Epilepsy and your work / education situation

If you have epilepsy do you…..

  • Work FULL time

    Votes: 102 47.0%

  • Work PART time

    Votes: 34 15.7%

  • At present off sick due to E. but aim to return to NORMAL hours

    Votes: 20 9.2%

  • At present off sick due to E. but aim to return to REDUCED hours

    Votes: 7 3.2%

  • In education i.e. school, college, university etc.

    Votes: 42 19.4%

  • I am a full time Mother / Father / Carer

    Votes: 10 4.6%

  • I am not in education nor work due to epilepsy

    Votes: 27 12.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 18 8.3%
  • Total voters
    217

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

I have a major trust issue, about having seizure. Let alone on the job. Because, When I had a seizure in public, thankfully my (ex)fiance was there who knew what to do. Everyone else started screaming, as if I was going to hurt them somehow.
 
I'm not gona vote I am unsure what is going on at the moment whether I actually have seizures or not but if I do then they would get worse once I get a job.

I am currently at uni 2 days a week with stressful assignments. Any more stress from actually living my life with a job would increase my stress/fatigue especially if I am working with animals doing a practical job. I "think" I had a seizure after working 9-5 work experience.
 
I am unable to work because i Have to many seizure and to many kind of seizures. So I volunteer at my sons school when I feel good enough.
 
I'm in college now and I have really hard time memorizing stuff :(
I have failed 3 subject this semester (3 out of 5 ) - the hardest one.
Dang you medications!
 
Hang in there kiddo . Unfortunately its one of the trade offs of these meds. With me its now age , stress and meds OY ! I used to have approx 50-60 songs memorized and did solo gigs and now if i learn a new tune and don't play it for two weeks zoot its gone!
So its just part of the neighbourhood and i learn to adapt . I think as humans we have proven that we can adapt to anything and we will.
Grind it out and be easy on yourself.
Ed
 
stilldancing_98 said:
I am unable to work because i Have to many seizure and to many kind of seizures. So I volunteer at my sons school when I feel good enough.
Click to expand...

Well, According to U.S. President Obama, we should all be able to work, regardless of how it affects us.

I am not putting you down. If anything, I am putting him down.

Back in 1989, I worked for a collections agency for three months. They fired me for being 'too slow'. During those three months, the guy who originally hired me, was fired for embezzlement. Then in 1991, I started working for the U.S. Government. Then in November of 1994, Fmr. U.S. Vice President Gore instituted his 'Re-Inventing Government Plan'. I was transferred into a new office along with my boss, and the Stay-In-School. In the new office, I got a new supervisor under the director. After ten months in that office, I quit. Telling the employment agency I was dealing with, that if I didn't quit, I was going to kill my supervisor. During that time, I had filed two EEO complaints against my supervisor that went nowhere. I even had started not going in to work, just to avoid her.

I am basically a 'rotten apple'. No one wants to employ someone with memory and eye-hand coordination issues.
 
Hello
I think thats a great idea to volunteer when able we all need to find that niche . In the History of mankind there has always been adversity and as we see it surrounds us .
A little bit of prose that helps me has been "that in every season of grief there are new lessons for learning"
For me its do the best we can with what wev'e got. Everybody has something to offer.
Two books i have found useful; Pema Chodrons "When things fall apart" and Victor Frankels "Mans Search for meaning"

Regards Ed from a fellow traveller
 
used to work

until 2 yrs. ago I worked full time but started haveing seizures due to stress so I took early disability retirement through my union.
 
I work three jobs. Some that people wouldn't expect a person with epilepsy to be able to do.

Never Give Up, baby!
 
k35k35k35 said:
until 2 yrs. ago I worked full time but started haveing seizures due to stress so I took early disability retirement through my union.
Click to expand...

I wish I could work again. But I don't trust that my experience working for the U.S. Government won't be worse in the private sector. Despite the ADA.
 
k35k35k35 said:
until 2 yrs. ago I worked full time but started haveing seizures due to stress so I took early disability retirement through my union.
Click to expand...

Exactly the same thing as me but after 30 years.
 
This last July I filed for a short term disability claim, which I'm still on. I had my first and only Grand Mal for which I had to take a week off of work for (chewed my tongue into hamburger and couldn't speak!). I've had partials for 27 years though. I was a sales rep for a fortune 100 company which required me driving all over creation 4 days per week. Since the Grand Mal, I've had to stop driving and my partials have increased a lot. I don't think I'll have a job to go back to since they were only required to hold my position for 12 weeks. Not being able to drive in a city with poor public transport and 3 taxi's is really difficult. I'm a single parent and this whole stupid thing has thrown my life into chaos. I've lost 2/3 of my income, had to find rides for my kid everywhere, and the doc doesn't know why my partials are breaking through so much all of a sudden. So...to wrap it all up...I'm not working, will lose all benefits from short term disability in January, and don't have a clue how this is all going to pan out. Good times. But, God is good, which is the reason I haven't started hitting the bottle yet! ;)
 
CQ:) said:
I'm not working at the moment but I am currently looking for either part time work or full time work.
I do a bit of voluntary work while I'm looking for work because I hate sitting at home doing nothing.
I also get the odd bit of casual fill in work at a chiropractor which is only every now & again but any extra money I get from helping out at the chiro comes in handy.
Click to expand...

