how many of you are working? if so what do you do and how many hours can you handle?
 

I'm a hairstylist -- eager to go back to work ..but not ready

When I first started back at work, I thought I could handle a full day. I tried doing that for a week or so and I ended up feeling awful.

So, with my doctor's advice I started off working 3 hrs; an amount I thought I could handle without completing wiping myself out. I was able to gradually increase my hours over the course of my work term and ended up around 6.5 hours per day. If possible, I would suggest the best thing to do is work the minimum amount of hours so you aren't coming home at the end of the day with headaches. And slowly increase.

I am a student, so I am back to school now. I am taking a reduced course-load as a still don't feel able to handle a full course load. I find it odd, because I almost am feeling worse lately now that I am back to school. My last shift at work was 6.5 hrs long but in a school day now I am finding I will get a headache after only 2 hours of class! It worries me because I feel like I am getting worse but perhaps its the change in environment (busy, noisy classroom) thats bringing on my symptoms.

where and what did you do at work?

I'm not sure I could take the loud music and chatting with customers all day...or even for a few hours. I had an hour lunch with a friend (after going to the chiropractor for an hour) and was wiped out and felt awful the other day.

My friend still works at one of the salons -- and I can go sit with her for an hour on mondays (not so busy for her) and maybe just being in the environment might give me an idea of what I can handle.

I work 12 hour night shifts as an ICU nurse. 36 hours a week. I started back to work 14 weeks after my accident. Ive been back for 2 months now and my symptoms are just getting worse and worse. My headaches are pretty much constant and i have no energy to do anything on my days off. Unfortunately, i gotta keep going and feel like crap every day or there will be no job and no health insurance. I deal with the most extreme form of stress on a daily basis at my job...trying to save someones life.

Self employed. Have my own website design business. For the past 14 months doctors have limited me to 10 hours a week (split up between at least 5 days). I can't even do 10 hours a week; 3-4 hours a week allows me to still function throughout the week.

99% of my job is working alone at home when I am at my best. Occasionally I have to actually meet a client in person.

Before the "m"TBI I was doing two jobs from home from 6:30 AM to 9 PM or even later. Nannying (between 4 1/2 to 6 hours a day), and game art/animation (as many hours til bed at 10PM or so).

After, not much has changed, though I take many weekends off.

My boss is my housemate. He knows I have a TBI, but has cursed me out, threatened and insulted me for occassional mistakes.

We are both Christian & end an intense discussion on a good note.

My only symptom from my TBI is pain, increased by stress or additional injury.

I was in debt from the ER/MRI bill, am not any more thanks to a finished project, but am living off savings & have no insurance.

I take on tasks as often as I can. I need to be able to walk away from the task when I notice brain fatigue. My wife notices that I am slower and working more deliberately. I do this because if I work to fast or impulsively, my brain will fart and mess things up.

I am a high school English teacher. I missed an entire semester last year after my concussion.

I am currently working 5 hours per day, and I am not in a whole-group instruction setting. I'm working in a program where I work one-to-one with kids. I still get headaches if I have to sit through a day of meetings with the whole staff, so I'm pretty sure whole-group instruction would still be too much sensory input.

But the current arrangement seems to be working out well. I'm grateful to have an option that allows me to ease back in slowly.

4 hours desk work each weekday, which most days I can barely manage and some days I don't get much useful done at all (though some days I do).

This was supposed to be a transition plan for me on returning to work 2 months ago, but I have been unable to increase my hours as I haven't improved as expected.

Really sorry to hear about this nightnurse, sounds horrible.

So what happens in the USA if someone gets too sick to work and isn't rich enough to live without working? You just get left to starve?

That's rough, I'm sorry that you're going through that. Is there any way you'd be able to work fewer hours without it affecting your insurance eligibility? I hope you begin to feel better.

My situation is somewhat similar. I am an infant caregiver and I work 40 hours per week. I didn't/couldn't take any time off of work after my last (and 5th) concussion because I was already covering for someone else. I also know that if I don't work I'll have no income or health insurance. There is no option to do part time where I work. I also don't feel comfortable telling the people I work with that I've had another concussion because I feel that they won't believe me. I have headaches all day every day and I am exhausted on the weekends. I just deal with it because I really don't have another option.

sadly no, i cant cut back on hours. My hospital is going through a major cutback in anticipation of healthcare reform and we are already overstaffed. If i say i am not well and need to cut back hours, they will most likely let me go since i exhausted my FMLA (leave of absence). Its just such a completely exhausting job, especially going against my sleep-wake cycle (which ive been doing for 8 years now and never had a problem)....but now my body just cant handle it. On my days off, i have been sleeping 12-17 hours completely wiped out. There are so many levels of stress at my job- physical, emotional, and mental stress that i think goes against every theory on what to avoid to get better from a concussion. I think if i had a normal job, and went back in slow short stints like everyone else has described, i might have an easier recovery. Nursing is my life though.

