Monday 13 May 2013

To-do lists just got serious...

My life has taken quite a frantic pace as of late. I am having more responsibilities at work and this brings new challenges. The problem is that I am having to slowly adapt my lifestyle to support my health now. I worked myself into the ground through various personal issues and family loss. I am now beginning to emerge again and hopefully make it through without an burn out.

To help me I am utilising to do lists. I have tried them before and failed. I begin to make lists and get so overwhelmed by everything I have to do I stop looking at it. But, through discussion with my therapist we have decided it would be a good step to try and develop. Breaking my 'necessary' jobs into manageable parts. 

True story...[Source]


I have to do lists on my fridge for daily jobs to complete before I go to bed. Then I can wake up in the morning without anxiety over what I haven't done and decided to 'leave until the morning'. Whenever I leave things to the morning I can guarantee I will wish I'd done it the night before. Now that stress and anxiety over little things has gone.

Work however is a different matter. I have work coming out of my ears it feels so trying to narrow down what is necessary and unnecessary is proving more difficult. I have turned to my to do list template to try and help me focus and choose ACHIEVABLE goals for how many I will complete from list.

It is going to take some time but I am serious about this - I know I need to try and get my work/life balance in order and I think this could help me. I currently have 2 'To do lists'. One for my daily school jobs and another for all the sports obs which are specific to my coordinator's role in the school. 


My current sports to do list ... work in progress.


I am trying to cut everything down to only what is needed. I actually stopped myself from doing something today as I deemed it was 'uneccesary' - I praised myself as this is not something I do well. I am hoping this is the start of my getting my life more balanced. I can only but try!

What tips to you have for organising daily jobs?


Sunday 12 May 2013

Living with anemia...

As I spoke about in an earlier post this year, I was diagnosed with severe anaemia. It seemed the previous year had taken a toll on my body in more ways than one and something which I could normally have dealt with, without even realising, became something quite serious. After finding out just how low I was I was still in denial and continued to think I was fine. Yes I took the iron tablets but I continued to have the cloud of last year hanging over me. Little did I know at the time, anaemia symptoms are very similar to those of depression - partly why it took so long to diagnose.

I am sure many of you have heard of anaemia before, possibly even had some kind of small drop in iron levels. But the place I have been with it was not just 'a little drop'.

If you're not familiar I should share the symptoms I have had:
- Major fatigue
- Stomach pains
- Paleness
- Broken sleep
- Restless legs
- Months of illness due to low immune system
- Shortness of breath and heart palpitations
- Dizziness (I struggled sometimes to just stand up from sitting)
- Tinnitus (at my worst)
- Unwilling to socialise
- Not being able to concentrate and memory loss
- Constant cold hands/feet
- Headaches daily


Lack of red blood cells means decreased oxygen throughout the whole body. [Source]

Amongst all of this I continued to teach and I can safely say thinking you're about to faint is not a fun feeling to have in front of 30 kids aged 9-10. I think they'd be scarred for life seeing their teacher pass out. Put all these symptoms together and I have found it to be quite debilitating on my lifestyle.

I have found weekends go by in a blur of sleeping and not being able to get off the sofa. Going out with friends? That was a big no no. It meant having to actually get dressed and brush my hair. Something I couldn't face. Of course this made work difficult and I began to struggle.


Me every single day - Just  a lot less glamorous.


We've all felt tiredness but anaemic fatigue is something else. It was awful. I did wake most mornings and cry at the thought of having to get out of bed and if people asked me to do anything I would instantly get a surge of anxiety and wonder how I would cope. I almost feel that words can't describe it. Most people just say, "Get some sleep." But it didn't matter. I didn't need sleep.

The final straw came when I developed a sever case of tonsillitis. I had had it for a week but told myself it was a sore throat and continued to work and even completed two parent's evenings! When I went to my doctor she was quite rightly worried and sent me off with medication and told me I had to rest. She uttered the words, "Missy... you look knackered. You need to stop."

I think at this point I was just happy to feel like it was 'allowed' for me to have a break. 'Allowed' to feel weak. 'Allowed' to put myself first. I worked the rest of the day and then was off for two weeks followed by two weeks half term break. I rested up- the first week I slept for at least 14 hours a day at various points. The double whammy of tonsillitis and anaemia took it course. That is for sure.

I felt rested and ready to go. My iron levels had raised (nothing massive but definitely to a level which I could be classed healthier: 8 to 32), I was finished my course of tablets and back to work feeling like a different person. It was such a difference to feel like I wanted to do things and have a drive back. However, after having a blood test a week after finishing tablets, my levels had dropped back to 18. This again was not as low as previous but back to near borderline severe once again. So, after two weeks I was back on tablets and now 6 weeks later I can feel myself on the spiral again. This time round I feel so much more prepared for the iron battle.

I am hoping to blog again this week to talk about how I have been inspired to become a healthier me with all of this. Until then I am resting up and making small to do lists to make tasks easier to complete.

Have you ever had any issues with anaemia? How did you cope with the lifestyle change if it became long term?
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