I am interested in this as well. I have been a stay at home homeschooling mom for 27 years, am returning to work teaching high school English this fall. I only have a 5 minute drive, which is great, as I find that I cannot drive for more than 20 minutes or so without increasing pain levels throughout the day.
I have "moderate to severe" progressive neuropathy, both small and large fiber, sensory-motor, probably CMT. Skin punch showed no discernable nerve fibers at ankle, few above knee, and segmented and breaking down at thigh, so I am pretty far along with no treatment other than pain relief. I have been to Johns Hopkins for full eval and the neurologists agreed with my decision not to pursue further testing. I am pretty strong with a high pain threshold, so I get along all right, but I do get so tired and when the pain interferes with my life too much I take Oxycodone. But I will not drive when I take it, so I am wondering if teaching will be too much for me, without taking pain meds. I am on 1800 mg gabapentin, which helps with the burning and zaps but not the leg pain. My hands and arms are affected as well, writing on the board will be tough and my handwriting has seen better days.
What are your symptoms like, Danielle?

Susanne, my symptoms started about 2 and a half months ago. I have had tingling through out my whole body. Right now I mostly have slight burning in my feet with some aching pain if I walk too much. I feel prickles all over sometimes and some small muscle twitches too. It has happened very fast. I feel it is due to my back. I had extreme muscle spasms in my back right before this happened. I was on vacation doing some sight seeing and walked too much I guess. I also take 1800 mgs of gabapentin each day! I have 2 children who are in elementary school. I carry the insurance for the family. It is all so scary. Thanks for your sharing. It makes me feel like I am not alone! Danielle

That is a lot of pressure to be under, and scary to have such a sudden onset of symptoms. I hope that it means you are treatable. Are your doctors aggressively looking for a cause? Sometimes they seem to dismiss the back issues as being related.

I have the muscle twitches too, much worse if I get tired. I am teaching because I can no longer do the fine needlework I have always done and I need an intellectual challenge to take my mind off of my losses. I have 3 young adult children, one son who is a high school senior, and my youngest son is 12. I am 49.

I am soon to be 35. You have a lot on your plate as well. How long have you had PN? Did you not have any muscle weakness at first? Right now I don't have any numbness or weakness. The emg and nerve conduction test show no damage yet. I have had 4 Mris. Including a brain one. I haven't heard the results of that one. I have also had many blood tests. I am so glad you are going out there to teach to help you stay challenged. What area are you teaching?

"My hands and arms are affected as well, writing on the board will be tough and my handwriting has seen better days."

Suzanne
Most teaching nowadays is done on a Smart board, you can use PowerPoint presentations with these and they are hooked up to the Internet so you can show video clips, you can also type with the computer as you are going along(saves the writing). Teaching has changed so much in this new electronic age, my tip would be to try to get another English teachers presentations and amend them to suit yourself( this way you won't be typing the full course as you go along as this would take ages).
There may be training on using this technology that you could prepare over the summer. Good luck

This is a small private school with minimal budget, conservative ways, and zero technology. My daughter teaches high school English in Philadelphia, they have smart boards and power point, but that is about it. I appreciate your taking the time to suggest this, though. Perhaps things are very different where you are, but here teaching is pretty low tech in general.

I put in a request at work to telecommute, something a teacher cannot do. Anyway I am a Programmer/annalist, and most of my job can be done with a computer, the rest is meetings which can be done over a conference phone. I put the request in, informally back in January. I did not get an answer until April. A big no. The reason given was that they have "no work at home policy". And all work from home should stop. As many of you can relate there are good days and bad days. The 45 minute commute was a horror. On especially bad days I would have to pull over to the side of the road and scream.

Anyway; I finally had enough, one day, I had a particularly bad day and wanted to go home. But because all three of the other programmers where absent, I was obligated to stay. It was hell. I filed for Temporary divisibility and have been off work since May. I also put in a formal ADA request for accommodation. My Dr. has been slow to respond but agrees that the only way I can work productively is from home.

Until someone can figure out how to solve complex problems while in pain I will need to work around it. Working through it actually helps as mental distraction is the best pain reliever I have found, but as soon as the phone rings or someone drops into my office the pain comes back like a ton of bricks.

I give credit to all who work and/or are parents too. I have been off work and school since this condition started. I hope one day to go back to college and work again. I think I will start though with a volunteer position. A lot will be finding a position that I can do with the limits. Sending good thoughts

Thanks Daniella! I wanted to share with you that I belong to a FB group called Support for Neuropathy. It is a closed group, so none of your friends can read your posts only the group members. It is mentioned in the Neuropathy.org newsletter this month. You can also contact Jessica Benjamin through FB if you would like to join. It is a great group and has helped me a lot.

Thank you for the FB site. I just joined one for RSD but will join that one too. I never knew on FB there were groups like this. I find support of people that deal with the same so helpful. Sending pain free thoughts