I never stopped working. I have my own web development business. I hit my head on a Friday and worked as usual on Monday. I really shouldn't have. I really don't know when to quit. I was SUPER slow and who knows really what kind of mistakes I made those days. I'm surprised I even knew who I was. Work was very difficult for the first month. Very difficult. I could barely speak.

Almost. Hopefully you could elect short and long term disability from a private insurance carrier when you hired onto your job. In the mean time a payroll deduction is taken (mandatory) for SSI. If all goes well you never use it, good for you, very good for them.This is reassuring until you need it. You file on the private carrier and hopefully they pay. Then you usually spend a couple of years (usually 2) trying to get Federal SSI (disability) while the private insurance pays you (all provided your doctor will agree to your incapacity), SSI/SSD will usually deny benefits which involves turn downs, appeals, etc. In the mean time the insurance company you paid all those years harrasses you, denies getting information, wants more information, calls and tries to get you to say something they can use to deny benefits, etc. If that isn't good enough they send someone to "tail" you and take photos of you going to the grocery, walking, spending time with family, etc and claim you aren't disabled and cut you off. (I have to say this doesn't happen to everyone, but what if you are the one.) If denied due to this the insurance company is the one you have to appeal to and they make the decision (sounds fair to them, can probably thank our politicians and contributions). I'm terrified all the time, afraid to even take out trash.....google this subject, its amazing.
Mike

Probably not. There are food stamps. My answer as a responsible citizen however, is a gut reaction of yes, but I hope it's not the real answer. I've been wondering about this lately as I've lost some of the zest I used to have to work. It's not like me at all. I was an extremely driven person. Now I just really would like to take at LEAST a year off and just stay in a funk by myself in a cave.

Trust me, it's not fun but what else do you do when you can't function enough to even get to work some days and the others you are so dizzy and vomitting you just have to lay down. It was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. It's not just work that goes it's a lot of the other things that made you who you are that go as well.
Mike

nightnurse....if you asked to cut back hours and got laid off couldnt you collect unemployment??

I'm thinking I might want to go hang out at the salon for a few hours a few days a week and see how I do. Maybe next week

klaus,
In regards to you earlier question. Actually, the payroll deduction is for Social Security Retirement benefits that are not available until 62 years old. Social Security administered Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is paid out to those with no income or assets to use to try to pay the bills. It is basically a welfare payment. It comes with Medicaid indigent medical benefits. Social Security Disability Income can be applied for at 12 months after disability caused unemployment. It is based on qualifying wages over the previous years and comes with Medicare medical benefits that are usually limited to the retired and over 65 group.

I have too much in assets to qualify for SSI so I exhausted all my savings and investments and had to sell assets while waiting for my SSDI application to get approved. The back pay I received upon approval was less than half the value of the assets I had to liquidate.

Some can get it quickly. Others, like me, will need to reapply and it may take 3 years before getting approved on the third application through a hearing. I should have been approved after my second application but the reviewer did not knwo math and calculated that I was still making too much income to qualify.

Some states like California have a mandatory State Disability Insurance system paid with payroll deductions. It pays based on the amount of contributions paid in.

Some employers have private disability insurance, both short term and sometimes long term. It can be problematic to get these benefits as 4mikee said.

Disability for those of us with a head injury needs to be properly supported with cognitive. memory and other testing since most of us are completely ambulatory. We can physically take out the trash but can't remember which day to take out the trash.

