Epilepsy and Work

[TeeTees]

Okay, I'll start by putting one thing straight - this is not to do with who has the 'greater' job, or who doesn't work.....so no fighting please.

There are just a couple of things I want to address...the first being a kinda fun (and nosey) one :

1. What do you do as a job ?

The second is another nosey one based on people who aren't in work for WHATEVER reason (which you have all rights NOT to tell us, but I would be interested if you were told by you Doc not to go to work, and for what reason) :

2. What do you do on a general day-to-day basis ? ie. to make a day feel complete

The third and final is for people IN work :

3. Do you find that actually going to work helps you with your seizures ?

Now, the reasons behind the questions lies in how I feel :

When I'm home, having a break, and a seizure occurs, I find that I tend to dwell on it as I don't have much to occupy my mind with - and I feel shattered too.

When I'm in work, and a seizure occurs, I find that I get over it quicker as I am surrounded by friends, and have plenty of work to take my mind away from the horridness (if that's a word) of Epilepsy.

So my answers to the questions above, read as :

1. I'm an Senior Accounts Payable Administrator - sounds alot flasher than it is. Basically I'm in control of a small team who concentrate on the payment of Suppliers to the company.

2. N/A

3. I DO feel that it greatly aids my Epliepsy as I have somewhere to focus my mind.

 

[RobinN]

Rebecca is a sophmore in high school.
Being around her friends is what gets her through the rough times.
She likes to focus on the school activities, and not on her Epilepsy (she has me to do that for her). She hates not going to school. She does not hide from this disorder.

 

[wonderdogs]

I work for a local hospital in outpaitient scheduling and preregistration.

I work very hard at being positive. After all I speak to many elderly and/or sick people and I learn from them a lot. Some are grouchy and mad because they are ill, others are positive and grateful to whoever will listen and try to help. Who would I rather imitate?

Since I am in the medical profession my coworkers are very supportive of me. They were the first to learn about my Epilepsy as I was at work when the neuro called with the results of my EEG. It is a relaxed environment. Aside from the companionship of my coworkers I don't think it helps or hurts my condition.

 

[brain]

I tried working via the Vocational
Rehabilitation Administrator & Counselor
through US Federal Contracts and under
the Federal Government employments,
and no matter what job or position or
where I was it was a problematic issue.

The whole being was, 2 years before
I graduated they had already had me
all set up for SSDI & SSI & Medicare
& Medicaid & Food Stamps - they didn't
see me as being able to gain any lawful
employment at all.

I was pretty upset and angry about that
and I wanted to prove them wrong.

When the Voc. Rehab. threw in the towel,
we also had our own businesses, and
no matter what I attempted in - it just
didn't work - we ended up having to sell
our successful businesses.

I have the business knowledge, skills,
education, experience, etc... but the
neurological issues keeps me at bay.

It's all been tried - everything under
the sun - part time, full time, flexible,
mixed, you name it - it's been done.

I even attempted the feat on my own
and it failed. I finally gave up. Apparently
the Doctors and all knew what they were
talking about years ago way back in the
70s. And it was frustrating. But when I
heard about brain surgery, and how it
could restore it and how it caused people's
lives to return back to normal or those
who never had that opportunity to get
that opportunity .. my hopes soared ...
only to crash down back to earth. I
was depressed and I cried, it was almost
unfair ... I want off of all of this stuff I've
been on for years. People don't realize
how tired I am of this and how much I
want to be 'normal' and out there working.
I love to work and be active, but
apparently it's not going to happen.

 

[Grneydgurl]

1. What do you do as a job ?

I am a cashier at a gas station.

2. What do you do on a general day-to-day basis ? I work from anywhere from 3-11 pm or 4-12 am, wide awake from 12am -6am. Sleep while everyone is at work and school, I get up about 12 (noon), pick up the house, get ready for work and then I walk a mile to work.

