What job do you do?

[tennissmithy]

I know this is a stupid question because everyone is different but I was wondering what sort of jobs everyone is doing, if they have returned to work.I am a primary school teacher who is in school at 7.30, don't get home till 6 most nights and then work most evenings till at least 10 and always a Sunday. I have a Saturday off. I returned back to work full time but since being off in October with these symptoms I'm starting to think that a 9-5 job would suit me or part time teaching. I'm thinking as much as I love my career, I really don't need and can't handle these hours and pressure. My trouble is beacause I still have all my student loans etc, I can't realy afford a pay cut so I don't really know what to do.

Sorry to rant on and thanks

Laura

xx

[Karen]

Hi Laura,

Before the warning bleed, I was a Personnel Manager or HR Manager....

I left the job, because of the stress and the GP recommended that I did and I was only too happy to oblige!

A couple of years later, I went back to work for the same company, temping at their head office and filled in for hols etc ..... mainly HR admin, wages and general office stuff etc.

Just before the 2nd bleed, I worked as a temporary branch administrator and then worked in marine engine sales.

As you know, I haven't been able to return to work ...... if I had my choice and when I'm able to return to work, I would take a job that had far less hours and less stress (and I didn't have to take the worry home).

This probably doesn't help you at all....

[Skippy]

Hey Laura

My hubby and I run our own graphic design company. He does the artworks and mock ups and I do the admin and the accounts. I work 9 to 3.15 cos now i pick my duaghter up from school, whereas before I worked 9 til 6 every day. it is stressful cos when it's your own company you can't just walk out of the door at 6pm and forget all about it. I'm constantly stressing that clients won't pay on time and making suer that I pay my suppliers on time. It's the organisation that I can't cope with anymore. I wsa so organised everything ran like clockwork but since the SAH I find it difficult at times to keep on top of things.

I'm just waiting for my lottery numbers to come up so that we can retire to Penzance and enjoy our lives and daughter.

I admire you though, being a teacher. Depsite what people think I know it's not an easy 9 - 5 job (I used to work at a private school in Nottingham).

TTFN

Sami xxx

[Janet]

Laura

I work in a call centre for DWP (Child Support Agency) since returning to work last June I gradually increased the hours I do. I started at 20 have made it to 30 but am quite happy to remain at that as I know that any more would be too much for me now.

Janet x

[rince]

Hiya, As a governor of a local primary school (I help out during the week as well) I can understand how hard it must be for you, In other jobs the people around you will be able to "cut you some slack" but in teaching the people around you are as demanding as they come. I hope you have an understanding Head who is in a position to give you time in which to recover. Quite a few teachers "job share" in our school which still gives the children the stability of regularly seeing the same people and knowing who is in front of them, is this a possibility with you?

Scott

[tennissmithy]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Karen- its makes perfect sense! Just wanted to get a feel for how many of us have decided not to do extra hours in the evening or added stress from their job.

Sami- I understand it must be stressful when running your own company but at least Paul (hoping i've remembered your hubby's name) understands your pressures as well and can help on a bad day. At least he can give you a cuddle to make you feel a bit better. The people I work with tend to have the attitude that they are tired/ headachey as well. I want them to see me as 'normal' if thats the right word but I also want them to realise the days I feel really poor as well! Does that seem selfish of me?

Janet- Yeah thats what I did last time but before I knew it I was working 7.30 till at least 10p.m. again.

Scott- Yes that might be the way I have to do it. I probabaly could job share but I know part time wages are not enough to pay off the bills. So trying desparately to work out how we would afford everything.

Thanks again everyone

Laura

xx

[rince]

If you are a member of the union ask the rep about the insurance schemes that they offer and see if you can claim loss of earnings or medical retirement under those policies.

Scott

[Cal]

Hi,

Jim is the head electrician, that is the title of his position. (Andy P. got a chuckle out of his title). Which means he is the boss of electrician's at his place of employment. He works at Youville Hospital which is in Massachusetts. It is a rehab hospital.

Jim has a long way to go before going back to work but he is optimistic that it will happen someday.

Cal

XXX

[GrahamG]

I'm an analyst programmer for an Investment bank in the city. I normally leave for work at 04:45 and get home at about 18:00 - 19:00. The job isn't so bad it's the commute and crowds I have problems with, I've definitely lost my confidence in busy places. I've had to change my working style a little, any meetings have to take place face to face, via telephone and it goes in one ear and straight out the other. I've also found that my concentration span has shrunk, it's a real struggle some days to stay on track. My boss is understanding and I can work from home anytime I feel unable to get into the office.

I returned to work 3 months after my SAH/clipping, I realise now that I went back to early and set my recovery back

It is important to feel as if you are returning to normal ( though things are never back to how they were) and work plays a large part in that process but not at the expense of your health.

