it's getting me down now

toomuchness
toomuchness Member Posts: 5
edited 10. Jan 2013, 10:49 in Benefits and Working Matters archive
:| can't bend my leg to dress or clean myself and I've had a cortisone injection in my thigh bone, which did not help, and yet the doctor refuses to give me time off sick. I have days when I am in tears with pain and yet I still have to smile at customers, stand for many hours, lift and carry weights and rush around doing whatever my job requires of me.
I know I sound like a whinger but it's a daily thing for me to struggle with and I am not due to retire for another 10 years. I can't cope.

Comments

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    Hello toomuchness. I'm sorry things are so difficult for you and hope we can be of some help if only to sympathise as we all understand pain on here. Your situation sounds very difficult if you have such a physically demanding job. I wonder if would help you to talk to one of our Helpline people? The number is freephone and at the top of the page. And/or you could also post this on the Living With Arthritis forum as more people look in on there.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    Hello too muchness, it's nice to meet you and I completely endorse what Sticky said. What form of arthritis do you have and what is your job? Arthritis and employment are not happy bedfellows, I am very lucky in that I am self-employed but even that is becoming a harder and harder struggle as my physical condition deteriorates. Come and talk to us, we do understand how tough things can get from time to time. I wish you well. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • mike26
    mike26 Member Posts: 416
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    hi all
    so sorry tomuchness reckon the doctor got outta wrong side of bed
    that day its shocking .
    im got 5years to go be 4 i retire and (self employed) got to stage couldnt
    carry on work anymore had to tern work down in the end something ive never done.

    after over 40 years working am in process of applying for E&SA (contributions based). see what happens...
    do hope it come wright 4 u when you need a bit of help..

    mike26 :wink:
  • toomuchness
    toomuchness Member Posts: 5
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    Many thanks, guys. I will look for the forum but most importantly I think I need some sound advice maybe from the number at the top of the screen. I am a trained and experienced Basic Skills tutor who moved out of the area only to find that I can't get work in my field so I was forced to take on a p/t job in a small but incredibly busy food store, I was fit when I started working there in Sept 2011 but I have been trying to cope with the pain and the job since June. We also don't get sick pay from the company so there is an additional problem. i am scared to take time off sick as I won't be able to cope financially.
  • toomuchness
    toomuchness Member Posts: 5
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    I think it's new Government policy...make them work until they die standing...
  • toomuchness
    toomuchness Member Posts: 5
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    Good luck with your application, Mike.
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    I feel for you, toomuchness. I'm a self-employed tutor for dyslexics, I started my own tiny business just two years before my arthritis began and it's been downhill ever since. You are in completely the wrong job for your health circumstances but in this day and age it is very difficult to get work that suits let alone a job in your field (and my, how people like you are needed).

    I cannot advise on the work front, hopefully the Helpline will be able to point you in the right direction for that information. Has your doctor confirmed that you have arthritis? It seems unreasaonable for him/her to fail to take it into account when it comes to your work but those who don't have it sometimes fail to appreciate its impact on all aspects of our lives. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben

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