working with WG good or bad idea

[Baz]

i only have two main symptoms of WG and that is i get pain and rash on my lower legs. when i am at work depending on how physical my day is i come home with different levels of pain and rash the more physical my day the worst it is. But once iv had a nights sleep i seem to be able to get about and then go and do it all again. i need to know from people who have these symptoms if it is still OK for me to continue this cycle of work and pain or should i give up work and rest until my treatment works and then start again. AM i doing more damage than good help?

[delorisdoe]

I worked during treatment ten hours a day on a four on four off rotation. It was really tiring and hard but it is who I am and what I do. I don't know if it did me harm...I don't think so. I ws able to achieve a decent length of remisson.

I am wondering if I can work like that this time around. I am ten years older and I now work five ten hour days in a row. My boss has me in for 7 in a row soon. God help me.

[NicShaf]

It's hard to say, I all depends on how you feel and how your treatment is going. I have been working full time since starting treatment, but I have been fortunate enough not to have any joint pain. I think where going back to work did help me is that it helped me cope with the inital shock of diagnosis. Getting back to my regular routine and normal "everyday" type things helped me more emotionally recover from Wegs.
I don't know what kind of work you do, but when I first came back to work, I was having a really hard time being tired. I started taking naps in my car on my lunch hour. I work an office job, so I just went downstairs to the parking lot. And it was winter time, so the weather was nice out...I'm not sure if either of these is the case for you.
Best of luck

[Sangye]

Baz, it's very individual. You'll probably have to try it and see how it goes. For me it wasn't/isn't even an option. Some people are not in that bad shape with the Wegs and they can keep working. Others are in bad shape and keep working even though it's harming them or at the least, slowing down their progress. Many people have no choice here in the US-- they'll lose their health insurance and/or they have no way to eat if they stop working.

[Baz]

sorry i never said wot type of job i do im a joiner by trade but also a plumber and do a lot of heavy lifting also spend a lot of time on my knees working down low on floors.

[Sangye]

One thing you need to be careful about no matter how well you feel is that pred makes it easy to rupture tendons and ligaments. You should not do heavy lifting or strenuous work while on high dose pred.

[ScreaminMeanie]

I don't really have a choice - no job means no insurance, no house, no food! I'm lucky in that I have an office job and it's way more mentally stressful than physically stressful. You've just got to do what's best for you.

[delorisdoe]

I don't really have a choice - no job means no insurance, no house, no food! I'm lucky in that I have an office job and it's way more mentally stressful than physically stressful. You've just got to do what's best for you.

This is the reality I faced and I dealt with it

[Hammy8241]

Baz, as others have said, we are all individuals and Wg treats us as such.

The one tip i can offer you is to try and work in periods and take regular long rest breaks. (ie. work two hours, rest 30-45 mins etc.) Impracticable I know but it was the only way I managed my job initially. it was that or go off sick, so I decided that some work was better than none. In your trades though, the customers may not be so accommodating as my bosses were.

[misskay]

Baz... I was too sick to work for the first year after diagnosis, and now that I'm healthier my doc approved me to go back to work but cautioned against going back to the job I left because of the 12 hours shifts and extremely high stress involved. I was a 9-1-1 operator/ emergency dispatcher.

In my 'former life' before that I worked as a plumber/pipefitter/welder. Can't go back to that because of the physical exertion issues, not to mention the heat/cold lays havoc with me.

I've found what I hope is the perfect place for me now... I work as a Lab Technician/Forensic Researcher for plumbing product failures. Very low stress, very low physical exertion. Some testing of plumbing fixtures involved, and lots of computer work. I just finished my first week last Thursday... and although it is 10 hour days, I've managed better than I thought I would. Have been pretty wiped out this weekend, but I get a 3 day weekend every weekend... so work 4 days, recover for 3. PLUS, I can schedule my doctor appointments and infusions for Fridays and not have to miss work