If you check the diagnosis codes, you will not find one listed for “Motivation Paralysis Disorder!” But I would be willing to bet that many of you with an invisible disease know exactly what I am talking about! It’s that awful phase we can slip into where time seems to pass in dog-years.

If you say “I’ll get to that right away,” that might mean four days, two weeks … infinity. Days pass and your stack of work goes untouched. Your sink is full of dirty dishes and dinnertime is in two hours. And you find yourself sitting at 3 PM in your housecoat!
It’s normal to have a downtime day now and then, but if you find yourself in a several-day stretch, or even several weeks, it’s time to DO something about it! I hope this article will give you insight for where to start looking when you are having an attack of Motivation Paralysis Disorder. Nine times out of ten, mine are caused either by a goof-up in meds, or being stuck in the house too long. Your reasons will probably be different. The whole idea is to LOOK for the reason, don’t give up until you find it! It’s too easy to just blame it on the disease – throw it all in one big basket – I do that all the time too. But the disease isn’t going anywhere and we need to LIVE. We need to ask ourselves these questions to search for possibly more specific causes:
1) Have my medications changed? Missed putting a pill in the pillbox for a week, put more than one of the same pill in the pillbox accidentally, added a new med, etc.? (Due to brain fog I have done ALL of these without noticing and recently it bought me a ride in the flashy-lights bus from a mix-up with prednisone!)
2) Am I eating anything worthwhile at all?
3) Am I depressed about something?
4) Am I in too much pain or too much suffering with my disease?
5) Am I sleeping properly?
6) Do I feel like I’m in total overwhelm? Like doing anything is insurmountable?
If the answer to any question turns up a problem, you need to take action now to correct the situation! Call your doctor if you need help. Get help from this forum. Talk to a friend or a buddy with the same disorder. But ACT!
If the problem turns out to be nothing life threatening but just what I call “sludge brain” – my brain is moving like mud and I have no energy – there IS one thing that can help a tiny bit. At least it helps me, and hopefully it will help you. Here are the easy steps. I’ll even do them with you:)
1) Stand up, or if you are unable to stand up, sit up straight. Wherever you are. Open your eyes up wide, take deep breaths, and raise your arms over your head and get a good stretch.
2) Now go and get in the bath or shower. Use some luxurious aromatherapy if you have some. Have a nice soak. Wash your hair, shave your legs, file your feet, do some personal pampering, whatever you need.
3) Pick out a NICE outfit – something you’d go out to the store or movies in – and dress all the way to shoes.
4) Now look around your surroundings – how many days have you been in here? Have you been out at all? Can you get out of the house for a while? You can hopefully at least stick your nose outside and get some fresh air. Even that can help!
I have sometimes found myself stuck in the house for 10 days or more without noticing it was happening. That is NOT good for me. Sometimes getting dressed and getting OUT will cure “Motivation Paralysis Disorder” for me. It just depends on what’s going on. I hope you can find what works for you!!
Written by Sheila Talley © 2005, www.butyoudontlooksick.com