energy conservation

[kathykush]

hello all I am learning to live with this but I was wondering how you all make it through the day.  What tricks do you use to conserve your strength? I make it till about 12:00 (noon) then I am tired. I dont have strength left, so  other then just knowing that I am looking for your secretes....One thing I do having 5 kids, is that I sweep ann the junk on the floor (toys) into one centreal location then I SIT and sort them by where they go.
does anyone have a trick for cooking? laundry? dishes? bathing small childern? ect??? how do you get threw your day??
ttfn kathy

[essdipity]

I live alone (with my dog), so I don't really have anyone to pick up the slack. A certain irreducible minimum has to get done, and it does, not always on a timely basis :-}

But still, I think lowering expectations is important. It really doesn't matter that we used to be practically human dynamos--we aren't now, and that has to be okay. So I've made peace with it. I've had to curtail a lot of what I used to do regularly, including my evening French class, some of my volunteering, and a few other things. I hate that, because these are things I like to do. I keep hoping that it's not an all or nothing situation, and I do plan to resume most of these things, maybe in a modified way. It's hard, though, to make commitments, as you all well know.

One thing that really does help, and I urge others to try it if they can possibly afford it. That's to hire someone to clean. I find that I can keep things 'surface clean' and looking decent 3 weeks of the month, knowing that in the 4th week it'll get cleaned really thoroughly, and that makes me feel better. I think that's preferable to having someone surface clean every week or two and never getting down to the nitty gritty.

Gee, a million years ago when I was young, I worked more than a full time job, cleaned well weekly, and twice a year took everything out of everything and really scoured and scrubbed. I waxed my car every 6 months and did every other thing it used to be considered essential to do. But over the years, and very aside from MS, I found out that the sky wouldn't fall if all that didn't happen.

Life is good.

ess

[Ufrustrated2]

we must have used the same remodeler, sorry to say. and i'll be losing this place this year. great for our stress levels, huh?

[Quixotic1]

We have bucket all over to carry things that need to go upstairs, downstairs, to the front of the house and to the back.  The whole family puts things in and the person who notices carries it to the coorect place and if someone notices two buckets , then one is carried back.

We hire the neighbor teen to help with large chores.  They will work their behinds off for the $10 or so dollars we offer.

My bedroom mess hit "critical mass" and I began on it before I got a visit from the Nuclear Regulatory Agency.  Today, I cleaned the closet, and unpacked the CDs.  Wrote a nastygram to the yahoo that remodeled our shower.  (He lied about being licensed and his shower floor has leaked since we started using it - we now know.  there is damage to the subfloor and mold.)  I also cleaned up one stack of paper.

I answered half a dozen posts here.  this is what I do when I don't want to work.  :))

Tomorrow I see what emergency stuff is in the pile of paper on the desk.

Quix

[LoveMyBostons]

I just do as much work as I can when I'm feeling up to it. I'm still getting used to not having as much energy as I'm accustomed to.

I also try not to beat myself up for having an extremely messy room. I know it'll get cleaned when I'm able to, but I know it's not the end of the world for now.

[doublevision1]

I try to get a lot of cooking done for the week ahead on Sunday.  Today I'm roasting half a dozen chicken breasts, a pot of turkey chili, spaghetti sauce, and a couple of lbs of salmon.  I don't do this every week but for some reason today I am feeling ambitious.  I'm just getting back into a fitness routine so I decided to get this done today in order to have the time and energy to work out every day when I get home from work.

My dirty little secret: I've gone from using china plates to lighter weight melamine plates (easier to wash as I have no dishwasher); and last week started using paper plates!!!! on the days I am really tired.  I know this is terrible for the environment so I don't do it every day and I do recycle as much as possible so I am hoping this doesn't make my carbon footprint too much greater!  But on the days I'm exhausted...what a difference it makes to just throw everything out after supper instead of standing at the sink just about ready to pass out.

Laundry: I bring whatever's accumulated every time I do downstairs, so I don't have to haul a big basket down to the basement.  When it's done my husband hauls it all back upstairs.

Any major heavy work outside: washing the car, shovelling snow, cutting the grass, etc. is mostly done by my husband.  I could do more than I do, I am lazy in this general area.

For the first time in my life I recently hired cleaners to come on an as-needed basis.  It is so worth it to me.  Whenever I have company or a dogsitter come to stay over, I make sure I have cleaners scheduled the day before.

I don't have kids and have no idea how I'd manage, esp when they're small.  I recall as a teenager I helped out a lot at home, with both parents working and a grandmother living with us who'd had a stroke.  Someone always had to be home to make sure she was safe, help her to the bathroom, give her her meds, and in addition there were a lot of household tasks, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, washing dishes, etc.  I hope those of you with older kids have them pitch in.  Not only does it help lighten the load on you, it is character building, so don't feel guilty about it.  : )

[shoshin]

I was going to post about this magazine issue separately because it seems to have more substance than these superficial, cheery, ad-filled, glossy patient magazines usually have, but I think there's one article that might be particularly helpful for you. Check out the article called "Meeting Mobility Challenges One Step at a Time" on p. 8-11 of the Winter 2010 issue of MS Focus at http://virtual.angstromgraphics.com/publication/?i=30882. Despite the title, it is largely about budgeting energy and setting up your environment to conserve energy use. Of course, you can only go so far with that approach, but it might give you some ideas.

sho

[jensequitur]

I think there's a natural cycle to MS fatigue - I always get tired around noon.  I used to get tired right on the dot at 3:30 pm, but for some reason it's moved.  

[kathykush]

thanks mamma of 6!!! can so very much relate. my oldest is 19 she and her boyfriend are a great help they do the spot shopping, and like you I have had to relay on the more then I had hoped. thanks for shareing its good to know I am not alone in all this..

[lovemy6monkeys]

I'm in the same boat as you most days! I've learned to get most, if not all, my cleaning done in the morning after my cup of coffee or it most likely wont get done. Then before dinner my older three (ages 12, almost 11 and 7) will do a quick clean of the living room. I've had to prioritize what is important to me. Dishes get done in the morning instead of after dinner because by dinner I'm done for the night, and I'd rather my husband spend the 2-3 hours after he gets home from work playing with the kids and not doing chores. My husband has taken over almost all of the laundry (except baby's cloth diapers, I'd rather do that so I know all the steps are followed LOL). He also does a thorough clean for me on the weekend so I start off the week with a clean house. He does bedtime routines also. I'm very lucky to have him! (we have 6 kids, so I totally understand how toys and junk seems to explode and multiply during the day LOL)

My fatigue seems to last for a week or two, and then I will have a couple good days in a row. If I can feel the tiredness coming on, I try to plan easy dinners, things I can throw in the crockpot in the morning, casseroles, spaghetti. Anything that isn't a lot of effort. There have been more days then I like to admit where I just can't do much, and dinner ends up being sandwiches and soup.

I'm planning to teach my two oldest to cook their favorite dinners this summer. I'm hoping that by the fall they will be able to do it with me supervising. That will be a big help.

Good luck!