3. Do you find that actually going to work helps you with your seizures ?

I thought so, it does keep my mind occupied, but I am a stressful person and the stress of "people with no common sense kills me". But my last seizure was at work. I have had a total of 5 seizures in my history at different employers.

 

[epileric]

Right now I'm unemployed & I find that whenever I go through long periods with little to do my seizures get worse, more frequent or both.

The best jobs I've had were those when I was self-employed. I had a kiosk (like those in the malls) for many years & did well. I'm now training for acupressure then reflexology.

When I have gotten more menial jobs I've never told anyone about the E. I always thought it better to lose the job because someone found out than not get it at all.

 

[alivenwell]

The reactions at work for me really varied over the years.
Many years ago, E would have never been mentioned unless driving was required for a job.
A few years ago employers filled quotas for minorities and handicapped people. Now, they are seeing that the diversity is a good attribute for employees. I honestly know that I think very differently from other people. I can improvise a solution that was not approached by anybody else.
Years ago, employers were devoted to employees for an entire career. Now, it actually is a good thing if a person stays at one job for 5 years, jumps to another job for several years, jumps to another job again, etc. This increases his/her marketability. Layoffs are a regular thing anymore, even for normal people.
If I become unemployed, I will take college courses and find additional interests to stay busy. If I am busy, I am less likely to have a sz because I'm not thinking negative thoughts.
I was never self employed, but I would definitely think about that one. Nobody knows or cares about E if you have a product, idea or skill that they will buy.

 

[skillefer]

1. What do I do as my job?
I'm a special ed. teacher. I work with kids with learning disabilities, mental retardation, ADD/ADHD, and behavior disorders. Oh! And I'm an independent catholic priest. So, there are times I end up performing weddings.
2. What do I do on a daily basis?
Get up at 6 AM, eat a bowl of oatmeal, get ready and go to work. Deal with some really obnoxious teenagers (I teach Algebra at the High School level) at times. Of course, those are the same kids that are really protective of me and call me mom...so I guess they aren't too obnoxious. It's just that I get frustrated when it takes 12 weeks to teach someone how to solve x+2=10. Spend an hour after school either working on IEP's or helping kids with homework. Drive my sister-in-law(16) home and help her with homework. Get dinner for hubby. See him off to work. Get on the internet, and take my class I'm taking or visit this forum, or another religious forum. Watch O'Reilly factor or Glenn Beck at the same time, and then go to bed.....Wow...I actually do alot.
3. Does going to work help?
Yeah it does. It doesn't necessarily help me, (as I'm still usually tired the next day) but it helps my students. They all know that I have seizures. Some of them have seen me have one. They tend to be really well behaved the next day. And a bit overprotective. But I always answer their questions about the seizures, and I try to get rid of misinformation. I'm really honest about it. And because I can laugh about it, they're relaxed too. So I figure someday, when they come across someone else having a seizure, maybe they'll be more understanding.

 

[stringbean]

What do you do as a job?
Well, before I had to give up working. In my working years, I waitressed, worked in the composing dept. of our town newspaper, worked as a typesetter for a printing company, cashiered, bartended, hostessed and cashier. In the restaurant business I did all of the work related to it at one time at some of them.

What do you do on a day to day basis? to make you feel complete?
At this point in time it actually depends on how I feel, I have some very good days, when I will clean, I listen to music when I do this and it actually relaxes me while cleaning.
I will work on a craft, which I do all diferent kinds or craft work. I will watch a movie. and there are other things.
Unfortunely, I have more bad days that I definetly don't like due to all my health problems and all the meds I am on. I try my best to fight the ones I can and sometimes I win and sometimes they will.