We are the invisible wounded.

im afraid if i go back out of work...i would essentially have nothing to live for and would enter further into a crazy depression that i wouldnt be able to get myself out of. Working right now is at least validating my worth and making me feel like a productive member of society. I was out earlier this year with a back injury for 3 months, and then after being back for 1 month, i had the TBI and out 3 and a half months. Over 6 months this year I have been out of work and i cant imagine going back out again and being that bored out of my mind again. I think working is keeping me sane in a way, even if it is producing awful painful symptoms and utter exhaustion. I think i also am just wishing it will magically get better somehow. Before i returned to work 2 months ago, i felt great. Cant believe how much worse ive gotten since then. such a nasty vicious cycle!!! grrrrrrrr

Glad I've done this in the UK. Far from perfect and going in the wrong direction but we still have housing benefit and incapacity benefit if needed.

nightnurse i too struggle with the idea of not being a productive member of society. i'm coping by thinking more in the long term, what i can do when i get better, whenever that might be. most things i do which are aimed at being 'productive' at the moment, set me back and take that day further away.

thinking of you, sounds like you've got one of the worst jobs for these sorts of symptoms :(

Nightnurse hang in there if you can. It affected my daily task so much i was a mistake or accident waiting to happen. The cognitive impairments no one can see are debilitating in themselves. Simply replying here and checking the forums is hit or miss and usually causes problems with nausea, visual and vertigo. I feel that due to my issues i was moved out of my position of 11 years (21 yrs specialty area in my field) to an entry level all in the name of cross training. That was some rwo months into this. Tell me that's not the writting on the wall.

Mark you are correct on the SSI. I tried to shorten it a bit and guess the tre gist suffered.

Hang tight Klaus.

Mike

I tried to work
 

The day I was concussed I went to work as a corporate training administrator. I was feeling out of it but not in pain (yet). I went back to work on and off for a month when the pain wasn't too severe. I was eventually fired for attendance issues even though they were all excused. I was still considered a temporary worker and my review for permanent hiring came when I was unable to work on a consistent basis. Also, Indiana is an "at will" state, so the company can legally fire me for any reason or no reason at all. I was extremely upset about this at the time, but living with anger and resentment was doing me no good. I now view this unfortunate experience as a chance to grow and explore the numerous possibilities available to me. :cool:

I'm a chef/owner of a catering business and hurt myself two hours prior to an event. Through sheer will I mananged to finish cooking and called in staff to work that night. Three days later I had an event for 350. Got through that by working constantly with headaches and then just went to bed for three weeks straight. Very little visual or auditory stimulation during that time. This was 2 months ago.

Slowly I am getting back to perhaps 50% of what I normally could do prior to injury. I limit my time on the computer, although if it is just reading etc I can handle it. No data entry etc...I start getting a headache. What I still can't handle is noise or sudden bursts of light etc. That brings on the pressure headache almost instantaneously. So if I am doing "light" work I'm okay..anything that requires too much "figuring out" (like trying to figure out the right words..LOL) I do go back to headaches, eye pressure, nervousness etc.

It's indredibly hard to hold yourself back when you are a small business owner..there are just so many jobs that only I can do; otherwise explaining is worse than doing it myself...I do delegate whatever I can. I know my limits right now. I have to keep within those in order to constantly progress in a positive way.

I was working about 60-80 hours a week on average before the auto accident. Because I had increased intracranial pressure (iicp) for the first six months before the doctors realized it, I was on bed rest due to being in very severe pain. (1mg of dilaudid which is 10x stronger than 1mg of morphine only cut my pain in half for short period of time - a few hours. So, I couldn't even move or speak for months and I needed assistance with everything I did.) In addition, the iicp most likely caused my brain further damage than the initial injury.

I had three regular jobs before the accident. I am a professional audio engineer and technician for live events and I work full time (40 hrs/wk) for a local university film & TV department. The other 20-40 hours I worked each week were gigs I had in theatres. I've been doing this kind of work for fifteen years and it's the only kind of work I've done since I was in college.

I used to be very strong. My full time job contract requires that I am able to lift 75 lbs. Well, being on the bed rest destroyed my strength and stamina.

I started working 12 hours a week on Aug 1 this year. A little over a year after the car accident I was in. I tried to go up to 18, but the doctor reduced me back down to 12 after about a week because there was a significant decline in my speech and cognitive functioning. I need a lot of rest.

I am going to be re-evaluated tomorrow to se if I can go up to 20 hrs/wk. Unfortunately, I don't think I can. Our department supports 700 undergrads and about 100 grad students and they returned last week at the start of the semester and I've been busier than I was when I first returned as a result. I'm really struggling.

I am only able to work for the university film & tv dept and there's no way I could work in a theatre right now. I lost the ability to multitask because of the injury and I would be a danger to myself or others if I tried to work on a stage right now. I'm very much hoping that the ability to multitask returns, I excelled at multi-tasking before the accident.

I'm getting better and I'm very determined to be ALL better. But it's a slow process for me and a lot of hard work. I used to be able to unload semi trucks full of gear etc. and now lifting grocery bags makes me sore.

