Do you work?....
 

Well here I am almost 2.5 years after accident and we are trying to settle my work. comp. case. All of the stress from it is of course making me feel worse, but I am hoping that will ease up after it is all done. Of course work. comp. is trying to say that I have no impairments.

My lawyer and my vest. therapist are working to come up with some work restrictions or me. There is no way I can work more than half-time, and even that would probably be too much.

I would like to get an idea of what others with PCS do for income. So my questions are:

Do you work?
If so, what type of work?
How much do you work per day and per week?
Is your type and amount of work manageable with your PCS?
Any advice about finding the right type of work?
Do you receive SSD?

Thank you.

I continued to work in my remodeling business for 6 years. I needed my wife's assistance to drive and keep me on task. I had total control of the work pace and environment.

In my experience, a job that allows you to set your own pace and take breaks as you need them would work best. Being able to have control over the environment, sounds, voices, brightness of lights, etc. will help. A job where you do the outreach (phone/email/text) vs being bombarded with contacts from others will be easiest. Minimal urgency is best.

I qualified for SSDI in 2009 after a 3 year battle. The deciding factor was my inability to tolerate the pressures of others setting my schedule and work pace.

One can get SSDI and still work as long as you do not earn more than $1100 per month. You have a issue with whether you can get a reasonable SSDI award because your wages the past 2.5 years have been reduced. They look at past earning to determine monthly benefit amount. My benefit was reduced by $150 per month because I reduced my workload while I contemplated applying for SSDI.

So, the work restrictions I would suggest without knowing specific details are:
Ability to control work pace
Ability to control urgency (time pressure causes stress that reduces cognitive function)
Pro-active rather than reactive work
Control over environment (sounds, voices, etc)
Control over access to short breaks
Preferably daily duties and projects that are completed before the end of the day (taking home the mental load of unfinished projects causes stress)
A job where a computer or other record system is used to effectively track incomplete tasks. (again, trying to keep track of incomplete tasks in the mind is stressful)
A job that depends more on manual tasks can be good. Shuffling papers is not a manual task.
If you are having vestibular issues, a job with minimal need to change your head position, looking around, head down to head up, etc.

If you have had a professional suggest your limitations, I could help you turn those limitations into job conditions with suggested jobs.

I hope this helps.