you need rest to heal!

Hi Stacy,

I read your post and was tired!

It’s important to undertand that nerves only heal when we sleep. Being constantly fatigued is a building block to a severe crash where you won’t be able to do much of anything.

I have been dealing with chronic illness since I was a child and CIDP for abt 4 yrs. I have a wonderful understanding and trainable husband who has grown tremedously over the years. We found times when going to counseling together really helped us to understand each person’s perspective and fears regarding my health and it’s effect on our family.

Other things we have found that help:

We all say “please” and “thank-you” frequently to one another throughout each day, for everyday things like: working hard, picking something up and putting it away, putting dishes in the dishwasher, etc

Hubby and son bring dirty laundry down to the basement. I will bring it back up clean one load at a time, if I am strong enough, but on weaks days the others carry and I say “please and thank you”!

We have a place where clean laundry lives until it is folded or worn. When my girls were home, we used the living room couch, as we lived mostly using the family room. Now we use the girls bedroom since they are grown and only visit.

We use the cell phone to share chores and split up lists so that the person nearest a location can do shopping or pick up in that area.

When my children were younger, we would have “private time” usually abt 20 minutes. The children would have to do a quiet activity on thier beds. I frequently set a portable timer which I geave to the kids so they wouldn’t be asking when time was up. I would then sit in a recliner, and close my eyes. I would often be asleep in seconds and feel refreshed after my catnap.

We did hire someone to clean the house every other week. It was money well spent. It also kept us all more accountable to “pick up for the cleaning person” and took some of the stress off of me to be nagging or cleaning up after others. If my children did not have their rooms ready they were grounded the following saturday until they cleaned dusted and vacuumed thier own room, as a penality for wasting money… there was not reduced cleaning fee.

That’s what I can think of right now. I just started my IVIG for this week, and my brain is loosing it’s focus.
I hope others share what has worked for their families, and we all learn some new hints.

Erin