Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Support Group

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question about work

TaraP
TaraP
I work with special needs children, and I love my job, but I'm getting to the point where I know I physically can't do this forever. There are days I feel like I want or need to quit, but then I'll pull out of it and do just fine for a while. I know I need to figure something else out eventually, but I don't know where to start. I guess I'm just wondering what others have done - I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has been in this situation. Go back to school? Look for a desk job? I'm scared my cognitive issues would prevent me from learning something new. I feel like I should at least try. The idea of being unemployed is scarey. I know the decision has to be mine, but it's nice to hear from others in the same boat. If you have any thoughts or your own experience to share, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks!
Tara
deleted_user
deleted_user
I am in your boat. I have no idea what to do. I am on the tail end of a flair and it has been really hard for me to work. Mentally I have not been dealing with it well either because I know that even though things are tough right now, they ultimately could get worse.

I worry about my cognitive abilities yoo. I think I am doing ok but some of the meds I take/have taken make me "foggy". I just push through and make sure that I am doing everything I can to keep working.

I know a pharmacist and a doctor with MS so I just keep thinking, if they can, I can figure out a way to keep working. I know there will be times when I need a break and I might have to reduce hours but I can do it.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Just do the best you can! It's all that you or anyone else, can ask/expect of you! Research any meds they try to put you on, ask here if they prescribe you something that you don't think is right. Stay on the minimum meds (and doses) that you can do well on. The "pill-pushers" in the medical community, will be more than happy to prescribe you enough meds, that you are too "doped-out" to tell, that you are getting worse or that some new med really isn't helping!

At one point, I had let them get me up to 4 anti-depressants at the same time until one day I "woke up" after sleeping like 16 hours straight and feeling "loggy/dopey" for the next 4 hours ... so I immediately cut myself back to 2 of the anti-depressants (and 1/2 doses of those). I realized pretty quickly, that I was a LOT better off, after that and vowed to never let that kind of thing happen again" ...

Don't let what you just "think" prevent you from trying to learn new things, if YOU write yourself off, how can you expect others not to just do the same?! DON'T LET THEM!

Best of luck! {{hugs}}
deleted_user
deleted_user
If you are still working then obviously you can still work. If you are planning your future, it is wasting energy. We don't know what tomorrow will bring nor what the next minutes will bring. You could suffer a fatal heart attack or die in a car accident. Stay in today. If you want to get a desk job, do it. If you want to continue working with the children, do it. When your body really cannot do it anymore, you won't be writing for advise. You won't be working.