Coping with work

[dch252]

Hello, I'm David and this is my first post. I was diagnosed with Pernicious Anaemia in June. I have had loading B12 injections and ongoing three monthly injections as well as help from the psychological support service at my GP and the occupational health service at work.

Unfortunately, for the last few weeks, I have been off work ill with depression, anxiety and mood swings and to be frank I’m terrified of going to work.

I’ve been suffering from depression and anxiety and I have issues with extreme irritability, lack of mental focus and fatigue

My workplace had put work reduced hours in place which helped with the fatigue but the other issues remained. As you can imagine I’m getting quite negative feedback at work at the moment and I’m becoming increasingly anxious about things. Could anyone advise me about coping with work-based issues please?

[jarlethblue]

Hello.....I was the very same....the anxiety was horrific....unrelenting .....24/7 and kept me house bound for weeks....what stopped mine was more injections....I self inject every other day or every day.....it was incredible how it stopped the anxiety.....are you self injecting? if not I would advise that you start asap. You WILL improve. J

[dch252 in reply to jarlethblue]

Thank you for your reply.

[fbirder]

Step one - go see GP, possibly with a letter from your occupational health (they sound good) and/or the psychological support people.

Say that you believe your symptoms are caused by undertreatment of your B12 deficiency and ask for your injections to be increased in freuqency. The GP may be unaware that the guideline in the BNF (British National Formulary - your GP can access it online, as can you -bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/hydrox... have recently changed.

You may want to print this out - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... - and highlight this part of the Background section -

The symptoms may include agitation, irritability, negativism, confusion, disorientation, amnesia, impaired concentration and attention and insomnia; while psychiatric disorders that may be diagnosed in patients having vitamin B12 deficiency include depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, psychosis, phobias and dementia

[dch252 in reply to fbirder]

Thank you for taking the time to reply it’s appreciated.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

in addition to speaking to your GP about the possibility of more frequent injections you may also want to join and contact the PAS directly.

pernicious-anaemia-society....

pernicious-anaemia-society....

They do have some experience in supporting people with work related issues.

Your condition is covered by disability discrimination. This doesn't protect you entirely but does mean that it places a burden of proof on your employer to show that they have made all reasonable adjustments.

You might also want to think about talking to Citizen's Advice. They now have an on-line service

citizensadvice.org.uk/

[dch252]

Thank you Gambit62. I have joined the PAS already but I was embarrassed to ask for help The occupational health service at work have asked for a couple of adjustments but not all of them have been actioned by my manager yet. I’ll keep you advise is mind and get in touch with the PAS when I’m due to return to work in January.

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

Meanwhile, take it easy.

I have returned to work on a phased return programme: started back after 15 months (during which time I was frankly unemployable at any level) on one day per week, now on two. At first exhausting, then less so. Even travelling to work on public transport was difficult. I was allowed reduced hours too, so I could make the journey outside of rush hour. I have been very honest about my condition, how it affects me, and how I am treating it. The ones that count have been very kind. The others are not a huge part of my life and I ignore them.

These alterations allow me to continue doing a job I love and have been doing for over 25 years. I did not have to ask for what I needed changing, just let them know how I was doing with changes made.

I hope you get well enough to get back, I hope you find help from many unexpected quarters and I wish you a merry Christmas !

[dch252]

Thanks for your reply CherylClaire, it’s good to hear how you are getting on.