How To Get a Job When You Are Feeling Bad Everyday

This is something that concerns me too. I work outdoors and the season started last week. I told my boss I am really sick and hope to start by late April, Early May. But I don't know how I will work if my condition does not change. I looked into disability and there is not even a classification for lyme. So in my opinion were screwed unless were healthy. The silent minority.

All-Seeing Eye said...
yea i know. I'm becoming borderline suicidal over this. There is just no way I can have any reasonable quality of life while being this sick and trying to support myself. It's just overwhelming. Very overwhelming.

It really does suck. I keep telling myself I am not lazy because I have been unable to play hockey, run, bike or lift weights since the first week of February. It sucks that Lyme is such a new disease. I am a very driven human and leveraged my way to higher pay in my job and now I am exhausted after cleaning my kitchen. Lyme is also not an officially recognized disablity for Social Security not that I want disability but it makes no sense. I have a strong family support system thank god. Watch the movie Under Our Skin it's a bit biased but still disturbing. I never thought Lyme really could be this bad and don't know how people can enjoy life if they feel the way I do now.

Doesn't help that America is in deep trouble and social programs like disability are a thing of the past. Good luck finding a job that will accommodate someone with Lyme. I would never tell my employer I have lyme.

I know how you feel, All-seeing. I have been working contract at a huge corporation and they decided to ask me to move on full time right when this illness started flaring up. I was bedridden all last week and most the week before, so the conversion process hasn't been able to be started as obviously I have to actually be able to make it into the office. It's scary not having any certainty as to how I will be able to support myself.

Luckily though my coworkers have been amazing and so understanding of all this. My manager has been allowing me to work from home and has even gone so far as to educate herself on lyme. The whole team made a gift basket full of chocolates, fuzzy socks and celebrity gossip magazines to cheer me up. I nearly cried when they brought it over to me. My last job was not this understanding. When I went over on sick days they docked my pay. That was the straw that broke the camels back, I was irate at the insensitivity (esp with how many years I had worked my ass off for them) and quit.

I would advise trying to look for employment at a huge corporation. My last job was very mom-n-pop small and me being out severely affected the work flow, they didn't have the funds to cover that. But at my current place it's so massive that there's been no problems with finding more resourcing to cover my totally-out-of-commission days, and they value the work I have done for them so far so they're being very flexible with all of this as they don't want to lose me.

Don't let that overwhelmed, negative voice take over your head. Stay positive and keep looking, there are good employers out there and ways to work around things if you try hard enough. <3

 

I feel bad for all of you.

Yes, you can apply for temporary SS disability. It takes a while to get though and you may need a lawyer to help push it through faster but then you have to pay him/her.

In my case, I tried for 2 years. Went before a judge once and still got denied. My saving grace was a councelor I was seeing, at a discount rate, that saw me weekly and witnessed my steady decline. It infuriated her and she started making calls on my behalf to the capital of our state. With her help I got it within weeks once she started her campaign. I would have died long ago if she hadn't intervened.

 

I work in finance from 10 to 4 daily. I lost my last job due to my cognitive problems and cried for months.  Yesterday, I couldn't spell the word "marked" at work. 

My Lyme doc is sending me for cognitive training. I hope that helps.

As far as the pain and the lethargy go, I have 10 vicodin I take a mos., but I am too afraid to take it and go to work. I also fear addiction. 

I do yoga most days, and changed my diet to mostly organic. 

I have decided to try the following: Thistle extract, Cat's Claw, Siberian ginseng, 50 billion Pro biotic, Flax oil, and Omega 3 oil.  I am going to attempt Teasel, but I'm too afraid of herxing right now.

If I can get through one year, I'll get on FMLA, and they can't fire me for this.  If I do get fired, I'll find a way to make it.  It is very hard.

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