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        New Message Board Archives >> 2003 Posts >> What do you do?
        
(Message started by: silverbolt on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 6:39pm)

Title: What do you do?
Post by silverbolt on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 6:39pm

Hey One question I had was what do you all do when you have your cycles of you CH? I know I cant do anything. But What I really am askin is work. Do you get time off from your jobs? Thankfully, I guess, I was layed off from my job a month before this cycle started for me so I was kind of lucky, but last cycle, I almost got fired for missing so much work. So what do you all do?

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by FrankF on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 7:21pm

What you can get away with at work depends a lot on what kind of work you do. I am an engineer and have an office that I can claim as my own so not too much of a problem. I got a second O2 regulator and keep a "E" size tank in my office at work. I also keep Imitrex injections at work.

In some jobs though you might have trouble finding a place to go hide during an attack. Best to talk to the boss about it. If you're at risk of being fired, you can also tell the HR people or boss that you have a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. You have to tell them before they decide to fire you though, not after.

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by jonny on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 7:28pm

Ive been lucky enough to own two companies in the last 19 years,,,before that I was just a punk on drugs.

.........................................jonny

Come to think of it.....now im an ass-hole on drugs......LMMFAO ;D

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by Charlie on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 7:28pm

The guys I worked with didn't care. They couldn't find anyone else to work so cheap. I sold military antiques at the time. It was a business with pretty flexible hours and mine were no longer than 20 minutes. It's been a dozen years since my last attack.

Charlie

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by taraann on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 7:28pm

I'm still a newbie....but isnt there a thing u can print out from the O.U.C.H. website for your boss.....??? can anyone elaborate for me?

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by FrankF on Jul 22^nd, 2003, 7:43pm

There are a couple of things that can be printed out for bosses. One is at OUCH... http://clusterheadaches.org/resources/employer_form.doc or http://clusterheadaches.org/resources/employer_form.pdf.

The other is Simon's letter from the OUCH UK website... http://www.clusterheadaches.org.uk/home/index.cfm?address=../clusters/txt_note_colleagues.cfm&added=Dec2001&code=CC

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by AlienSpaceBabe on Jul 23^rd, 2003, 10:56am

I must admit that I can't get much done when at the peak of a cycle.

Last cycle the boss was still my father, so I could call and say I had a HA... didn't have to come in.... was left alone.... my work was given to others or else put off until the HA was gone.

Like several others at the convention, I'm hoping that my recent CH (Sat, Mon, Tue) are merely belated "sympathy" hits.... if not...?? New boss, while here during my previous cycle, is most definitely NOT sympathetic and actually said to me "you need to do something about those headaches. we're paying you to work." LMBO... as if I'm NOT trying everything possible to get rid of them??

When I'm in class, I let my professors know that I may need to leave, etc. All but one professor were very understanding.

I guess my answer to your question is: I work around the headaches, doing what I can when I can and probably not doing a very good job either.

Lizzie

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by OwieMan on Jul 23^rd, 2003, 11:20am

There is definately a limited amout you can do in a public situation...Best I can say is start working towards finding the medication that works for you.

It is a killer though. I have had bosses get very pissed off at me before, but at the time I was telling them it was a toothache and didnt know that it was any worse than what others experienced.

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by oringkid on Jul 23^rd, 2003, 11:22am

While I was working (at a stock brokerage firm in operations = no client contact thank goodness) I would sit at my desk and rock and hit my head with my stapler, tears streaming down one side of my face, breathing deeply when I could, mewling as softly as I could until it went away. (I didn't do the meds then... don't now either.) When asked (because banging your head with a stapler does cause people to ask...) I told them as best I could and let them know it would be over soon... After the hit subsided I would further explain. I lucked out in that everyone was very understanding... Course, I can be fairly unobtrusive ('cept for the stapler and tears and mewling lol) while being hit after 30 years of practice.

So my answer is... I just kept on keepin' on. I try very hard not to let this crap interfere with my life. I never missed a day due to CH.

Sherry

Title: Re: What do you do?
Post by stuey on Jul 23^rd, 2003, 11:30am

I've had to work through them. I let my office manager and my senior attorney know what was happening to me. I had an attack and went into the office managers office devastated and crying like a baby. She wanted to send me home in a car. I printed literature for them to know that these were not something aspirin could fix. When I get hit at work I tell them it's happening and they know I can't function during that time. I have been able to abort most of them but there have been four or five that were the big ones and I could do nothing once they hit. All in all they have tried to understand cause I guess they care what happens to me.