i commend you for still having strength to work. my job let me go by forcing me to take long term disability coz i cldnt work anymo. i miss working alot. it gave me a sense of purpose now im sitting here and watching life pass me by, hang on as long as u can.blessings

Hun,
Bless your heart! I don't work anymore because my surgery (one of the many), messed up my life, but a lot of people here work, so hopefully they will post soon. During the weekend is usually quiet around here, so hopefully you will get some answers soon. Take care and I hope that your pain gets better soon.
Hugs,

Hello.What kind of work are you doing?Do you do the same thing for the entire 12 hrs?Are the 12 hr shifts temporary?...........Cheryl

I held on for 3-4 years longer than I probably should have. Loved my work and really miss it. Finally, between the pain and the stress I was under once my supervisors found out I was sick, I had to hang it up and go out on disability. I was lucky (if you can call it lucy LOL) that my disease had progressed so much I was able to get on SSA w/in 6months of filing. No lawyer to pay either.
A couple of things I did while still working was try to take a short nap during lunch hour, did the hardest parts of my job, when I could, in the mornings while I was fresher and tried to rest as much as possible when I was off work. Good luck and best wishes.

i to had to leave a career i loved early retirement i also miss working and being active and productive
12 hours seems alot is it 12 hour shifts 3 days a wweek like many nurses do can u go to your supervisors and ask for 8 hour shifts not knowing what u do makes it difficult but i sure couldnt do it
best of luck to u

hi jspencereds

I don't know what kind of work you do...so it's hard to say.

I am a desk jockey...and it's killing me. I force myself through the day, often falling apart privately during my lunch/break time. I have children that I am the sole support for and my daughter is disabled and needs my medical insurance....that the ONLY thing that keeps me going to work right now.

I don't know if you will find an answer...HUGS to you and I hope for less pain or better pain management for you.

I work behind a desk all day but I have a special heater under my desk all the time. The work is all mentally stressful but I have to force myself to do it each day. I have to work for my family. I take 26 pills a day to survive. When I get through I have to drive 70 miles home. I love my job and have been there for 20 years. I agree, I do not know how othes work long hours with pain. It is so difficult. No one is very understanding but I have to make it by shear will. Some days I do not know how to so I thank everyone here for the support!! Good luck and God bless to everyone in the same position as I am. Work is hard with pain!

I find work an excellent distraction from pain and the depression, and feelings of being unworthy, that not being productive can bring. It is important to do a low stress job that is physically appropriate to your chronic pain condition. I am a chemist, but I now do less stressful work in libraries.

I take caffeine with my pain medication (pain meds make me sleepy). I also have been able to get a more ergonomic set up to minimize the pain. I guess what worksbest for you will depend a lot on the type of work that you do.

I couldnt do it, I have a hard time working 5 hr days. I do commend you also.

I use to work, but it was hard. I would come home and rest, and on the weekends I would sleep alot and get a message, and try to rejuvinate myself.
Things were somewhat bearable until I got a new Supersivor, and he started picking on me and writing me up for ridiculous things. He was a very negative man, and told me numerous times, "You're just not good enough".
So, I was forced to take sick leave and apply for disability.

I have a wonderful job and I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have my career. There were times that it was a challenege to just come in on the days where the pain level was high. As I began to get pain relief, getting to work was made easier but a new and different challenge presented itself. Almost all of us agree that we should keep the information of what we take private. We try to tell as few as possible about the meds. The challenge I had to deal with is that I had to make the information public at work. I am the divisional manager of environmental, health and safety in a number of facilities that manufactures explosive devices. I literaly had to ask co-workers to challenge many of the decisions I make on a routine basis. As the number of meds grew (oxycodone, morphine, gabapentin and nortryptiline) I had to be sure that my judgement remained consistent and and solid. I don't want to overstate the responsibilities but there are significant and potentially tragic consequences to some decisions. I couldn't imagine developing or approving a procedure or having someone do something that caused injury to my co-workers. I am quite certain I couldn't live with that. I'm happy to say that to this point, no one has had to pull me out of an issue due to the meds. As a matter of fact, I've come to believe that being in pain was more of a liability to my judgement than the meds have ever been. That said, I still keep checks and balances in place.

That is amazing that you can slog through a 12 hour day with chronic pain. My hat is off to you. I took meds while working but was mortally afraid of a client finding out and saying I was "high" on narcotic painkillers and screwed his case up (I was working as a criminal defense attorney). Then the news would spread like wild fire through the jail and before you know it you are drowning in lawsuits. At some point it didn't matter because I had to quit my job and get the dreaded spinal fusion surgery from hell. Anyway, I really don't know how you do it but kudos to you!

Respect!! Don't know how you do it. I am fortunate that I do some office work, as well as field work. Some of which involves several hours on my feet that can be very painful, but it is different from sitting. I am also very fortunate to live less than an hour from the office. I have some new symptoms that make office work very difficult. I am hoping for a medical solution, but it may be rolled into the neuropathy bundle. If it becomes more frequent or intense without relief, I will really be close to my tipping point. I guess we all do what we can do, up to the point when we just can't anymore. I know that sounds so obvious as to be absurd, but I just don't know how else to put it. Best wishes that you will be able to hang in there long enough until you get to the point when you feel you don't "have to" anymore.

I can totally relate! I work a 9 hour shift at a desk and then my commute is an hour ea way. Makes for a very long hard day. Funny this posted today I have a killer cold and the hacking is killing me but the big wigs from Cali are here and tomorrow the president so must make myself present and accounted for. I am having a real hard time staying here today. My co-workers all know what is going on and are all 100% supportive - I leave my desk to go walk around as that seems to help. I could go for a real walk at lunch but I have a hard time doing that and still have time for lunch. I am halfway in the boat with MarkL as I work in Port and I handle Exports to Japan and several Hazardous loads a week that I have to go out and walk around the trucks to be sure they are proper and their declarations match their placards. It's dangerous around these truckers so being wobbly and not 100% just pushes the safety factor down a bit.
All I can say if you have the strength and the will to push through it. I know for me personally sitting around at home miserable not getting paid vs sitting at work being miserable is a no brainer for me. I of course am the one with the med insurance and head of house so I have to work as well. Just blessed for the people I have all around me.
Hope you find something that works for you - is there a possibility for some work at home or a cut in hours???