Talking while standing up -- how to deal with it?
 

One of my on-going challenges is to remind those I live with that I cannot speak while I'm standing up; doing so causes me to become rapidly weaker and collapse. It puts an enormous strain on me and results with my being worse overall.

I have repeatedly and patiently reminded those I live with that I cannot do so, yet they continue to forget - am I being unreasonable? I try to deal with it by immediately sitting down when they begin to speak, but this leads to them getting angry with me, the stress of which also makes me worse.

The whole thing is incredibly inconvenient for everyone. If I want to prepare something in the kitchen, I must immediately sit down every time someone comes in as they start talking. This delays my time in the 'noisy' environment longer, exacerbating the drain on my energy and resources.

Do others have this problem and if so, do you have any handy tips on how to deal with it? It is such a strain for everybody involved, but I stand no chance of getting better if those around me aren't able (or willing) to adjust.

wild_cat

I get tired if I stand and talk. That is pretty inconvenient since I lecture for a living. I got a tall chair to sit in while I lecture.

As far as people getting mad at you because you don't want to talk to them while you cook them food, well that is annoying. They need to chill out. If you let it make you mad, it will make you feel worse. Can you just keep working and ignore them? Or answer in monosyllables? Or give them work to do?

My husbands grandparents had a nosy neighbor that used to come over to their farm and criticize the way they did everything. The garden was too weedy. The fence didn't look right. The leaves needed raking. Granddaddy decided to quit taking offense at it. Instead, when the woman came over and started criticizing, he handed her the rake and told her to help. He actually demanded that she rake. It didn't take long for her to find another way to entertain herself.

wild cat, I keep stools in the kitchen so I can rest while cooking and doing the dishes. I do not think anyone should take offense of sitting on a stool.

Try not to take it too personally, I know it is hard. But if you do not have MG all these little quirks of compensation or accomodation is hard for the non-MGer to understand. The average person does not understand what it is like day after day to function on less than 20% of your strength, or that after you do the dishes you feel like you ran a 20 mile marathon. Unless you live it, you can not fully understand.

I would try not to get angry or keep explaining yourself and instead focus your efforts on how I can accommodate or adjust the situation to avoid the issue. I have found my life to become a never ending series of accomodations and adjustments. My energy is limited so I focus on how to make my life easier.

kathie

I think you are probably a very nice polite and considerate person. You are not being unreasonable if they are around all the time.
Loved ones do forget – and often! And if they are very close to you perhaps they are also in a little element of denial - making accommodations is tantamount to acceptance!

Look how this member from a neighboring forum tackled this….

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...letter+normals


For different reasons. I personally could not stand long whilst talking. When with my best friend at work, I would lay on my office floor and talk to her whilst she was sitting on a chair. She understood, as did another close colleague. Other times when caught off guard with a question in the corridor I would always hope it would be something short. Suddenly and unpredictably I would sense there was only 45 seconds until trunk muscle extinction and instead of listening I would be looking desperately around for something to lean on or hold on to!

I´m sure it´s difficult to explain when you do have a diagnosis and sometimes probably a little more difficult when you don´t.

Good luck on this one – it may not always be this way – But your health has to be prioritized over the feelings of those you live with at this time.

.....Something like that :)