Do you find that going to work helps you with your seizures?
Well, when I was still able to work, Not really. I guess alot of it had to do with the kind of work I did. Actually It would help trigger them, mostly at the last job I had. I am also a very stressful person, and at my last job my temper mode and being able to control it was getting worse as the days went by, this was before I was diagnosed with Bi-polarII and Post Truamatic Stress Disorder so that could have had some to do with it. Working in restaurants, dealing with constant pressure and such just didn't help at all to control my seizures. I worked very hard in my life up to the pointwhere the seizures just wouldn't let me anymore. I went from 5 to 3 to 2 days a week and still ended up having to come home because of the partial seizures. The couple that owned this restuarant at first were great, but then they sold it to this B!!!ch and I mean it, honestly she was awful and still is from what I hear from employess that I still communicate with. I honestly have not one good word to say about her, I could give you a list of my words and even more as I remember them. Anyway that didn't help at all either.
Now my coworkers, most of them, were totally understanding, caring and watchful for me.
I even had 2 co-workers that also have E.
So with the seizures getting worse and almost everyday, even my neurologist told me I needed to give it up and when I applied for my social security dissability, he sent a letter to my lawyer about me not being able to work, which she said he was one that usually won't do so. I would really love to still be able to work, I so much of the time feel like a hermit, so issolated most of the time, don't work, cant' drive and such.
Maybe one day I will be able to, only time will tell
Tammy

 

[Torak]

I don't work at the moment. Disability benefit and income support. 231 seizures in 2007, mainly partial, about 12 tonic clonic, but some i thought were seizures may have been sleep paralysis instead, about a dozen or more.

To stop myself going mad I've signed up for a course on the Open University (Honours Degree in Computing) and I play World of Warcraft, plus I study a lot. I'm also a bookworm.

When I did work, I was fine. Only about 6 seizures per year until 2006 when I had some kind of dissociative episode or sensory overload, then the carbamazepine stopped working and things went crazy.

 

[lovies10323]

Torak, my son just started playing that game and I never ever get the computer.....

I also was taking carbamazepine, and have been switched to 900 mg of Carbatrol.

I just recently took a medical leave of absence from my work. I had a grand mal at work and I am trying to adjust everything before going back but I am having more seizures now. Considering disability.

 

[Meetz1064]

1. I'm a substitute teacher (I adore working in the resource rooms the most, but I leave laughing EVERY DAY), deli worker, mystery shopper & a published mystery writer. I generally perform 3 of the jobs in any one given day. No kidding.

2. N/A.

3. Yes. AND No. My seizures are ALWAYS in my sleep cycle....usually the middle, once in a while the beginning or end... But getting away from the house and with my coworkers to focus on something else besides myself helps me immensely. It DOES take me several days...up to 4 or 5 before my brain's not like scrambled eggs, and I can think like a "normal" human being again, though.

My neuro has tried to talk to me about disability before........but I get bored easily....so the answer was NO. I always get very MAD after a sz, too. My szs are VERY VERY VIOLENT. They've done a lot of damage....I probably could get the disability easily. But I'm only 43. I guess I'm stubborn?? That, and I find it depressing, for myself, personally. And I haven't had a seizure in over 4 years now. And it was over 7 years before that......the way I look at it, other people need the disability $$$ more than I do.....

 

[Axa]

1. What do you do as a job?

I'm translator of fiction, theatre & media theory, philosophy. Also work as a theatre dramaturge.


2. What do you do on a general day-to-day basis?

Nothing special: I run, help my husband with composing (contemporary classical music) & all things everyone of us has to do.

3. Do you find that actually going to work helps you with your seizures?

No, I wouldn't say work has such a big influence. But I would be definitely totally unhappy if I wouldn't do anything. I would even prefer to be a proof-reader (I hate this work!!!) than just sit and watch TV, for example.

 

[Trinity]

1. What do you do as a job ?

I'm actually a little concerned about discussing this in an open forum because of my work situation. I know it's not likely anyone would come on here from my place of employment but if they did I would worry that they would not think I could fulfil my job. I am taking up a new position and I feel that I need to prove my ability to do the job. I will inform them before I start that I have Epilepsy but I don't want a big deal made about it.

2. What do you do on a general day-to-day basis ? ie. to make a day feel complete

I think that is what my job is for. I also have a very dear friend that is an important part of my daily life - we speak with each other and hang out often.