All the best

Graham

[Vivien]

I am / was a self employed bookkeeper for small businesses and also repaired computers.

Nearly 9 months after my SAH I have not returned to work as I am unable to concentrate for long enough and don't trust myself not to make loads of mistakes in a job that needs accuracy

[Sasbo]

I was Head of PR & Marketing for a company that provides Radio, TV and Live Entertainment to British Forces overseas. I have given up work now as my job, which I loved, involved amongst other things, a lot of overseas travel to wherever we have service personnel - Germany, Cyprus, Falklands etc. as well as hostile areas, ie Afghanistan, Iraq (not necessarily travelling via BMI or BA and staying on bases, not luxurious hotels!). It was a fantastic job but stressful and, although I have now left, if I hadn't I still don't feel that I would be ready to return to such a level.

Sarah x

[stephen]

Hi All

I am/was a support worker. I support people who mainly have drug addictions to manage the withdrawal and support them to build a live without the addiction. I supported people to build the skills they have to manage a home of their own.

I was just about to start as a manager of a home three days after my sah. I have supported people who have a mental illness for about ten years.

I loved my job but i don't think i will function at the level i have done in the past. It does make me sad but still glad to be here.

[Karen]

From the job descriptions on here or my interpretation, it looks as though work stress has featured in quite a few of our lives .....

Vivien, I'm also not sure whether I would make mistakes if I returned to my old job ..... if I did, those mistakes could involve more than a few quid, so know how you feel.

[stephen]

Yes Karen I agree.

What a clever bunch we are. It is good to be alive and resting. I wasn't good at resting previously.

[Karen]

Hi Stephen,

Well it's really interesting to know what people did before the SAH and nice to know that we all had fully functioning brain cells prior to it! I'll definetly be choosing a different career path if or when I get back to work ..... I don't want to be on the end of any more stress!

I can empathise with you, I've never been able to rest ..... before the SAH as soon as I tried to put my feet up, my brain would kick off, even when heavily pregnant ...... Think that the SAH leaves you with no choice but to rest up, unless you want to feel the consequences, which can be a steep learning curve .....

[stephen]

Hi Karen

Perhaps at times like today, i do feel very fortunate to look back and as you have said see that i / we have worked to a certain level.

I do worry about people who cannot have the insight to cope with the current situations they face because they have not dealt with stress as we have done previously.

I am very happy to understand that any difficulties i face after sah are not my fault but a wee scar for me to remember that life is for living.

I am feeling a bit rosy today.

[Cal]

Hi Stephen and Karen,

As I read both of your posts I realize this is how Jim also was.

Jim could not sit for long periods without jumping up to do things. Most times physical things.

I always told him he had to take it easy. With all that has happened we have spoken and thought his SAH might have been a warning sign that it was time to slow down and take time to "Smell the Roses".

Cal

XXX

[bogbrush]

I work for an industrial automation company and have the rather grand job title of "senior systems engineer" which just means I've been there longer than anyone else and know how many sugars everyone has in their tea The job sometimes involves long hours and working away from home. I returned to work 3.5 months post SAH because I thought I was ready. My wife said I wasn't ready and she was right (as usual ). Even though I worked short hours for the first few weeks, I took a step back in my recovery. I'm pretty much back to normal now, but tiredness and fatigue affect me more than before.

Regards

Keith

[Guest Portia del Carmen]

For my sins (and largely other people's!) I'm a barrister. I deal mainly with family law - divorce, children, domestic violence, etc. I'm self-employed, like all barristers in independent practice.

The job is all I've ever wanted to do - I get paid to argue for a living, after all! It is stressful though. I get to deal with people who are going through the worst time in their lives and many of them have social, medical or psychiatric problems. Judges can also make day to day work quite difficult sometimes!

I have to do a lot of travelling, reading often lever arch files of papers in cases, which often get delivered at the 11th hour (or later) and the work itself is high-pressure. I tend to leave home between 6 and 8am and return between 6 and 8 pm. I always do preparation work on Sundays and each weekday evening.

On top of all of that, family law barristers are definitely not the "fat cats" the press likes to portray us as! Most cases I deal with are legally aided and in terms of the number of hours worked on each case/ hearing, I can end up being paid less than the minimum wage sometimes. Quite often we're not paid for months after doing the work.

Being self-employed means that there is always pressure to do the maximum amount of work this week, in case next week is barren - this inevitably leads to a lot of work-related stress.

There are upsides, though. If I'm not in court or preparing, my time is my own, I can take all the holidays I need and have an interesting job (remember the arguing for a living bit!) which involves meeting different people in different places the whole time. I am also doing the job I announced I wanted to do when I was aged 7!

Added to that I am now an expert at interpreting doctors' reports on head injuries and neurological issues...

