Working with MS

[BRENDA55]

I've yet to actually be diagnosed with MS, but I have many of the symptoms.  I am working as a tech in a hospital lab full time, but it is getting harder and harder to work full weeks or even a full 8 hr day.
How many of you can still work? If you can't work anymore, were you able to get disability pay?  I,m scared that I won't be able to work much longer.  Fortunately, right now my job is safe because of FMLA.

[jrterriers]

I got my MS diagnosis in 1990 and worked full-time until April 07. My work was not overly physical (not nearly as "active" as lab tech), so I was able to hang on. I finally left because I just could not do the job anymore. After leaving, it hit me how much I had been compromising and struggling just to get up in the morning and get to work.

I was able to secure disability.

Investigate your rights in the workplace. Your employer must make reasonable accommodations. Of course, the definition of "reasonable" is an issue always open to interpretation.

[tanky]

I had my first symptoms over the summer of 2007 and was diagnosed with MS in November.  I am still able to work full time, but it is very early in the disease for me.  I am an attorney, so I am lucky that its not physically taxing.  I can sit at a desk so that is helpful.  I hope you find a solution that is right for you and your situation.  

[Momzilla]

I do not have a concrete diagnosis at the moment myself, but this past summer I really had awful fatigue, and my doctor supported my going on half days.  He said he would have supported full time disability, but I felt I could work half days, and thought that would be best at the time.

After a few weeks, things soured with my boss and they forced me back to work.  (My office manager is pretty unreasonable.  Her mother was a hypochondriac, and she is very rigid about accepting people's illnesses.)  I was starting to feel better by then though, so it worked out all right.

Please make sure you know what the policies in your workplace are BEFORE asking about time off.  Ask your doctor if she/he would support you taking time off.  Is it warranted?  Extreme fatigue can be enough of a reason to work a reduced schedule, or to take advantage of disability, if our doc agrees.  I had a few signs to back up upper motor neuron damage, but, honestly, fatigue was the reason I couldn't get through the day.  I needed to rest before my children came home from school so I had some energy left for my family instead of expending all I had for my job.  Beofre my time off, I would come home and go to bed. Well before my kids.  Like at 6:30.  That wasn't fair to my family.

Perhaps others will chime in nd tell their experiences.  Do you have disability insurance?  How is your doctor about supporting you?

Let us know how things are going!  Feel well,

Zilla*