Fibromyalgia and full time employment. - Andover Fibromyal...

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Fibromyalgia and full time employment.

ShonaP82 profile image
4 Replies

Hi everyone. I am newly diagnosed to fibromyalgia but believe I’ve had it for quite some time. I work full time and my job is quite demanding. I work in the care industry and when I have no staff it’s down to me to cover the work myself. Unfortunately this means that for the last 3 months I have worked nearly every weekend plus my normal office duties Monday to Friday 9am til 5pm. I also have 3 boys at home that rely on mummy a lot. I find it hard to let people down so when my body is screaming at me in pain, I carry on because I don’t want this condition to defeat me. I know this is probably the wrong thing to do but I Want to keep my life as normal as possible for as long as possible. Anyone got any suggestions on how to handle the pain and a full time job? I’m already on morphine patches, naproxen and amitripyline. Thank you in advance.

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ShonaP82 profile image
ShonaP82
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4 Replies
Admin_AFMCG profile image
Admin_AFMCGPartner

Welcome to the AFMCGUK Community ShonaP82 ! :)

This is a common problem and many find it hard to juggle full-time employment whilst living with a chronic illness like Fibromyalgia. I know this isn't necessarily what you wanted to hear but the demands of work and trying to listen to your body seem to clash, you can often get into a push & crash cycle (or boom & bust) which makes the flares 10 times worse.

There is no easy answer I'm afraid and I truly wish I could say there was. I understand your need to keep going, provide for the family and to keep fighting Fibro.....I really do. However, this is not good long term and the care industry is very financially stretched, this undoubtedly is causing great demands on you & your workload.

You could try speaking with the GP about other options to try in regards to medications, see recommendations via link below;

ard.bmj.com/content/early/2...

It might be also worth checking bloods for any Vitamin deficiency like B12, Vit D as they seem to make Fibro symptoms worse.

However, you may find after visiting this avenue that you are still struggling and you need to consider a lifestyle change. You may need to look into reducing hours and claiming for ESA and/or PIP to help your income. I think to be honest it all comes down to what work/home life balance you have whilst maintaining this demanding job. Is it consuming more of your time due to hours at work and recovering on time off? If so, your desire to keep going could be making the Fibro symptoms flare more as you are just doing to much living with Fibromyalgia.

It is really hard to go through this journey of accepting you cannot do what you used to be able to do due to illness but sometimes you need to look after your health first and foremost. As I wouldn't want you to completely crash and find yourself in a worse situation. So,maybe you need try being completely honest with yourself at some point in the future. It's not giving up, it's about adapting your life to get more out it and pacing to do more with your family :) I have tried to be as honest as I can to try to help advise you and hopefully you'll understand what I am trying to say.

As a newbie, I've noticed you haven't locked this post to the community and this means it is open to be read by anyone on the internet. Locking it means that only the first few lines can be read, here's the link to do this;

healthunlocked.com/afmcguk/...

I sincerely hope everything works out for the best

Emma :)

Poppydoris profile image
Poppydoris

Hi Shona, sorry to hear you have been recently diagnosed, I commend you on your dedication to work, however I used to have a successful career, I was an area manager driving all over different counties, unfortunately I had no choice in the end but to give in, I was in Southampton hospital having some tests for my poor memory, I was falling asleep during these tests, they informed me they had a duty of care to report me too DVLA as this was a common problem, my chronic fatigue meant I was falling asleep behind the wheel. I had been drinking energy drinks to try to stop this, my doctor advised me I was putting strain on my heart to work harder for longer. It was a wake up call I then tried to address situation with the owner of these companies and he started asking questions to which I could no longer remember, basically ended up have mental breakdown & needless to say didn’t return to my old life.

I now work part time in care industry and feel much better until I push myself too far.

This is just my experience in trying to juggle full time work & fibro, others may manage, depends on type of work, own body, however I wish you well in whatever you decide sorry i couldn’t offer more helpful advice, only listen to your body.

Chinn04 profile image
Chinn04 in reply to Poppydoris

Hi.

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 18 years ago and like yourself worked fulltime, I too worked in the care industry. After spending much of career on the road as an assessor and supervisor I found my Fibro... started to affect my ability to do my job to my full ability. I then worked as an administrator for the same care company. Like you have mentioned I too suffer from Fibro fog and constant pain. Although I devoted 40 years to the care industry I found myself in the position of having to leave my job. I had to use stairs to get to my office which became a struggle for me, although I did mange with time, I had memory problems, trying to retain information although I kept records, sometimes pulling the right words forward. I appreciate this made it difficult to do my job professionally but after having devoted my entire career to the care industry I found myself put before a disciplinary committee because a client had complained I asked to call her back due to having a period of forgetfulness (she called it ignorance). After all those years I was so shocked I resigned. Please do not allow this to happen. Speak to your manager if you are struggling, they can arrange an assessment and agree new terms and job description arrange more breaks. I wish you well and hope you have a better team supporting you, my employer was not a believer in Fibromyalgia apparently it is mind over matter. I appreciate that you posted some months ago but I hope you are managing the pain and other problems that go with Fibromyalgia. Maybe it is time to put yourself first, we all have to look after our wellbeing.

Yvonne1964 profile image
Yvonne1964 in reply to Chinn04

I had to go part time 4 years ago, and now having to change my career after working in the health care for 18 years. What are careers that youve changed to?

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