I literally feel disabled. My processing speed is still very slow compared to what it was, everything takes more than twice as long as it used to. I'm not even half as productive when I'm at work now than before the accident.

BUT I am MUCH better than I was one month ago and I was better then than I was a month before that and so on.

I have really been improving since they finally relieved the abnormal pressure that was inside my skull due to the swelling caused by the concussion. I have a lot of hope and it grows stronger every day. I had almost lost all hope right before the spinal tap that relieved the pressure in January. I am usually a very optimistic person, so having hope goes a long way with me.

My work is my true passion in life and it has brought me great joy for my entire life! I would be very sad if I was not able to return to it.

Im sad to say that my attempt at working failed miserably. After being back for 2 months, all my symptoms came back with a vengeance and my Neurologist today said i had no choice....she is putting me on disability for 3 months at least. So sad that i couldnt push through this and continue working. Sooooo frustrated! But i know im preventing myself from healing by working right now. Im 5 months post TBI and back at square 1. Im lucky to be in California and have state disability, but i lost all my leave benefits and now have to pay Cobra - $650 for my insurance a month. Im alienating all of my friends, my roommate and feel like i am such a burden and emotional basket case for everyone to tolerate. I hate my brain!

So sorry to hear that, nightnurse. :( :( :(

I just started back to work last week. It has been 39 days since my accident. I work part time at a hospital in the L&D dept and I am a full time student. After a week off school I could not afford to miss any more. Luckily all of my classes are quiet and I am only there 2 hours a day, but I still left with major headaches. Work has been hit and miss. I have only worked 4 shifts so far and depending on how busy, noisy, stressful it is I will earthier have a splitting headache like someone is stabbing me, or just shooting pains. I know I am very early into my recovery and hope my symptoms improve, but I am honesty not sure if I can handle work yet. I keep thinking about switching jobs to a nice calm quiet work environment like a library or something, but that probably wouldn't be able to pay my bills.

I totally understand where you're coming from and how hard it is to work while in pain. I finally found the right medication to control my pain, and have recently weaned off of it because I no longer need it. What medication are you taking?

My Neurologist just switched me to Gabapentin last week. I think its starting to make a difference, but I'm not sure yet. It could just be a few good days then back to the same old same old. Staying hopeful though. Any experience with this med? What were you taking and how did you know you didn't need it anymore? Glad your feeling better.

Ruby....I just happened to notice that you live in California under your name. You were saying how you were wondering how you would pay bills if you couldnt work and in case you didnt know, california has an amazing state disability program. If your doctor says you are not well enough to work, 1 week after you go out, you start getting your disability checks. Its non-taxed and its about 60% of your gross pay that you make on average for past 12 months. So lets say every 2 weeks you take home $1000 after taxes and deductions and what not. You will get a check for close to a $1000 from disability.

I thank god everyday that i am here in Cali rather than in my home state of Massachusetts that doesnt have a program like this. California is a rare state that has this! Look on the EDD website. All the information you need is there along with forms to download.

That is such a relief to know. I hope it wont come to that, but it helps to know that I wont have to worry to much about how to pay the bill. Thank you so much for telling me this nightnurse. I really appreciate it. I hope you are able to heal and recover over the next few months.

nightnurse...you need a break -- glad your dr put you on disability. I think the nightshift has to be the hardest.

Stay well.

I'm a psychologist and 4 10 hour days. I really look forward to Thursdays since it is my day off to sleep in. :)

ok...Doctor t--- so can you believe that a neurologist actually told me that my symptoms are "an underlying anxiety that manifested itself" and that I should be healed from just one hit on the head!

I know I have anxiety -- who wouldn't in our cases...suffering for months! But can you imagine??

Nightnurse

You need some time to heal. Hoping you really take this time and make it work. Give it time. I still have days I can't handle.

I'm a parent advocate and work 24 hours a week.

Donna:grouphug:

No way. He must now know what it's like. Expedience makes it different. Airy he doesn't get it

Sorry, it was hard typing on my new phone. It ought to have said, "No way!" He must not know what it's like. Experience of anxiety makes it different. He doesn't get it."

So true! It's hard to understand another's pain if you haven't experienced it!

I've actually been out of work for 16 months, collecting unemployment. I just recently enrolled in college to become a dental assistant...but I'm starting to realize the symptoms i'm having are going to effect my school negatively..So i'm thinking about waiting before I start.