Linda is an adult with Williams Syndrome. In her mid 40s she’s showing one of the real signs of this condition – fatigue.
She goes out during the day. She’s not employed but, supported by a series of personal assistants, she engages in a range of activities that most of us would call leisure and she often calls “going to work”.
Linda arrives home around 4pm and she is tired.
I ask about her day and usually get but the briefest of accounts of a 6 hour day. She immediately sits in her armchair, takes out her newspapers and starts to read…
It’s not that she’s actually reading at this stage but that she’s shutting down. She’s just tired and wants to be left alone.
It’s at times like this that “the voices” are most likely to return…
Like many Williams adults, Linda has symptoms of anxiety and for her, these manifest as voices. These phantoms of her psychosis, voices that to her are very real, menacing and abusive, are more likely to start their attack when she’s tired so now is the time for her to escape into sleep.
Left to her own devices, this process of going to sleep can be a long, tough 30 minute battle with the voices who wake her up every few minutes as she tries to doze.
My solution? Pzizz!
I discovered the Pzizz as a program for PC many years ago – then it came as a piece of software that would create a customised MP3 track for you. There was a phase where Pzizz also sold small dedicated devices, like MP3 players that just ran the Pzizz software.
Now I use the Pzizz iPhone or iPad app.
Pzizz is a unique combination of calming music and relaxing suggestions – I’m sure there are some very technical words for it but it sounds sort of New-Age, a bit hypnotic, very easy to listen to without listening… and for Linda it works a treat.
Literally within 2 minutes she is closing her eyes, breathing more deeply and giving in to the fatigue of the day.
It’s ideal if you want a short power nap or to slip into a long deep sleep – it comes in two versions Relax or Energise – and the Energiser version has a very effective and very gentle wake up routine that really works for me (if not for Linda who just carries on sleeping like a babe!).
I really can’t recommend this highly enough, for you, for your friends or for any Williams Syndrome adult that you care for!