off later, after a few hours have gone by, so that you stay asleep through the night. My issue is not falling asleep, but staying asleep, so this is really the best option I have at present. I still don't feel rested and refreshed in the morning, though...
I haven't managed to get ahold of the sleep lab yet, and I haven't yet spoken to any of the three doctors to whom I directed the results be forwarded. So either today or tomorrow, I need to do that... but I also need to set up a Livestream for the wedding, and get started on the wedding flowers, and a lot of other stuff. It must be time to break out the dreaded To Do List again...
On the bright side, my potter friend got me the "vases" for the arrangements, so I'll be able to make proper prototypes! Up 'til this point it's mainly been imagination and fussing. She did give me a previous prototype, but one of the key features was different enough that I worried about using it, plus the power of procrastination is strong in me when I'm stressed.
I'm looking at "life management" type apps for autism and other special needs type situations, to try to juggle my symptoms, what I've eaten, my moods (still not always predictable), and other factors in my health. It seems exhausting and time consuming to write all this stuff down, but if I could get a decent interface to do so, and keep track of it all, it might be invaluable in managing myself. The problem is cost. So far I have yet to find anything that won't cost me upwards of $90 a year. The book I'm presently reading highly recommends Birdhouse, but they want $8 a month for their premium, which is basically the only usable mode. I was trying to work with the free version, but it's so stripped down as to be useless on a tablet. Not sure yet about the online interface, but I hate being glued to my computer.
I presume, like other dietary and symptom trackers, they don't care to offer low-income folks a reduced rate. It makes some sense- they have to pay their employees and run their servers, but I can't help but feel like the price is kind of onerous when a family or individual is already pressed so hard for cash. I'm speaking somewhat of myself here, but more of the families I helped serve while I worked at Hope Network. A sizable amount of their business came through the local Community of Mental Health, meaning low income families on Medicaid. In many cases, both parents worked full time or as close to as they could get in order to keep a roof over their kids' heads, and pay for ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) and other therapies. Autism isn't polite, only limiting itself to affecting families with resources, it affects everybody. Some of the families that came from Medicaid only had one parent that spoke English. One of my jobs as administrative assistant there was calling a translator to help facilitate clear and unbiased communication between the ABA tutors and overseers and the parents. These were folks that would- and did- drive their kids an hour one way every week morning, or 3 times a week, to get them to ABA. Through rush hour traffic. Despite the cost of gas. And the cost of losing sleep.
In supplements news, I'm struggling again. I now recognize the vitamin B overdose episode I had earlier as a stronger version of what I'm currently dealing with. I notice, after taking my vitamins, that I feel wired. I'm presently reading a book that specifically calls out being tired and wired simultaneously, so clearly I'm not alone over here in crazyville. Something to talk to my LENS-doctor about.
I'm sleeping... somewhat better, since starting the melatonin back up. The timed-release stuff, by the way, not the regular "puts you to sleep and expects you to stay there afterwards" type. Most types in the store just put you to sleep, they don't keep you there afterwards. Timed release (or sustained release, or whatever your brand is) come in two parts- the initial one to put you to sleep, and the second part that goes off later, after a few hours have gone by, so that you stay asleep through the night. My issue is not falling asleep, but staying asleep, so this is really the best option I have at present. I still don't feel rested and refreshed in the morning, though...
I haven't managed to get ahold of the sleep lab yet, and I haven't yet spoken to any of the three doctors to whom I directed the results be forwarded. So either today or tomorrow, I need to do that... but I also need to set up a Livestream for the wedding, and get started on the wedding flowers, and a lot of other stuff. It must be time to break out the dreaded To Do List again...
On the bright side, my potter friend got me the "vases" for the arrangements, so I'll be able to make proper prototypes! Up 'til this point it's mainly been imagination and fussing. She did give me a previous prototype, but one of the key features was different enough that I worried about using it, plus the power of procrastination is strong in me when I'm stressed.
I'm looking at "life management" type apps for autism and other special needs type situations, to try to juggle my symptoms, what I've eaten, my moods (still not always predictable), and other factors in my health. It seems exhausting and time consuming to write all this stuff down, but if I could get a decent interface to do so, and keep track of it all, it might be invaluable in managing myself. The problem is cost. So far I have yet to find anything that won't cost me upwards of $90 a year. The book I'm presently reading highly recommends Birdhouse, but they want $8 a month for their premium, which is basically the only usable mode. I was trying to work with the free version, but it's so stripped down as to be useless on a tablet. Not sure yet about the online interface, but I hate being glued to my computer.
I presume, like other dietary and symptom trackers, they don't care to offer low-income folks a reduced rate. It makes some sense- they have to pay their employees and run their servers, but I can't help but feel like the price is kind of onerous when a family or individual is already pressed so hard for cash. I'm speaking somewhat of myself here, but more of the families I helped serve while I worked at Hope Network. A sizable amount of their business came through the local Community of Mental Health, meaning low income families on Medicaid. In many cases, both parents worked full time or as close to as they could get in order to keep a roof over their kids' heads, and pay for ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) and other therapies. Autism isn't polite, only limiting itself to affecting families with resources, it affects everybody. Some of the families that came from Medicaid only had one parent that spoke English. One of my jobs as administrative assistant there was calling a translator to help facilitate clear and unbiased communication between the ABA tutors and overseers and the parents. These were folks that would- and did- drive their kids an hour one way every week morning, or 3 times a week, to get them to ABA. Through rush hour traffic. Despite the cost of gas. And the cost of losing sleep.
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