After 9 1/2 weeks at home, I am delighted to be starting a phased, 2-days a week, return to work tomorrow. I’m really excited!
I’m incredibly lucky to have a brilliant employer who has been very understanding and isn’t pushing me to do too much too soon. Occupational health have offered all sorts of unnecessary accommodations - I think based on the RA, rather than the PMR, diagnosis. It’s good to know that more support can be put in place if necessary in the future.
Please think of me tomorrow morning. I think that my alarm going off a 0630 will be the hardest thing to endure!
Also, I’d value the thoughts of those who have traveled this path before me. What helped your return to work? What are the pitfalls for me to avoid. Ideas from other teachers are particularly welcome.
So happy for you! and will def think of you tomorrow morning⏰ Not had the experience of going back to work or being a teacher, but I'm cheered by the thought of one day returning to various unpaid activities /work. So I hope the psychological lift sustains you through the challenges.
Hi NorfolkEnchants I'm a teacher in a primary school and was diagnosed in May 2019. I've had two attempts at returning to work and only managed half a term each time before experiencing a flare. Each flare has been progressively harder to bring under control and each taper much harder to manage. Yoyoing up and down doses is not good and has consequences.
Like you I was desperate to get back to work and thought I could push through any aches and pains but learnt the hard way that this is most definitely not the case. Being back at work was so good for my mental health....I had purpose to my day again....was with the children I love so much and was able to re-engage in the camaraderie of being with my work colleagues.
I too have a very supportive SLT and been afforded phased returns, adjustments to my duties and reduced hours but managing PMR is like a full-time job in itself!
Despite having just had another 6mths off sick, I'm having one 3rd and final attempt to get back to work at the end of May. Having learnt to manage this condition more effectively and having gained a better understanding of it, if it doesn't work this time, it's not going to. I'm under no illusions as to what I'm up against and fully accept that my health must come first and I may end up having to take medical retirement.
I'm sorry if this isn't really what you wanted to hear but it's important to be honest.
This is my experience and yours hopefully will be very different. Just bear in mind that teaching can be very stressful, have high volumes of work, be time consuming and full on!....all situations that are often triggers for flares. Just listen to your body, and make sure you allow yourself plenty of time for rest.
I wish you lots of luck and a happy and successful return to work.
I really liked your response, Kendrew. I’ve also found it very difficult to go back to teaching, and have not been able to, with CO-ViD and the medication I am taking.
I teach Year One, so it is always 100% every day of the week. I was also diagnosed in May 2019, after an overseas holiday to Amsterdam. It’s been a hard time because mentally I know I would feel better being back at work but physically I can not stand for a long time and I get extremely tired by the afternoon. Hope things improve soon for you !
Hi LalabirdyI'm sorry that you have found it difficult to get back to school. Reading other teacher's stories, in other posts, has made me much more wary about the potential impact of going back but I just couldn't, in good faith, tell me GP that I still felt too unwell to go back to work when my previous 'sick note' ran out. My concerns about triggering a flare/relapse provided the basis for a good conversation and have meant that I have negotiated a full month at 2 days per week, and the understanding that this might be extended rather than automatically increasing after that.
I hope that your stamina improves soon, and you start to feel better mentally as well as physically. You're right, Y1 are exhausting - I'm lucky that my role is much less physically demanding!
Thank you for your input Kendrew. It is useful to have the experiences of others upon which to draw. I'm sorry that your attempts to return to work have, so far, been unsuccessful.
You're right, teaching can be very stressful, have high volumes of work and be time consuming and full on - and therefore extremely likely to trigger a flare, and I will try to be mindful of this. The trouble is, on pred I feel as though I could fly!
I have a couple of days a week, post-methotrexate, when I feel extremely tired but for the rest of the week I have been feeling better and better - albeit, I have been carefully managing my energy budget. I may go for a 5 mile walk or a 1 km swim but I also spend time sitting reading or watching television. It is going to be essential that I listen to my body and continue to manage my energy budget carefully on the two days that I am in school rather than doing too much and wiping myself out for the rest of the week.
Good luck to you for the end of May. Let's hope that we are both successful!
Hi.good luck for going back to workI have just gone back to work only doing 2 days,found it very hard and tiring iam a housekeeper,work in the laundry.take it steady.
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Update to still in pain and depressed
Should I go to work- UPDATE
Mini Flare & Actions 
