Just a quick answer survey...PLEASE RESPOND

How many of us out there have had to drop their hours from full time to part time because of fibro?  I have worked 40 hours a week for 29 years and since fibro became a part of my life I struggle to work 24 hours a week.  I am female with a fairly physical job.  I provide support to people with physical and mental disabilities.  Please give a quick answer if you can...my employer doesn't understand why I need to reduce my hours when i "look aright".

Thanks you soooo much to all who respond.  I'm hoping that if it turns out to be fairly common that I can show him this thread.

I have been working more than full-time for many years now. I have a regular full-time job (staff scientist at a major research university) and a part-time job (math instructor at a local community college).

I have decided I have to drop my part-time job.....I REALLY hate to do so, because I need the money plus I love to teach! But I can't handle it anymore. I can barely handle the full-time job.

OK....truth is I can't even handle the full-time job. My employers are being super-duper nice to me and are allowing me to work from home much of the time. I am EXTREMELY grateful for this because otherwise I would be applying for disability right now.

I'm very lucky to have such great bosses.

JoAnn

I'm one of the lucky ones. I discovered my herbals and can maintain my very physical full time job.
I have days when I hurt but most of it I can live with. Right now I'm out of True Calm and running
low on the rest so I've been babying them and am paying for it by aching. With all the shoveling both
before and after work and push mowing 2 acres in the summer I remain on top of it by using the
herbals a couple of times a day. I know I used to take so many dr drugs that I couldn't sleep right,
would go to work so groggy and out of it I was barely functional on many occasions. It got to the
point when I could take 4 darvacet and 3 flexoril and it wouldn't even touch the pain. I'm glad to
have gotten off of them.

I had to quit my full time job as a Home Health Aide 2 years ago due to the pain I was having. I wasn't Dx with Fibro until Nov 2009, but I'm sure I had it then. I have a 2 year old little boy here at home that I take care of full time now and it's still difficult. This is the invisible illness and my bosses didn't understand why I needed to leave due to the pain. Can you get a doctor's note stating that you need reduced hours?

Good luck!

well mega im 33 years old and cant get out of bed most days until noon.......i use to build beautiful houses for wonderful people.....i had to stop all that about 7 years ago as the pain was really starting to get to me.....i didnt work at all in 2003.....in 2004 i tried my hand at running a paving roller for a paving company.......as the job was seasonal and i would be able to collect unemployment in the winter.....i almost made the season but finally the pain caught up to me with about a month to go and i didnt get any unemployment......a friend of mine was heading to florida to do some hurricane repair work......i thought hell that might just be the thing i need to get rid of my winter pain..........WRONG.....at this point i didnt know i had fibromyalgia.....i had never even heard of fibromyalgia.....so we got to florida january 12, 2005........i worked for maybe two and half months (in extreme pain)................then in march of 2005 i called it quits and came home to maine.....i have tried to do less physical thing but the fog gets to my brain and i cant consontrate
..............so now my career is fighting with the ssa to try and get a meager 12000 dollars a year.....i used to make in excess of 50k a year after taxes.......and they think i want their 12k.....anyway be thankful that you can still do anything at all i wish i could....oh ya by the way i dont look like i have anything wrong with me either......i have gained a lot of weight since i have been less physically active.....but besides that i look like a 33 year old man....so tell your boss to give me a call and ill tell him to put his testicles in a vice and tighten it up and that is what FIBROMYALGIA feels like.....and that is why you need to lessen your work load...... best wishes john

 had to give up my assistant supervisor position. and work from home. I work a split shift now // 4 hrs on 2 off and then 4 more . I do have to admit. after a year and a half of this.. I am thinking I may have to file for Disability .. can't decide.

best of luck... one thing to remember . if you start working part time and have to file for ssd. they will go off your part time wages. I do believe.

I am 16, and not working yet, but I have had to cut back my hours at school. I went from a rigorous program with six classes, to a very light weight schedule with only four classes. My rhuemotologist actually suggested this because I was missing so much school because of my fibro flare-ups. It has reduced a lot of the physical strain on my body, as well as the stress, which has helped me manage my symptoms better. I am also struggling with teachers and administration because I look well, and fibromyalgia isn't a disease that is visible to the untrained eye.

Hi Megatired!

Looks like you have your answer. I too was teaching at a college and it kept getting harder and harder to keep going. Nearly 2 years ago my doctor said it was time to quit and I know he was right. Not only was the pain awful but I kept getting ill and missing work which I had never done before. Fibro takes it toll, unfortunately. We can still lead a good, happy and productive life, just not in the same context as we used to.

Your boss needs education is all. One of the classic statements to those with fibro is..But you don't LOOK sick! Below are a couple of links that should help you get across to your boss. Print off some information and take it to him. Offer to sit and explain if he cares to listen. It's hard to understand for those of us who have it...but for onlookers it's every harder. I hope we all have helped!

Chutz

This first link is a lecture that I first saw on the Research Channel. Here's a link to the podcast. It's great information on what fibro IS and some of the research the Stanford Pain Center is doing. There is hope...

www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rid=28078&fid=813


One is these links is from the National Institute of Health and the others are from Stanford University Pain center who does a tremendous amount of research and works with/for fibro folks.

health.nih.gov/topic/Fibromyalgia
www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/arthritis/fibromya.html
www.shlnews.org/?p=58

I used to work at a well paying job, w. as another writer said; mentally and emotionally challenged children and adolescents. Some of the clients were violent and had to be restrained to protect them and others. I had to let it all go as I had no confidence that my body could remain rigid and that I, with another worker, could restrain clients requiring sometimes up to an hour or more of standing in one position. I was worried I wouldn't be able to "hold on" for the duration and someone would get hurt. Then I tried much lower paying jobs, nothing worked out for me. I could not do a full days' work. So, now I am on permanent disability.

I work 40 hours a week and occassionally bartend on weekends.. i probably shouldn't be working the 40 hours a week.. but unfortunately i have to work full time. it is a struggle.. but i am only 30 there are the days that i can hardly get out of bed without tears but i force myself so that i can keep moving.. i do have a desk job now that doesn't require the more physical aspect but it can be just as draining as physical labour. some days for me