I went back to work part-time 3 months after my first SAH, and full-time after another 2 months. After the 2nd SAH, I was back part time after 6 weeks and full time after another month. This may all have been too soon, but from my point of view it was better for me to be doing something rather than convalescing, which I'm not very good at! The SAH nurse from the National Hospital was horrified to find out how quickly I went back, but the consultant was much more laid back and simply advised that I should do whatever I felt I was able to.

I do still have to be very aware of the amount of stress I'm put under with the amount of work. It's easy to get carried away and over-worked and somehow you never manage to see it happening until it's already happened.

Wouldn't change any of it, though, to be fair. I'm certain my husband would change the stress/ pressure levels, though! I think we're all different in terms of what we can cope with work-wise, and my own ability to cope changes from day to day. I am now much better at making sure I get regular sunny holidays to help. Not that I was ever bad at holidaying.

All in all, I have to remember that I have been so very and consistently lucky with my recovery. Sometimes it takes a little while to remember to remember that!

[Louise]

Wo! Wow! you make me tired just reading what you do, but well done you on achieving what you have you had a goal well done.......

And to do something you've wanted to do since the age of 7 thats an achievement in itself I reckon.

Take care

Louise.xx

[tennissmithy]

I was thinking the same! It sounds like a fab job though and I like the idea of holidays when I fancy! I love my teaching job, just don't like the fact that no let up at all when feels especially worse when feeling under the weather.

Laura

xx

[sue]

Hi all,

my job before I went into" involuntary retirement" (because of quite a severe car accident) was that of a carer support worker (ie:care assistant) in a small residential home very close to where I live.

The people I looked after were vulnerable people with various mental health issues, ie: schizophrenia....bi-polar, Dual diagnosis....etc.

I got into mental health work because my son was diagnosed with serious mental health problems and after visiting him in hospital for quite a long time, realized that these lovely people, Matts friends on the ward (his co-patients) were a forgotten people, ones that the world tended to shut their minds to!

So I wanted to do what I could to help.....the car accident was only one of the reasons I had to discontinue my line of work, more pressing became the fact that my husband had serious physical problems and then I became a "mom" figure to my then 9 year old grandaughter (Matts eldest)

However, even though I couldn't continue in my paid employment, I still, hopefully play a significant part in the mental health system, putting my views, alongside many other carers across to the proffesionalsd in the mental health field!

Hope I haven't gone off at a tangent here!!

Love Suexx

[Slim]

Hello there Folks,

I lapsing well behind here I had the grand title of Carers Support Worker, (Social Work ish) I would work with Carers i.e Sues situation above, Ashamed to say I've been procrastinating helping put info up on the Carers Section. I find since the SAH I've lost a lot of confidence, patience and concentration. (Really try not to think about work type things)

I was extremely stressed before the SAH its taken 14months but only now can i see the benefit, I am indeed taking time to Smell the Roses and its great.

Don't know if this helps, I often thought about changing my job, but ultimately thought I couldn't afford it. Loans etc. (On paper we can't)

But Now don't have a choice, its not a bed of Roses, my wage stopped last September, do have my Husbands Wage and Incapacity Benefit.

I realise now I'm happier than I've been in a long time but we can cope, have money for the big things and thats all we need.

Good Luck with deciding what to do.

Aine xox

[rampmama]

I run a home based toy business. And I raise 3 children. And I can't imagine how you can stay awake during school hours with 16 children all needing you. I am very fortunate that my business allows me to earn an income while I stay home. I only leave my house for about 5 hours a week to earn income outside the house. I wish I could offer it to you because school teachers do wonderfully at what I do, but I can only offer the business toother Canadians. But if there are any US citizens who want some info on what I do, I could refer you to some great peopl in the US. Check out my website at http://www.lindathetoylady.com

I am so fortunate that my friends with Discovery Toys are here. I had my SAH two days after returning from Brazil. My girlfreinds took my daytimer and did all my work for me for two months while I was laid up. They kept my income up for two months so I could have an income. I don't have any disability plan with my insurance and I couldn't have done it without them. So lucky.

Linda

[Louise]

Ok so first thing to say before I go on is not all employeers are like mine

I worked as a telephonist receptionest for a shipping company it was also the Sweedish Consulate there too, it was very busy.

It was import/export - chartering - & cruse liners calling into port.

3 months after the SAH I got a letter from them saying that because of the close of the Swedish Consulate (the consual general turned 65) they were re-structuring & doing away with the reception.

My boss wouldnt take Ronnie's calls & Ronnie still feels very angry about it but for me life is too short I wouldnt have been able to return to work anyway.....4 days later I was back in the hospital with meningitis.

Aine hope you get benifit too on top of the incapacity benifit......

L.xx