Good luck ... LMAO... I know this isn't funny to you, but you wrote it hillarious.

I keep my little Caleb (grandson) and yes, it's been that way a few times when Granny was hitting the high scale. His favorite come-back, "but Granny I was being quiet!"

Happy Holidays...

Hugs BD

PS Glad your cycle is over.. you deserve (and need) some PF time.

Im a stay at home dad and here's just a few tips:

1.  Get out the slow cooker/crock pot.  At any time during the morning...throw in a roast with potatoes and veggies and water (maybe some broth too).  Quick to make and you usually can put the pot right in the refridgerator for quick storage.  Makes a great meal even on bads days.

2.  I find if the hits arent way up on the kip scale, I actually do better working/cleaning during them then not.

3.  Can you hire a housekeeper for maybe 1-2 hours every other week while in cycle?  Cost like $20-$40 US  for a great piece of mind.

4.  My kids are 3,4 and 6 and they are asked to do a bit more. 

5.  Dont let CH make you think you can;t do it.  Beat the beast by living out as much of your life as possible..  Sometimes you wont be able to do it, but the more you talk yourself into not letting it beat you, the better.

Just some advice.  I struggle out of cycle but I keep on trying.

Thanks folks,

Most of the online information on CH is pretty depressing and assumes you do not have a life so does not offer any sensible suggestions to keep going with when life gets stuffed.
I know I did not care about housework whilst it hurt, if I managed to throw something together to eat and  shove it at the kids  that was a good day.  Why is it afterwards I notice the mess so much.

Melissa your right they are pretty tough and I guess I am still having to adjust from thinking I was wimping out on bad headaches to I am allowed to stop when they are that bad and insist others take the slack.

FramCire, the slow cooker is a great idea I might not want to eat when it hurts but the kids do and that will save trying to face the kitchen. I cringe at what they do eat when I cannot cook
Did not find I could manage anything housework wise this time it was one of those nasty bouts, I broke my teeth from the flaming pain but hopefully the one that usually hits in Feb/March will allow me to do some spring cleaning, most of the time I pace round the house unable to focus on anything other than it hurts.
I am NOT letting it take this university course from me the grades so far are very good. CH has cost me jobs and courses before in the past because without the label I could not use the UKs disability legislation.  Now I have the label I can use disabled student support services.

I think I may have to hand 'idiot sheets' on how to use the washing machine to my hubby, strange when he can use everything else electrical he develops a blindspot for the washing machine.

The house is now festooned with drying laundry and I cheated and bought fish and chips for the kids tonight and the uni assignment is fully roughed out.
I can feel some nasty icepicks so I think I had better stop and have an early night and keep taking diflocenac for a bit but I have managed to do more today than I have  in weeks.

It is so nice knowing I am not the only one trying to muddle through with this and keep a family together.

I am a mom and grandma. When the kids were little my husband helped out a lot. I keep a house book. It tells all the chores I do and when I do them. He goes by it. I made it for him years ago.
I had a special box I made for the kids. It was my cluster box. In it was games, and special toys. They were only able to play when them when I had a cluster.  (It will not work if you give it to them any other time.) I added to the box so it was different each time. They loved it, it kept them out of my hair. I was able to fight my cluster with out guilt.

Food well on days I felt good and they are days when I am in cycle, I cooked up a lot of things. Like sloppy Joes, homemade soup cornbread, spaghetti, make it up a bunch . Easy to fix. Just take the sloppy joe out slap it on a bun and nook it. The soup and spaghetti just put in a bowl and nook. Even Chile can be made in the crock pot.

House work, do what you can. Also make a list for your children and make them pitch in. My children did and my grandson does do chores everyday. Make a big fuss about what big boys and girls they are for helping you. They will want to do more.

Glad your better hope these tips help!

Hello Katie!

I know exactly what you are saying (I have a very lively 9 year old boy and 2 hours a day of school run driving as well as working and running the house) This is less than you cope with but quite enough with CH for me.

For what it is worth you do right to just do basics but NO GUILT! On a bad day you are probably better than most Mums on a good day, if you weren't, you wouldn't have posted this! If you deal with an autistic child, you already know you are a hell of a mum.

When in cycle, I just shrink life back to total basics. As long as  the family and animals eat and the humans have something to wear we live with everything else. I have used a contract cleaning company once when it was really getting me down and I couldn't cope but mostly I just do the "hygiene" stuff like loos and kitchen and the rest can go hang as dust is good for people!

I also give the kid vitamin chewy sweets and a lot of raw carrot and apple to make up for the fact that I let him live on biscuits, pizza and sausages when I am too tired to even think of cooking anything more complicated.

I am also truly very lucky to have the best husband in the world. He dreads it but he knows very well what a cycle means and how things progress. He does the morning school run usually as that is often just when I have finally managed to go to sleep after a night's hammering. He does as much as he can of the washing and cooking etc with a fulltime job as he often works from home so fits it around what he does. He hands me prepped Imigran injections as I am useless by the time I need one if the 02 has failed and always mess them up. After a few years of this, he now only half wakes or doesn't wake at all when he hears the 02 noise start up and then keeps an ear out for if the moaning starts, then he wakes up fully and helps.

My son is the usual 9 year old selfish but I make a treat of the fact that if I feel really awful when he gets home from school, he gets to eat the crappy stuff he wants to eat, and we both go to bed early together in our bed and watch TV (not usually allowed so a real treat)

Contingencies:
If you can get the time when you feel OK, fill the freezer with homemade pasta sauces with hidden veg. Convert them to drinking smoothies. Tesco do some brillianty pre-frozen all fruit berry smoothie packs you just bung in the blender with milk and call it a milkshake!, my fruit and veg hating kid loves them.

I am also a great believer in doing favours for other Mums when times are good, so you can call them in when you need the favour back. I have to be honest and admit I always do more than I receive, but when I need it, it helps to not feel guilt there either when others have my son for tea or a sleepover.

You are doing absolutely bloody fine, no guilt, it is a bad trait for women, just cope and congratulate yourself for doing that


Love

Wendy

Thank you all so much, there are some very good suggestions here that I will be drawing on now I have finished this term at Uni.

Wendy,
Thank you for posting. I was beginning to wonder if there were any other UK mums trying to look after kids and live life around pain.

Trying to sort out the logistics of taking O2 on to the campus with health and safety [UK fire regs] is proving fun; at least I am not studying Chemistry. 

My next goal is to see if I can manage to keep a part time job. Being told most folk who have as many heads as I do tend to give up makes me want to go * that for a game of soldiers.
My hubby is in my good books today - he ordered a very good coffee making machine for Christmas that arrived today, I was trying to crawl towards Starbucks on grungy days. If I am found drinking coffee you can beat my heads been hurting.


*ha and if I do get organized I need to join OUCH in the UK.*