3. Do you find that actually going to work helps you with your seizures ?

I like working because it helps me feel good that I am actually good at something (being a housewife is not my strength to be honest even though I do love being with my kids) and contributing to the family income (even when I was working casually it was good to know I was doing something). Full time work is stressful at times but fulfilling. I had trouble with my epilepsy last year when I went back to full time work but i'm sure it had more to do with the medication change than it did the job itself.
I refuse to allow Epilepsy control my life or to effect my independence. I am not allowed to drive at the moment but I figure out ways around that. Obviously we could not move to a completely isolated location where there was no public transportation and/or goods and services but otherwise not being able to drive doesn't prove to be a handicap.

 

[doihaveepilepsy]

1. What do you do as a job?

I work in a a special school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. but have been off sick for over 4 months now due to uncontrolled seizures and no diagnosis, my employer will not let me work and neither will my consultant as i have grand mal seizures so apperently it is unsafe for me. although i disagree and if i was allowed i would go back to work tommorrow i hate being off i love my job and now i fear i may loose it but will just have to wait and see i suppose.


2. What do you do on a general day-to-day basis?

Nothing special: stay in most days, soo boring, im like a hermit dont like to go out incase i have a seizure in public feel embarrassed and i dont want to end up bk in hospital again.

3. Do you find that actually going to work helps you with your seizures?

i would much rather be in work because i think that something to occupy my mind and having something to do on a day to day basis that is meaning full would make me alot happier therefore may help with the seizures, even if it didnt help with the seizures id rather be happy and have seizures than sad and have seizures.

 

[chetco]

1. What do I do as a job?

I work in a mill, I have for 25 years now... I dye wool.

2.What do you do on a general day-to-day basis?

I use Chemicals, Acids & Dyes, so I dye material's all different colors... I run alot of machinery & on 3 floors! I work in the lab also. I use to work graveyard shift, but, i work Dayshift now.

3. Do you find that actually going to work helps you with your seizures?

I love working, but, It's hard with all the pressure at work. I am running constantely. But, at the end of the day, I feel so good about myself! Makes me feel more normal!

 

[Shelley]

two 'jobs'

I work 40 hours a week, then I go to school full time.
I work with 'virtual' money all day. Then I head off to 4-5 hrs of class. I also have a hobby with video and tv at a local public access tv station.
I keeps my mind occupied.
But the idiots with perfume are a chronic aggravation (asthma).

 

[skstrange1]

Hi everyone,
Don't feel bad Meetz 1064. I've had so many seizures both complex partial and pseudoseizure followed with acute stress reaction-anxiety. I'm on disability and I'm only 34. I've been on a number of med. with diff dosages for the E and/or anxiety. I'm getting ready to see a psychiatrist. Wish me luck b/c I'm scared.
I have a few questions/concerns:
Taking a new drug called Vimpatseudoseizure:abnormal dreams:infidelity. Can you help me or do you know somewhere I could get some help and advice?
Thank you

 

[gigi]

employment

I worked for an attorney for 12 years. It was plain to me that I was not suited for multitasking, attention to detail and a fast paced environment. I have been unemployed for over five months now. I have not had a seizure in over six years, mine are the tonic clonic variety and only when I sleep. When I called the epilepsy foundation they asked me why did I not just stay home. I am only 52 and am bored and need the income. I certainly have cognitive difficulties including memory and concentration. I am not sure if , don't ask don't tell applies to my job search. Are there seizure friendly companies, do I declare epilepsy as a disability, or am I rearing the stigmas ugly head if I disclose it. So I am frustrated, because I am bright, just a little slower. Any thoughts?

 

[Kansas Educator]

1. I work full time as the coordinator of an early childhood/parent education program for a public school system. I am 3 1/2 years away from retirement.
2. N/A
3. I would be depressed and miserable if I didn't work. Working forces me to stick with a routine and schedule which, in turn, helps me to feel better in many many ways.