my doctor says I have health concerns according to MRI on my brain....been off work fo 3 months now..and am thinking of early retirement .

[dunedinScot73]

I am nearly 59 now,,,,,what should my next move be.

[meandmypbc]

Why did the doctor do an mri ?do you have pbc ?

[spoul]

If you have Pbc I can give you some info on ill health retirement but don't know if your on the right forum?

[claire22 in reply to spoul]

Hi, I have PBC and Hypothyroidism, been off work for 10 months feeling very fatigued. Work now want me to make a decision about the future. I'm struggling with this and don't know what to do for the best. My doctor thinks I should give up work, but I wonder whether my condition will improve?

I currently get £72.40 a week ESA. Is there any advice you could give me, I feel very stressed at the moment and under pressure. I hate going to absence meetings at work every 6 weeks and end up sitting there and just cry. Sorry to go on like this but I feel really unsettled and upset at present. Kind regards and thanks for reading!

[spoul]

If I can tell you my story maybe this will help you decide the best course of action for you.

I was diagnosed age 39, 16 yrs ago and took ill health retirement 4 yrs ago now. As you will probably be able to relate to, my health deteriorated over the time I was at work. I was a full time midwife that drained me both physically and emotionally. I approached occupational health on numerous occasions and the consultant was most helpful, suggesting to my managers that they made adjustments to my workload. This worked for a few years until it became untenable. What made it worse was that I was in denial and kept insisting I could do the job every time I returned to work after sick leave. By the way occupational health make adjustments inline with disability law.

The final time I went off sick 2 days after my hols and knew I wouldn't be going back! But my trade union rep advised me not to say anything to work and she came with me to all my meetings with them. I would recommend union support. It was difficult at first because I knew I couldn't go back but I'm too honest and it didn't sit comfy with me keeping it to myself. But after joint meetings with management, unions and occ health I achieved my goal 14 months later.....just as my money ran out!

I can honestly say I wish I'd done it 5 yrs before but I pushed myself to reach 50! My pension was enhanced to 55, so I got a full pension. Life after work is different and I self manage my Pbc ......I've probably not the energy I thought I'd have but glad I did it nevertheless. Hope this helps, any other questions just ask....Sue xx