[Khae]

#1060651

Like certain hours you can work or anything like that? Sometimes I feel like I’m being asked to do more than I can handle. I work a retail job and now I am being asked to work until midnight, usually 10 hour shifts. It’s tough on my good days and seemingly impossible on my bad ones. Especially on truck days where they want me to lift and move around a bunch of heavy things, I can already feel how sore and awful I’m going to feel in the a.m. I just feel weak and the muscle weakness hits me hard regularly; I am just weaker in general physically. Emotionally I am doing the best that I have been since I was diagnosed almost 2 years ago, but I am exhausted and don’t know if it’s something I am just going to have to learn to deal with or if there’s any kind of help or relief from the strain.
Thank you for reading.

[Kimberly]

#1183917

Hello – You might be interested in this page from the Job Accommodation Network, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor. It goes through some of the items that would be considered “reasonable accommodations” for employees who are living with Graves’ disease.

(Note on links: if you click directly on the following link, you will need to use your browser’s “back” button to return to the boards after viewing, or you will have to log back in to the forum. As an alternative, you can right-click the link and open it in a new tab or new window).

http://askjan.org/soar/other/graves.html

There is also the Family & Medical Leave Act that allows workers to take unpaid time off. However, FMLA applies to “serious” health conditions, and the interpretation of “serious” is somewhat open to discussion.

I wonder if you might be able to get some kind of note from your doctor. Graves’ is known to cause muscle weakness, so he/she might be able to help you out with the heavy lifting until you are feeling better.

Hope this helps!

[snelsen]

#1183918

I sure do understand this one!

I suggest getting a note from your doc, then going to Human Resources to explore your options. If they have FMLA, that is a very good option, for it would specify the length of time you could work and what you can/cannot do. If they have that department.

I do understand your dilemma. I had little success with this, and I was working in a university hospital. very little compassion or understanding from co-workers or supervision. I think it is because there is little understand of Graves’

And, unfortunately, to be fair, before I had Graves’ I knew nothing about it, and I went to multiple docs who did not think of it, either.

I had FMLA for another reason (chest surgery and injury) and it really helped me keep my job as an RN.

Shirley

[Antony]

#1183919

I, too, have poor attendence due to complications from Grave’s. At times, my job can be a blessing because it forces me to concentrate on something other than the shaking and near fight-or-flight nervousness. Is this a storm? It’s so bad i occasionally stammer when i begin speaking, my handwriting goes looks like a 5 year old’s. I can’t eat or sleep. I’ve been through RAI but it’s a roller coaster. Levels look good but I, too experience muscle weakness thats just awful. At 53 i feel like an idiot asking others for help.
Let me know if you find any answers. My email is scottishgent.ta@gmail.com. i don’t mi d anyo e emailing me with their thoughts.

[Kimberly]

#1183920

@Antony – Thanks for your response and for your offer to connect with fellow patients! You might want to edit the above post to invite people to Private Message you instead of providing your e-mail. I would hate for spammers to get your personal info!

To edit a post, you need to be logged in, and you should see an “edit” option below your comment on the thread.

Other members can PM you by viewing your post and clicking on the PM icon that appears underneath your screen name. The system will “ping” whatever e-mail address you used to sign up to let you know that you have a private message waiting. (You have to be logged in to the system in order to view your private messages).

[snelsen]

#1183921

Hi Antony, this will be short, cause I need to go to bed soon.
Welcome to the forum.

No, you are not experiencing a thyroid storm. That is a different deal.
Is your RAI recent? Sounds like you still have a ton of thyroid hormone on board, for all your symptoms relate to being hyper.

I would definitely report your symptoms to the doc, for an interim decision might be made to try to juggle an antithyroid drug to help you with this.

I’m not a doc, just letting you know that this is typical of hyper stuff, and check in with your endo. Are you able to do that in the near future/ How long has it been since you had RAI. The other deal with that, is at some point, you will/may feel hypo, and will need supplemental thyroid. This is a time, when your labs and your symptoms and how they correlate is very very important.
Best to you.

We have all been on this dumb road, and there is a good end result when you actually are feeling like you want to feel, the “old you.” really!
Shirley

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