Anyone Else Having to Work Less Due to Health Issues?

Stupid question I guess.

I’m in my early 30s and I have had to start working part time, about 25 hours a week.

It sucks because I would like to be able to save and get my own small place instead of renting which I’ve done for years but I’m stuck now on low wage.

Due to my unpredictable sleep where some rare days I’ll sleep 8-12 hours but mostly a lot less, mostly caused by my worsening tinnitus and very bad OCD.

My OCD has gotten worse with the worsening of the tinnitus. I’ve always had OCD but it’s really bad now when going to bed or trying to sleep (psychology being it’s because when I sleep I have no control over anything) so I have to check things over and over again.

I’m going to try Remeron for the first time soon as my anxiety and OCD is really bad now and I think it’s the only way to overcome all of this or at least get a bit better.

I type this after for hours sleep zzzz.

 

I work less and make less money post tinnitus.
It's not ideal.

 

I recently got diagnosed with a herniated disc and couldn't really do anything, and it greatly affected my work. It's been 2 months since the worst part of it and I started realizing it only starts getting better if I get really active again. Walk a ton, run, exercise, even if it's difficult. I thought tinnitus would stop me but it was actually my back, so I guess in a way it was almost a blessing to have my back go out like that and realize the level of tinnitus I deal with isn't the major threat, it's my physical health, and thankfully I can get that back with effort.

 

I have anxiety and OCD.

Have you tried Inositol?

 

No, I’ve never heard of it. I’ll look it up.

Also I will be hopefully getting some Remeron next week for the first time.

 

I'm seriously considering this since I have not been able to sleep well since onset, and my current job takes way too many hours out of my day to at least try to sleep.

 

@gav01 -- You may want to check out THIS POST. In it, I touch on a number of things that you may be interested in such as OCD. It includes a link (below) to an interesting website on using inositol to treat OCD, in some cases almost miraculously. Though I don't have OCD, I take it regularly, as it seems to "ground" me in some good ways. -- Best...

LISTENING TO INOSITOL: CLINICAL NOTES

 

I'm actually making twice as much as I was pre tinnitus and hyperacusis, but it's killing me. I deal with some anxiety and OCD as well. The job is stressful enough, but worrying about tinnitus worsening because of unforeseen events just adds a lot of stress. I travel to a lot to different labs and locations where I don't know the noise level going in, and I occasionally have to go out to dinner with customers or coworkers. I'm careful about the type of planes I fly in and actively try to avoid small regional jets because they are loud. I've been thinking about looking for a lower stress local job a lot lately, but I really like my manager so I'm sticking with this for now. I'm the type to push through and persevere, but the stress is really getting to me.

 

I can't work more then 15-16 hours a week tops, due to several issues (not only tinnitus and hyperacusis).

I live in Denmark and we have something called flex jobs here, which you can be approved for if you have a disability or several that permanently diminishes your ability to work a regular job. I am currently in the process of trying to get approved for this. If I get approved (I might get rejected) I will only have to work 15-16 hours and get paid for those hours by my workplace... the remaining hours will be payed by the government... so you will get paid a salary which amounts to a full time job on a so-called flex job.

Our health care system is good that way, and as unlucky as I have been in life when it comes to my health, I am after all grateful to be born here.

 

I love Denmark, we have family there... I bet the Scandinavian countries are so much better to live in for people with disabilities or health conditions.

Our UK social and healthcare systems are so stretched...

 

This, in itself makes all the difference in a job, a supervisor who is understanding, provides good leadership and maybe some flexibility. Humor is a plus. Same with coworkers. It can be so difficult to face the day, trying to balance work and your sanity (even with less hours) if you don't have this. Much, much more so when trying to cope with T/H. It's a dilemma.

 

It does make a big difference. I wouldn't stick around in this job with a bad manager.

On the flip side I have senior coworkers that think they are my manager. It's not like I see them in the office every day as I work remotely and we are in different locations, but there is one in particular that makes things a lot more stressful.

 

That's a really good system. Scandinavia must be a great place to live.

 

I have two managers... I only told them at the beginning once but I think they remember, especially since I had been taking off to see doctors. I got all 4s (out of 5) last year on my performance, but I'll probably get all 3s this year, since one of my bosses has been on my case lately.

I'm planning to add a note in my appraisal that I got tinnitus to explain the decrease... Any thoughts on that?

During the first few months I could not work at all, just stared at the computer screen. Now I'm much more productive but still have moments during the day where I can't focus. Before I got tinnitus I was planning to start applying to other places, now I am going to stay put.

 

Regional jets are a killer for ears.

In job terms, I think the key is to avoid loud sound. Stress complicates things but the primary factor that impacts hearing is noise.

 

Hyperacusis is a great brake for career development.

 

Thank you for this information

 

Wow that's amazing! In England you get next to nothing and the scraps that they do throw you requires vigorous ongoing screenings not to mention battling the lies/withheld information that the Doctor who is screening you for disability benefits passes onto the government staff.

