Now I'm starting to wonder if I should maybe cast a wider net in terms of work for this year. I can't work full time... there have been a few jobs on offer around Sydney that could have been great, but they were all full time. Part time Music teaching is an immensely specific career to pursue and there's just... no work. So I'm sort of relying on casual work, and there's hardly any of that around either, probably until Term 2. So... I'm not sure how I should approach this year. I'm considering speaking to someone, a career psychologist or something, about the possibility of registering with a disability and whether that could yield any benefits, financial or otherwise. I'm so amazed reading other narcolepsy blogs, about people who still work full time, demanding jobs, falling asleep here, there and everywhere and manage to keep going. I don't know how they do it... last year really wore me down, and I had days off, days where I only taught one class, and brilliant kids who hardly stressed me out at all.
In the meantime, I've downloaded a few chapters of this book:
Sleep disorders medicine: basic science, technical considerations and clinical aspects, by Sudhansu Chokroverty, 2009.
It has chapters devoted to certain subjects I've been interested in for a while, such as nutrition, symptomatic onset, memory consolidation and the characteristics of normal sleep in comparison. I guess I just feel so frustrated that this stupid condition is holding me back so much, I want to find out if there's anything I can do, besides sleeping and taking drugs, to make myself deal with it all a little better. I'm particularly interested in the nutrition side of things... I've had specialists for some of my other conditions tell me there's not really much I can do, but I think that's a load of crap. While I'm not keen to go all buckwheat, soy milk, mung bean ahoy, if there are things like snacks, or even advice for good times to eat to maintain high energy levels or something, I'd be willing to give it a go.
So, while I'm waiting for that magic phone call, I'll do some research, and report back to you, my trusty readers. I'd also like to say THANK YOU so much to the people who have written to me recently... I love getting feedback, of any kind, and I write back to all emails. I'm certainly not a doctor, but if I can offer advice based on my own experience that can possibly help someone else, then I will. Let's all be tired together!