| Cindi Pope 2006-05-26, 11:16 am |
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Alicia,
Hi, I am a former IBMer as well and barely made it to retirement. I can't
believe the expectations that are placed upon the workers. I really can
relate to where you were in the early 90's as well. That is when everything
got worse. I would drag myself through the day and I was also required to
travel. I have made a bed of seats at the airport with a migraine praying
to get home. I guess it is a blessing you are no longer there?
-------Original Message-------
From: Alicia Rushby
Date: 05/19/06 13:50:42
To: CFS-L@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG
Subject: Re: [CFS-L] med: combinations
Hello Cattttttt!
From your e-mail I'm not sure whether it's you or your son who suffer from
CFS. Could you please clarify and excuse my ignorance?
I was employed at IBM for 13 years and the rhythm was hectic to say the
least! And most of my best performing workmates ended up with serious health
problems one way or the other.
CFS was only diagnosed to me 4 years after being made redundant along with
a whole bunch of people in the early '90's but my last 9 years at "Big Blue"
were hellish because of CFS.
The first 4 years were fabulous. I was selected, along with another
secretary - who died of cancer some 7 seven years later - out of 220
applicants.
Working hard and seeing the results made me euphoric and I did very long
hours without regrets, so happy was I to overcome the challenges!
Then, when I started being mistreated at work, the first signs of CFS
appeared and became increasingly worse until I got to the point where I
could go to work two running days and had to stay one at home. The weekends
were devoted to "recovering" but they wouldn't suffice ...
Still, when I could get to work I was pretty good so they had no reason to
fire me. They even went to the point of doing the yearly medical check-up
twice. I believe they may have thought I had AIDS - this was round about '87
Somehow like Roger, I was hyperactive too. Somehow, because it was always
meshed with my "dragging periods" since puberty. Only that when I was happy
at work or school, I could fare well in detriment of my social life - but I
contented myself thinking I had done all my "partying" in my early youth and
it was natural to get some rest ... even if it was far more rest than normal
people would.
May be our being hyperactive is a way of compensating for the awful times
when we drag along and can barely breathe!
I mean, the joy of feeling a little better is so overwhelming, we try to
make up for all we haven't been able to do for so long, and overexert
ourselves and .... back to square one ... until we learn to "dose" the
amount of activity we can handle ...
Regarding the combination of medication we may be taking, it seems to me
each one of us is a "special" case - thus the name of my e-mail box 
The CFS "monster" hits in different ways to different people and it's
harder in our conditions to get to learn how, when and where it's going to
strike next.
Like someone said a while ago, being surrounded by sympathetic people is
most important and having this space to share, invaluable.
Cheers to you all!,
Alicia
Cattttttt@AOL.COM wrote:
Being hyperactive before the cfs is definintely a factor that would make
you
respond differently to all meds, and put you in a different category
entirely.
My son is hyperactive. Always wanted him to try the provigil, but he
wouldn't. He took meds as a kid, but went off in 9th grade and hasn't taken
the since.
Ritalin and dexadrine used to calm him down. He is one of the most
productive
people at work, it's sick. He also works when he's not at work. His brain is
always going. He's the youngest manager at IBM.
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