Hello

I had a really bad day yesterday - had to back out of something at work at short notice because of the pain, which I felt really bad about :( Then my husband and I started panicking about the possiblity of me losing my job because of my health problems. I ended up crying at work and at home - so all in all a crap day! Talking to my husband and sharing our fears did help a lot, and today I have been taking it easy ‘working from home’.

I (well, my husband actually) have made an appointment to see the doctor on Tuesday at 2pm, and I am going to try again tomorrow to go to the water mobility class that I backed out of last Friday. If it’s OK to ask, I need all the encouragement I can get to do bboth of these!

I have also started the process for being referred to occupational health at work - although now I am concerned that it might go against me! I don’t know if I should give them as much info as possible or keep it vague. So any thoughts anyone has on that would be welcome too.

Thank you
Glynis

Dear Glynis

Sorry to hear that you’re feeling so bad.

With regards to the water mobility class I’m sure it wont last too long if you don’t enjoy it and you don’t have to stay to the end if you don’t like it. However, it might not be too bad and you could have another go come the next class which might not be too bad either. You could keep going until you’ve made up your mind as to whether you like it or not or whether it is helping you.

I think its more likely that your situation will improve if you take steps to improve it rather than doing nothing. Continuing in that vein a big well done for going to occupational health! Again well done for getting help for your husband from your GP. Its one of those situations were you have very little to loose and potentially so much to gain.

While you are with your GP you might want to ask him if your back and / or depression is severe enough to be registered disabled, and if so how to go about it? The reason I ask is that, under the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) it is a great deal harder for an employer to get rid of someone on sickness absense grounds, if their absense is related to their disability.

The following link (on the DDA prepared by the TUC) contains some very useful information about this:

http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-15361-f0.pdf

I do hope you’re feeling better soon.

Karma

Hey Glynis,

YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Just look in the mirror and tell yourself that until you believe it. And then don’t give yourself the option of not going - just pack your bag, get yourself ready etc and walk out the door, and if you find yourself considering whether to go or not, then distract yourself from those thoughts and do something else. That’s what works for me anyway. And like Karma says, it’s only one hour (or whatever it is) out of your whooooooole life, and if it’s rubbish, you don’t have to go again.

I was also referred to occupational health at work and found them to be really really helpful, the doctor understood me and wrote a letter back to my boss to explain what things she needed to put in place to make sure that I can do my job properly. It’s not about them trying to find fault with you and proving you can’t do your job - quite the opposite. And you always have the DDA on your side.

I’ve got every faith in you

Gemma