I made it back to work for two weeks. At the last day of the second week, I had to drive a particular make of bus. By lunchtime (8:40 in the morning) my left shoulder ached. By 14:20 it hurt a lot, by 17:00 when I was home an resting, couldn't lift it and I was in tears.
Hot and cold compresses and Tramadol I went to bed. The Sunday it was a little better, Monday saw an improvement, but when I tried to drive to work, it let me know that it wasn't happy.
So back to GP and was signed off for a week. Saw my own GP today, off for a month. Occupational health reassessment on Friday just gone, they say 6-8 weeks. Start hydro on Friday this week.
I am not a happy teddy bear and am sulking.
Jacqui
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JacquiThomas999
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Sad to hear that Jacqui and I know it must feel really disappointing for you. However , there's maybe a bit in there about matching our expectations of self and the imposed limitations of our condition
I say that understanding how we can feel fit and ready, especially in our heads and then find things we could normally do just impact greatly and wipe us out.
I am still on a phAsed return of three days and I did a couple of late visits/ Assessments which involved less of the physical and more mental activity and by the time I got home I could barely summon the energy to move and felt sore all over ! I learned I was nowhere near ready to manage the fuller aspects of my work.
Hmmm - maybe I've just blethered a bit there but what I'm trying to say is don't feel to disheartened , your on the right road, it's just the matter of a little more time. Be kind to yourself and rest up.
Don't let the sulk last darling,allow one day for sulking then get on with the job of resting and recovering so that you can go back to work. Hugs darling.xxxxx
It's really hard to strike a balance , last couple off years before I retired I was like that off back breaking down and so on for a couple off years until I had to admit defeat last July ,when I realised I just wasn't fit enough anymore and was medically retired , it took me about 6 months to come to terms with it at 51 but now I'm fine and plan my day accordingly, I don't think we realise just what a battering our bodies are taking with this disease, hope you feel better soon xxx
It sounds to me as if there is something else wrong with your shoulder as well as RA. Your shoulder should loosen up with activity, not stiffen up. Have you had investigations done on your shoulders other than looking for RA?
It does not seem safe to me to be driving, let alone driving a bus, when you have RA in the shoulders because you do not have any control. I think you may have to start looking at other types of work.
Even though my shoulders have now resolved, the problem with my hands means I cannot drive and it is not safe for me to do so. They slip off the wheel and I can't grasp the wheel.
In my rational moments, I am come to the same conclusion. But I love my job, I am hoping that the hydrotherapy will help and that I get back to doing what I love.
I am not the only driver that has difficulty with this type of bus.
At the moment, can't even face sewing. So I am bored out of my mind (or I would be if I hadn't just taken codeine!).
I don't feel it is safe. You need to get your shoulders checked to see if there is another problem there. RA would definitely loosen up with movement, not stiffen up, and the pain definitely reduces.
I would appeal because you know your body better than anybody else and RA is for life as there is no cure they should know that, I was a lgv driver and had my PCV licence and lost both because off the grip test so I only have my car licence but I won't be driving for too much longer as I'm having trouble with the physically and mental health side ( i.e. Planning and concentration side off things
Sorry that you are suffering with your shoulder so much.
I thought I'd reply to let you know that when my shoulder was similarly painful with R.A., I had a steroid injection into the shoulder joint.
It did give me a lot of relief but I was warned not to over use the joint whilst it felt better. I sympathise with you re., the pain and frustration of being off work. I sincerely hope resting your shoulder this week does the trick. xx
Fortunately occupational health have encountered others have had similar problems with the bus that I can't seem to be able to cope with. I managed 40 footers around small roundabouts, through sets of bollards and down tightly parked cars.
Sorry submitted before I'd done I've had RA since 2005 had a great manager he asked me what he can do to help so I asked him if I could only drive the newer buses and everything was ok in 2013 I had a partial shoulder replacement on the left I have since this damaged the shoulder driving a defective bus (in hands of solicitors) and have a b***h of a manager now but have dropped my hrs to21 a week see if they could accommodate changing buses over or try on a different route fingers crossed take care
Occupational health have highlighted the type of bus. Other drivers in other depots have had problems and they have mentioned it in my report. I start hydro on Friday and hopefully that will strengthen my shoulders and that my boss accepts reasonable adjustments of not driving that type of bus. We can but hope.
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