How do you work?!

[[Lo...]]

How can you guys manage to w/d and work at the same time? I work 12 hr shifts (at night...so my whole sleep pattern is thrown to the wind anyway) and my commute is about 50 mins each way (facing the sun...FUN!!). I'm a nurse so I really can't be making mistakes and forgetting things all the time, nor running to the bathroom w/ GI upset. As of this week I'm completely out of PTO AND I just called off my wedding that was to take place in a few weeks ..and broke up with my fiance. I feel things aren't going to get much better from here and I just feel so sad about this break up and so moody from w/d. I just want to function safely at my job.

[[mi...]]

How can you guys manage to w/d and work at the same time? I work 12 hr shifts (at night...so my whole sleep pattern is thrown to the wind anyway) and my commute is about 50 mins each way (facing the sun...FUN!!). I'm a nurse so I really can't be making mistakes and forgetting things all the time, nor running to the bathroom w/ GI upset. As of this week I'm completely out of PTO AND I just called off my wedding that was to take place in a few weeks ..and broke up with my fiance. I feel things aren't going to get much better from here and I just feel so sad about this break up and so moody from w/d. I just want to function safely at my job.

 

I don't work. It is my husbands request that I stay home until I fully recover.

[[Ro...]]

How can you guys manage to w/d and work at the same time? I work 12 hr shifts (at night...so my whole sleep pattern is thrown to the wind anyway) and my commute is about 50 mins each way (facing the sun...FUN!!). I'm a nurse so I really can't be making mistakes and forgetting things all the time, nor running to the bathroom w/ GI upset. As of this week I'm completely out of PTO AND I just called off my wedding that was to take place in a few weeks ..and broke up with my fiance. I feel things aren't going to get much better from here and I just feel so sad about this break up and so moody from w/d. I just want to function safely at my job.

 

There is no way I could work...not even close. I thought I was getting close after 8 months but after reinstatement things got much worse. 9 months later...just barely able to get out of bed sometimes. If I tried to go to work at this point...I would just get fired for incompetence.

 

Robb

[[bo...]]

I too am a nurse and have not worked full time for awhile.  Try not to get all worked up durring this time, as it will only make things worse.  Relax, and think about maybe trying something at work thats less stressful, if at all possible. Dont let this thing get the best of you.  Try to plan your steps, and things will work out...

 

Bobby.....

[[Ju...]]

I work full time as an executive assistant - Looking back I wish I would have taken short term disability. At the time, I was worried about rumors in our small company about why I had taken leave.  It's been rough. There have been times when I have had to take short naps during the day (I'm sure NOT a possibility for a busy nurse). The positive is that it is a distraction from our symptoms. I don't think I would have done very well at home staring at my apartment walls, either.  I had to tell my boss - I was screwing things up left and right due to cog fog and memory problems. Surprisingly she was very understanding about it as I made sure I was doing my absolute best.  Still, I was constantly afraid of being fired.

[Guest [la...]]

There is no way in H3LL I could work right now. I've been out of work for 11 months now and there's no chance that I'm going back anytime soon. I just have to "roll w/ the punches", I suppose, and deal w/ what I have until I'm well enough to work again. It is what it is. I want SO badly just to get back to normal and to be able to work again and to live a normal, happy, healthy life. It's not seeming like that's going to be possible, however, for a while. I just have to accept it, I suppose.

 

I hope that you're able to do a nice, slow taper so that you're able to continue working. I know that some people were able to do this. I hope that you are one of them.

 

I wish you the best. Much love, ((HUGS)) and healing,Nicole

[[as...]]

When I was tapering, which sucked, I don't think I could have worked. Once I got down to 1mg (from 6mg) I started interviewing for a job. I got hired, and then over the next few months tapered down to zero. Then I ct'ed off Ambien.

 

I still don't know how I am standing, if you want to know the truth. I have no. freaking. clue.

[[...]]

I worked only one day during my taper and withdrawal. I'm a nurse too. A few months later I went to apply for a short-term job and noticed that my nursing license had expired quite a few months before. I was so zoned out by the experience that the renewal was one of the many things I screwed up. Fortunately I am 100% better and working. But I didn't dare work as a nurse and risk making an error that would harm someone. Of course there are nursing roles that don't involve tasks that relate to patient safety.

[Guest [Tu...]]

I am a psychiatric social worker. I was lost my job back in April because of cuts to Medicaid. I decided to take the time I was receiving unemployment and cold turkey. I lasted 47 days and reinstated for 2 months and 3 weeks, then resumed my c/t on September 7, so I'm just over two weeks out. I've got a solid job offer and I'm dodging phone calls and know the job will go away. I'd interviewed during the period I'd gone back on Valium during the summer, but now that I'm off there is no way I can do the job. So, I avoid the calls to my cell phone and I know at some point the job offer will evaporate and my unemployment will continue. It expires in November, but then the federal emergency benefits kick in and I'm good until June 2012. After that, if I'm still not ready to work, I guess I start dipping into my 401(k).

 

At this point, I've had enough of Valium after a 14-year addiction to benzos (Xanax for 2 years, with a cross-over to Valium in the summer of 1999), so as long as I am able to make ends meet, I'm just not going to stress about work. I'm due to retire in about 8 or 9 years (I'll be 57 next month), but at this points, everything is about getting off benzos for good and getting my old life back. I definitely don't want to go through this when I'm 66. I think it would kill me!

 

So, no work, no fun, no play. I just hold on and hope for the best...

 

I hope things work out for you!

 

Tucson

Me on Day 16 of a reinstated c/t:  

[[Lo...]]

Thankfully I work part time but I can't quit because I need the insurance. I'm part of a team at work that uses two nurses and double checks everything the other does, but sometimes I do take care of patients. Since I have so much other stress going on in my life with the ended relationship, I'm just going to hold at my current dose for a loooong time. I live right by my mom and she helps my spirit a lot and my psychiatrist seems more than willing to let me go at my own pace.