I'm considering coming out of the closet.

tluvstulips-

i'm right there with ya babe.

my co-workers are always saying "huh? what?"

not only are they in a high stress, fast paced situation, they have to deal with a fibromite!!!

i just recently printed out a few pages on fibro fog and i keep them close by....i wanted to give then out last weekend, but when i went in the next day, i felt fine and they all seemed to be okay with my previous "fog"....

That's a tough one. You'd hope they'd understand and accept it but you run the risk of them holding it against you. In my experience, far too many people will accept people with disabilities right up until it affects them. If your mistakes start to cause them problems, maybe requiring them to do something again, or inconveniencing them in any way, they may decide your problem is too much of a problem. Really think about this.

I know many people with fibro and some had major problems at work once people found out there was a reason for their problems. Almost everyone will help in any way when they think your problem is temporary. Once they find out it's permanent, they get fed up. Many in my group regret telling the people they work with about their fibro.

On the other hand, I bring it up in casual conversation at work and talk about it like it's no big deal. I personally don't care if people have a problem with the way I am. It would be really hard for them to get rid of me, and if I ever become that bad where it affected my work, I'd leave on my own.

If you feel everything at work is fine but you are just uncomfortable because you have difficulty speaking sometimes, then tell. If your difficulty is affecting patients, then maybe you shouldn't tell.

You can take baby steps and talk to one person about it. You can ask them if your fibrofog is really a noticable problem. Sometimes we are too aware of our own fogginess and we think it's more of a problem than it really is.

Good Luck with whatever you do and don't burn yourself out with the extra hours.

I decided to go for it.  I felt the need to just come out with it.  I wanted them to know that my slurred speech and problems chosing the right words isn't because I'm an idiot.  I even said if it caused problems and I was to end up leaveing because of it then so be it.  I'm tired of feeling shame and stressing over how I must appear to them and btw... I made it clear that I am not looking to make excuses, I've proven I don't call in sick and the real reason I'm coming out is because I beleive it will make things easier on me in the long run.  I won't feel like I have to hide my quirks, in fact I give permission to make fun of them, but not use them against me.  Call me on my mistakes, but understand that when I'm tired I could sound funny.

I don't regret it yet, but I may and what comes will come.  My girls have braclets that read Fibromyalgia and I'm always trying to hide it from everyone.

Thank you for your help and I'll check in in the future on this topic and let you know how it turned out.

Hugs,

Tricia