counselor
On Saturday I wrote down a bunch of names of counselors that are on the list of providers for our insurance. I decided I was just going to go down the list and ask if any of them worked with patients who have chronic fatigue.
***
I called one place and had to leave a message and then got another machine with my second call. I wondered if I had called the same place twice and so I called the first number again and I ACTUALLY GOT TO SPEAK TO A REAL LIVE COUNSELOR on the phone. Not even a receptionist.
***
I asked if there was someone in their office who worked with people who have chronic illness, specifically chronic fatigue. It turns out the woman I was speaking to was the person whose name I had at the top of my list.
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I said I spent more time with the counselor I went to before explaining my illness and symptoms... and she cut in and said, "than doing the actual work." I said, "yes, thank you."
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She is familiar with what she calls the "all too common illness of Chronic Fatigue." She almost sounded upset that so many people are suffering with this.
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I have an appointment for next Monday. Unfortunately available appointments this week were in THE MORNING. (Didn't sleep until after 5:30 a.m. Didn't get up until 1:30 p.m.)
***
Now, I have to figure out what my goal for counseling is.....hm....that's a tough one. I have a week to think about it. I need better control over depressing thoughts.
***
Hopefully, I will find out the results of my blood work tomorrow.
***
carry on
***
I called one place and had to leave a message and then got another machine with my second call. I wondered if I had called the same place twice and so I called the first number again and I ACTUALLY GOT TO SPEAK TO A REAL LIVE COUNSELOR on the phone. Not even a receptionist.
***
I asked if there was someone in their office who worked with people who have chronic illness, specifically chronic fatigue. It turns out the woman I was speaking to was the person whose name I had at the top of my list.
***
I said I spent more time with the counselor I went to before explaining my illness and symptoms... and she cut in and said, "than doing the actual work." I said, "yes, thank you."
***
She is familiar with what she calls the "all too common illness of Chronic Fatigue." She almost sounded upset that so many people are suffering with this.
***
I have an appointment for next Monday. Unfortunately available appointments this week were in THE MORNING. (Didn't sleep until after 5:30 a.m. Didn't get up until 1:30 p.m.)
***
Now, I have to figure out what my goal for counseling is.....hm....that's a tough one. I have a week to think about it. I need better control over depressing thoughts.
***
Hopefully, I will find out the results of my blood work tomorrow.
***
carry on
Replies
Doctors office just called. EVERYTHING came back within normal range except Vitamin D.
I\'m supposed to be happy, right? I\'m normal. What?!
There\'s vit D in my calcium supplement and my daily vitamins. I guess we\'ll see if this extra pill helps at all.
I\'d go to the menopause group to check out the insomnia issue but apparently my hormones are ALL WITHIN NORMAL RANGE. I\'m a freak.
This crazy, mysterious, absurd illness. Man-o-live it\'s insane.
\"I need better control over depressing thoughts.\"
Ok. Don\'t jump into this counseling stuff until you have your hormones straightened out. It might turn out to be a waste of energy, time and money.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/01/10/peri.menopause/index.html
As a CFS long-timer, I\'m NOT saying that you don\'t have things to be depressed about. But, it sounds to me, like if you weren\'t so sick, you still have *desire* to want to be who you were, and to do the things you want/used to do. That\'s not someone who is depressed. That\'s someone who\'s sick.
AND... during my slam into peri, it was \'sudden onset and severe\', my thoughts were evil and violent. Not who I was AT. ALL. There are dents in our kitchen floor to prove it, from me throwing cat food plates. I kept saying to myself, literally a mantra, \'it\'s just hormone chemistry, it\'ll pass\'.
But it didn\'t. Not until I had medical hormone intervention.
You are sleep deprived. You are sicker than usual.
You have a right to feel depressed and grieving.
Just make sure, you\'re treating the right thing if you decide to go to counseling.
Weebs
Ok, your comment posted while I was typing.
What time of the month did you have your bloodwork done? it\'s supposed to be done after ovulation, the two weeks after your period.
And like the article says, the hour your blood work was taken, you may have been \'fine\'. The hour you got home, it could have swung to Looneyville.
And you\'re NOT a freak. My hormones came back fine 3-4 months after I started BHRT, but I was NOT fine. Then two months later, I was. Then another month, I was NOT FINE.
Don\'t give up.
I\'ve thought about going to a counselor just to know how to deal with the grief of my own seemingly lost life (at least what I expected I would have) and positive ways to think about this.
Katy, I am so glad you found a counselor that seems to A) even acknowledge CFS and B) can see you relatively soon!
Vit D I believe does help. I started it a year or so ago and attribute that to helping me stay awake in the afternoons at that time...
Oh and hey ya freak! LOL JUST KIDDING! I call myself \"Abby Normal\" ( from is it Young Frankenstein?
My labs LIE..at least that is what I THINK! LOL
I actually requested a SED rate lab ( which shows inflammation in the body) from my last ( gag spit pitouey) GP because my right eye was the size of a ping pong ball at that time ( later a golf ball!) and the lab test came back \"normal\" despite the fact that I DID have inflammation in that eye and was diagnosed later with the Orbital Pseudotumor! So i don;t always trust lab results..sadly, as you would think they would be pretty accurate...
As for a goal for counseling...mine is TO GET THERE! UGH!
be well!