Forum

Giving Up Work

Everyday living
#1

I am lucky enough to work for a company that has private medical insurance.

I am finding working all day is exhausting even though it is desk work and leaves me with no energy to do my exercises and look after myself properly. I am struggling with whether I should apply to go on my companies long term sick insurance as I can technically work a full day but then cant do anything else. My main concern is the health insurance company will not accept me because I can actually work for a full day. Then I will have annoyed my company as they feel I am trying to skiive of

Has anyone been in a similar situation and offer any advice ?

Thanks

#2

Hi Maxine,

I’m sorry to hear that this stinky disease has put you in such a fix.

You say you can only ‘Technically’ work a full day. To my mind that suggests, that with all the will in the world, you can’t, no matter how hard you try. If it leaves you struggling and unable to look after yourself properly - self care is absolutely vital with MS-then you should talk to both your company, and your health insurance company about the issue.(I’m assuming that you have been contributing to a long term sick insurance via your company) Do either of them know that you have MS? It’s difficult to ‘come out’ sometimes to employers and the like because we are all scared of the response, but your company has a legal duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to allow you to keep working such as a bespoke comfy desk chair, specialist computing stuff that makes life easier, rest breaks, and so forth.If they think that you are skiving off, then they are extremely ignorant, particularly if they know the score. Can you afford to cut your hours if you are working full time?

Just some thoughts that I hope can help.

Nia.

#3

I’m in the exact same position, but my company do know about my MS and have been very good about it. I have a meeting next to discuss how I’m getting on and possibly reducing my working week. The company have already taken me off shift work and made up a new Lab Assistant role with has plenty of desk work, which does really help. I’m finding that I can now struggle through a 7.5 hour shift, however when I get home I really do not have anything physical left in me, I literally crawl the stairs for a shower on my hands & knees. Once thats done I’m sitting on the sofa just waiting to go to bed. Theres no quality family life. I’m toying with the idea of dropping a day, either a Monday or Friday so that I have a longer rest period. I dont think dropping a couple of hours off the actual work days would really help. However though, the drop in wages certainly needs to be taken into account.

#4

Hi guys, I totally get how it feels to have the main focus of everything being ok enough to be at work ! Quality of life suffers. Outside this forum saying ‘literally’ craw up the stairs on my hands & knees would probably be read as a way to explain how tired you felt & miss the ‘literally’.

For me I work 3 days, day off work 2 days, day off, repeat. My two days off focus is recharging to go to work. After my day off when people ask me what I did I have to be inventive not to just say recovering.

i would love to do a 4 day week, so I could do things I want to do, but I think I would just end up working harder when I was at work & taking work home, so although a lovely idea, I don’t think it would improve my life.

I am also aware that without work I would be home alone too much & that would not work for me. Also, got to be honest I like being able to go on holiday.

good luck with finding to right solutions for you, big hugs

#5

Thanks for the feedback Nia. They are aware and they have been really good. The other dilemma is I cant afford to cut my hours so its either remain working full time or get to move onto the health insurance which will pay my salary instead.

Its more knowing how to tackle the insurance company and how they view the fact that I can still work a full day for the company and are they interested or have a duty of care that I am then too exhausted to do anything else ??

1 Like
#6

Hi

Its difficult isnt it. My company have been really good as well but I cant afford to go to shorter week due to the cut in salary. My options are either to keep working but have little quality of life or request to go on the long term sick health insurance.

My concern is how the Health insurance will react eg do they just look at it that I am capable of working a full week or do they have some kind of duty of care that I need enough energy to be able to fully participate in life !!

Dilemma

#7

Thanks for your support Sarah. It is a real Dilemma.

#8

As Sarah mentions, this is a slight concern that I have. Although my company have been very helpful, the job I do is a mixture of lab analysis & then desk work logging everything down, with the majority of analysis needing to be done within hours of receiving samples from the production line, however I can foresee that if I drop a day I might end up having to push 5 days work into 4 days, in theory making my days far more busy and stressful ! Other people can and would have to carry on with the analysis on the day I was off, but only up to a point where they did the bare minimum to get sample results posted for the production department, everything else would, without doubt be left for me to catch up on when I returned the following day. So, is it easier to struggle through 5 days or do a shorter week but know deep down you’er going to be flat out, probably literally, for those 4 days.

#9

Hi Maxine,

Perhaps the only way out of your dilemma is to actually speak with the health insurance company - not in the sort of way that suggests immediately to them that you want to lodge a claim but more as a general enquiry. If they know that you have MS they should at the very least be understanding, and able to provide you with appropriate advice. This is your health and well being we are talking about, and it is of paramount importance - not anyone else’s opinion of what they think you should be capable of.

Nia.