Good to know

I am definitely a night owl and have been ever since I was born. My Mother told me that I kept her up every night, probably for at least my 1st year or 2 and 1 of her doctors (I was born in the US but have lived the majority of my 71 years in Lancashire/Cheshire) told her that I had "my nights and days mixed up" except no 'interventions' ever changed this! As a teenager I could sleep for elongated lengths of time but as I grew older, I seemed to naturally develop a more 'normal/acceptable sleep pattern, receiving between 7-8 hrs. Presently, my sleep pattern has "gone awry" which is probably due to having MS (for 44+ yrs) although I gratefully remain largely independent. I have increasingly & unintentionally, been recently falling asleep, while watching television, and this REALLY "throws a big spanner" in my best intentioned goal of establishing a better balance between getting enough sleep and never possessing enough energy to achieve anything I'd planned for any particular day😅! Currently I have NO problems in quickly falling asleep but incessantly waking up feeling so cold❄ , shivery⛄ , my limbs being so spastic (stiff/rigid) & my mind feeling MORE confused than it is when I'm wide awake🙃, my reluctance to getting up has become 1 my biggest battles! I WILL "win this" and wishing everyone here, continues to win (or least better manage) yours💗 x

I cared for my dad when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009 for 11 short weeks; although I had "cared" for him since my mum's death in 2001, by doing his washing, ironing, cleaning and he came to us for a meal on Sunday. I had help from the local palliative care team (via my GP surgery and the local Sue Ryder hospice, they were in the main, brilliant; with the odd one or two who didn't really care, breezed in and out without doing anything, although they wrote in the diary that they had done a lot!) I made myself ill caring for him, letting my own care go by the wayside. I couldn't do it for a job, it was easy looking after my dad because I loved him, the intimate care didn't faze me, but doing it for a stranger would be different, no matter how much I got paid!

Now, my daughter is my carer and I feel so guilty sitting after the bits that I can do whilst she's still doing for me and she's in pain herself. We muddle on together, without any other outside help... for now.