Tired?

Although you shouldn't notice this, I may fall asleep in the middle of this post. Please excuse me; it's nothing personal. It just seems to be a side effect that has started kicking in and becoming more noticeable. Although I think the term "narcolepsy" sounds a little too serious for how I am affected, I seem to share a number of symptoms. My sleep pattern is certainly up in the air at the moment. I've been awake, on and off, since 2:45am today, for example, which is certainly not my usual sleeping pattern. Similarly, I have found myself drifting off to sleep in the afternoons, sometimes while sitting at my desk in the office! It happens completely accidentally and when I do sleep, I'm still sitting up; I don't flop over my PC or anything - my back stays straight. It happens completely beyond my control and luckily I don't start snoring!

I'm seeing my neuro soon, so I shall discuss this with him. Apart from that, I feel great!

Have I told you this before?

Yes, the title is deliberately ironic. Hopefully you will have noticed that my blog postings have generally been very positive and I don't whinge very often. Tonight I am going to whinge, so feel free to skip this post and wait for the next dynamic and exciting... no, I'm not fooling anyone, am I? Well, okay, the next honest and truthful story of my experiences.

But back to what the title of this posting refers to: Short-term memory problems. My memory never was particularly good, but it's noticeably worse. I am trying to counter it by writing things down more, or to confirm whatever someone may have said in email, but it's not a perfect way of remembering things. For a start, trying to recall whether you wrote something down or not can be a challenge - and then where you wrote it down is a complete puzzle. I know. I've been there.

The trouble is, not everyone understands your problem. Not all of them are malicious about this, but some just cannot relate to the problem. I have found that some people seem to think (subconsciously) that you have deliberately forgotten information they have given you, or that you're just plain stupid. I would love to point out to them that it would make my life a lot more comfortable and happier if I could remember everything. That I am jealous for their recalling abilities.

Now I have a lot more fun. I have a digital voice recorder (a 'dictaphone') which I pull out at meetings, explaining that I have a poor memory but don't want to slow the meeting down by having to write everything down. It's amazing how much more understanding they become, and how much more calmly they approach the content of the meeting. And how quiet the meeting becomes, generally...