I’m having trouble writing right now.
I’m having trouble seeing, finding my place in a source document, finding my place in my own document, remembering things, finding my place again in a source document, and so on. I’m also feeling very dizzy. I don’t get vertigo, but lightheadedness and disequilibrium.
Any suggestions?
I’m sorry to hear that MarjaE.
Are you looking for technical solutions to block distraction or something to help with the physical symptoms?
techniques and help with neuro symptoms. distraction isn’t a problem. sight going blank, trouble finding my place with source and working docs on the screen, etc.
working on paper definitely helps, but I’d like to avoid the extra steps and the extra use of paper.
There is a free app called Insight Timer. It has a lot of guided meditations in there for free.
My friend has an app called “Coherent Breathing” in there - Joe Roberson. You search the meditations in the section that you navigate to with the headset icon.
Coherent Breathing has a ton of research behind it to help bring all of the rhythms of your body into harmony - so it’s kind of calming but also kind of energizing because it’s not just about relaxing you but about making you feel more even. It’s been used a lot with vets with PTSD. It’s also really simple to do. He and Ty Ford did an amazing job with the production of it. I’d be interested in knowing if you find it helpful.
It’s also super easy - just slowing your breath to 6 breaths per minute.
What are these available for?
We’re working on developing an online course on Coherent Breathing. He put the audio out for free so we could generate interest in the course, and also just because he really wants to share it with people. Insight Timer is nice that way. So many beautiful meditations and guided relaxations available for free because people want to share.
To be honest, I never get anywhere with video exercises. If I have the time, and if I am in the right frame of mind, I tend to get away from the computer.
Anyway, here’s the short estimate of losses, which I was working on:
The Ukrainian Civil Wars killed more than 2,300,000 people from Dnipro Ukraine and Crimea, between the the new Polish and Romanian borders on the west, and the old Great Don Host in the east. They probably killed at least 100,000 more people from the rest of the former Russian Empire. My best rough estimate is 2,441,000 people. Of these, about 66,000 died in combat, 233,000 in the terrors and pogroms, and 2,142,000 more of starvation or disease.
The Central Powers’ interventions killed about 13,000 of their soldiers, plus 6,000 missing. The Entente Powers’ interventions were smaller and killed less than 1,000 of their soldiers in Ukraine. The Polish intervention killed about 69,000 of theirs, plus 41,000 missing.
Honestly, the only way I was able to combat this problem was in switching from the prescription that has a better survival rate to one that is a little lower. As far as I’m concerned, if my brain doesn’t work than it doesn’t matter that my body is still alive. Your mileage may differ. You may not have an option of switching medications. But it’s worth talking to your doctor.
medications? huh?
Are you on any medications? Because I’ve found that’s a common way for the brain to fog.
Unfortunately, I’m back on tea, and occasionally acetominophen. I’m hoping to get back off tea. But it’s allergy season right now. I’ve tried gabapentin, but at the lowest available dose, it blurs my sight so I can’t read any more, and it screws with my balance and direction.
Yeah, so maybe gabapentin isn’t the right allergy medication for you. I mean, that’s at least half of the side effects you listed in your OP.
The gabapentin was for the migraines and the seizure-like symptoms. I’m allergic to benedryl, for allergies, and have bad reactions to cetirizine and fexofenadine.
I’ve switched to an Eizo monitor for writing, web surfing, etc., and can turn down the brightness. I can also turn it between vertical and horizontal, but most apps aren’t set up for vertical, and it’s awkward to switch modes. I went for the standard proportions because it was on sale, but something which is taller in the horizontal mode and wider in the vertical would have been better.
I still prefer e-ink for reading.
I still use a mini keyboard, propped up on the left side for typing.
I still use Calibre to organize my reading and some of my writing, and a mix of ghostscript, k2pdfopt, and ocrmypdf to pre-process pdfs as needed.
I still use a mix of NeoOffice and LibreOffice.
I can’t use newer versions of MacOS, so I’m starting to migrate to Linux. For compatibility, I’m using a T2 build of Fedora, and for a more accessible interface, I’m using Cinnamon. Linux font rendering is fainter than older versions of MacOS. So I’m going to need to find more boldly-drawn fonts for readability.
Unfortunately, my visual triggers are getting more and more common. For example, non-scrolling sidebars.
Anyway, a lot of my sources, especially in translation, are vague about their sources. It’s frustrating to try to track them down. I’ve gone the other way, citing each source in full, but it takes a lot of space. I’m wondering if a citation manager could simplify things, save space, and still make sure it’s possible to track down each source. Any suggestions?
Also, should I fork things into smaller articles, each dealing with smaller topics?