 

So basically they want to deny any rent, subsidy or pension, dont they?

 

I understand where you are coming from. I suffer from what would probably qualify as treatment resistant OCD. Been on multiple SSRI's. Currently on Clomipramine. The supposed "Gold Standard" for OCD. Anyways twice because of severe OCD episodes that didn't get better I had to take short term disability. The first time I didn't know it was OCD. It was newer to me at that point. Went on Short Term Disability, came back to work and they put me in a lesser job but paid me the same. Basically doing IT Tech Support. So I left that place. Then it struck again about two years later after the stress of having another child. Went on Short Term and got my same job when I came back, but they let me go like 4 months later. By then the lawyer said they had "gainfully" employed me for enough time. No matter what I think they let me go for having to take time off.

I am close to being interviewed down in Boston on a cable station there about how OCD has affected my life. Good luck to you. Medicine does help a lot of people. I am just one of the unlucky few. I was suffering with Suicide OCD when I got Tinnitus. Frightened me to read all the posts about people feeling suicidal. I was sure I was going to do it. Now I have also been diagnosed with Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia. Also known as the suicide disease. Life is funny sometimes.

 

@TomBradyGOAT -- Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia, OCD, and tinnitus all reflect potential compression and/or dysfunction of the brainstem. Brainstem dysfunction can result from head injuries, whiplash, weakening of ligaments from disease or genetics, etc. If you have a history that includes any of these factors, you may want to find some specialists that can evaluate you. Best... -- P.S. Sometimes the injuries don't have to be severe, as some people are born with a narrow atlas (which the brainstem passes through), so only a minor injury can at times cause compression.

 

Thanks. I went to a well known Neurosurgeon in Long Island last week. With the MRI I brought he believes he might have found a compression of my trigeminal nerve and my facial nerve. He wasn't happy with the quality of the images I got from my regular doctor so I had to do an MRI there, to his specifications. Waiting for the results which I think I should hear about tomorrow. He had just met a person from Toronto that is working on testing a simulator for OCD patients and my Neurosurgeon was looking at Co-Authoring or helping with the published article.

Sick of being on meds. Have almost crashed while driving a couple of times from fatigue because of the meds. I would be willing to do an MVD.

 

@TomBradyGOAT -- Not sure what an MVD is. -- In case you're interested, below is a link to a compelling story of how a young man traced his severe health problems down to a compressed brainstem. The details of how he had to fight tooth and nail with his neurosurgeons to acknowledge his condition is truly mind boggling. If you're up for a fairly lengthy--but very interesting--read, here's the link:

Cerviocervial Instability (CCI) & Atlantoaxial Instability (AAI) Story – 2018
—ME/CFS Portion in First Five Pages – CCI/AAI Story the Second Five Pages— ​

 

Thanks, I will definitely read. MVD means they take the artery compressing the nerve and move it. Then they put a Teflon pad between the two so the artery can't keep compressing the nerve.

 

Something to keep mind while you read, is that it's well documented CCI/AAI can be the cause of tinnitus. It's a topic I'll likely start a thread on one of these days here on TT.

 

How on earth does one work with severe tinnitus let alone anything besides that?

 

For me it is because I have a wife and two kids to support. Also I had no job when I got tinnitus. I had been laid off about five months before. Anyways getting a job for me offered a distraction.

 

Basically yes, people with true disabilities here are just a burden in their eyes. All this mental health awareness **** that our government and companies take part in is all just virtue signalling and to show that they are doing something but when it comes to each individual with disabilities which can’t be seen, none of them give a ****.

 

I have checking OCD and it gets worse at night, I guess due to the fact that I have no control once asleep so some nights (now and again) I won’t even hardly sleep.

Sometimes due to my tinnitus and worries of money I will lie in bed for hours on end, occasionally once a week it would be as long as 18 hours. I wouldn’t sleep for that long, maybe 10 to 12 in split intervals. I’m just all over the place and as much as I’d like to earn more money I just know I’d end up calling in sick if I went full time and end up on my final warning.

 

I spend a lot of time at my computer (it’s a form of escapism from my tinnitus. But I always did spend a lot of time on my computer years before my tinnitus gradually got worse. My chiropractor knows I do but he’s never called out my neck posture. I do have a good posture most of the time when I’m standing and walking, just not so much in front of the computer. The high pitch hissing tone is definitely worsened by my computer posture but I’m trying to fix that and it’s going well. But my over all ringing noise seemed to have gotten worse randomly and over night.

On a side note I started taking these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Extension-Regenerator-Nicotinamide-Riboside/dp/B00NPXDXNA/

Which are listed in a thread on here.

I did notice that my tinnitus reduced down to about 25% at one point, I wasn’t sure if it was these or the N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) I started taking 10 days before but I noticed that a few days after discontinuing the NAC that my tinnitus shot up again over night and stayed the same since.

I did try another version of the RIBOSIDE but nothing has changed so I’ll try the above link once more. I can’t really afford to spend the money but I need to know these worked for sure because I don’t think my tinnitus would reduce that much on its own.