With my original reply to this thread which I posted early 2012 I was still unemployed but doing the odd bit of casual work.

I am now working full time :woot:. I've only been in this job since end of August but I am loving it, this is also my 1st full time job which made it even more exciting lol.
 
I was working full time managing a youth centre. Youth work is a labour of love, paid f
37.5 hours (but a good week I would pull 45 and a bad week 60). Plus an hour each way bus journey. Lots of late nights, skipped meals and stress (not usually the kids but the management).

I tried for 6 months after seizures reoccurring but something had to give, especially with lots of med-a-go-rounding. So was able to negotiate part time at a centre closer to home.

Recently had 6 weeks off with meds/mental health probs which turned out to be pernicious anemia, but was also able to get access to work which pays for taxis to work as I am not really safe on public transport alone.

For me this was the best of both worlds I could carry on working but also take better self care which was nearly impossible working full time.

Q
 
I haven't been able to work due to my seizures.stress brings them on big time. When I did work I lost my job because my boss was scared I was going to fall into the machinery with my sz's.I'm on disability now and have been for a long time.
 
I have always been able to work due to my E. I was on disability for 6 mo for surgery in 2003. There are times that I wish I didn't have to work. Eventhough I know I get depressed when I don't work. I was laid off in 2010. I sent resume after resume out and no responses. I found a job through a temp agency. That was cool. I was there for 3 weeks. and then I was let go they told me (and I quote: " I wasn't smart enough to work there". so anyway.... Im more happier here than I was before. I work with some wonderful people, and a GREAT BOSS !!!!
 
I've always worked....always.

However; having had all these breakthrough grand mal seizures during the 2nd half of 2013 and also realizing that I was suffering from partials during most of that time as well (didn't even know what a partial was prior to 2013) has left me seriously depressed. I'm still "working" although be it from home (I'm a software engineer so this is possible).

My problem is that I worry about how long my employer will allow me to work from home before they decide they don't like that arrangement anymore. I think about the large life insurance policy they'd pay out if I were to pass away. I think about the other life insurance policy I have on my own as well, and how between the two my wife could easily pay off our home. I'm thinking about suicide on almost a daily basis. I don't want to die, but I also don't want to feel like this anymore. I'm so sick of waking up and dreading the upset stomach, dreading the knowledge that I can't drive anywhere anymore. I'm having a ton of trouble coming to terms with this.

It's only been about a month since I have stopped driving and going to the office for work, but I'm so unbelievably sick of staying in my house. I just wish I could go back in time to before the grand mals started.

Oh yea, poor me.
 
I just got out of school and got a job in the largest city near my home. I have to drive 45 minutes to an hour every day, to and from, and the work hours are 8:30-5:30. this week was my first week there and I'm already feeling the pressure, and I'm only still training. I'm afraid where I'll be left once I'm well trained enough to take on responsibilities, and what kind of asset they'll see me as if I start having to come in later and ask for accommodations because of the amount of stress I'll be under.

I'm well qualified for the job, but it involves staring at the computer basically all day, and while I'm not photosensitive, if I have enough other triggers on top of that (lack of sleep my biggest, under eating is also an ongoing issue with me), it becomes one as well. I worry about this too. If I can move closer to the area I work in it'll be much easier in that regard, but it's an expensive area to live in, and I have medical bills and student loans to pay off before I can afford to move away from home, just like everyone else.
 
Belinda5000 said:
I haven't been able to work due to my seizures.stress brings them on big time. When I did work I lost my job because my boss was scared I was going to fall into the machinery with my sz's.I'm on disability now and have been for a long time.
Click to expand...

Hi Belinda5000, I tried to work when I was in my 30's. After 3 weeks, I was only able to go to work every third day or so. I kept having seizures on the job. I finally quit.

I have turned to education to keep busy. I read and study my Bible!! I do not go to college to learn.

I am on disability too.
 
I work full time now again but I was forced to leave my last job because of my epilepsy,
But I took part in a study in Ireland about the prejudices people with epilepsy face regards employment- one thing that came up was that employees wouldn't like to hire a person with epilepsy as they feel they are a danger to themselves & people around them & would end up costing the company , people with epilepsy are a liability to employers, there was many things that came out from that study- that was just the part about employment


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom