I just graduated from college in January with a BA in liberal arts. I have been working as a receptionist for over two years and feel that it is really wearing on my body. I work on Mondays and Tuesdays and spend much of Wednesday on the couch. Then I work Thursdays and Fridays and recover through the weekend. A couple of times a month I work on Saturday mornings also.

I want to find a job that is less demanding. As a receptionist I am up and down all day. Usually as soon as I sit down to do a task, the phone rings and I am back on my feet looking for a client's chart or finding a vet to chat with. I lug bags of dog food and go up and down stairs several times a day.


I am considering starting some type of home business. Something that would use my writing/editing skills.

So I am curious. What do you do for work?

Hi Wordweaver:
It sounds like you have a fairly physical job which can be difficult considering you have fibromyalgia. I work as an adminsitrative assistant, full-time for over 30 years. When I was first going through the fibro stuff, it was really difficult and thought I would have to leave my job. I have since found that Guafenesin helps a lot, and I have since been able to stay at my current job (over 20 years now). I am about to retire in July. You might investigate this medication and see if it could work for you.

Blessings,
Kirstee

wordweaver,

I work as an office manager of a busy avionics shop. There have been times when i just wanted to throw in the towel and quit. But, honestly having this job I believe, has kept me sane. There are days I just sit, and do nothing that requires me to get up out of my chair. You have to take it slow and easy at times, and when you are feeling better, make up for those lax days. My boss always says, "You can be sick at work, like you can be sick at home." So, when those days hit that I don't think I can get up one more time, I don't. I do things that require me to sit only. On better days, I make up for those lax days.

If you find some kind of home business, let me in on it.

aaronon

Please read and follow the posting rules.

I've found editing can be a great way to earn some extra cash but I haven't been able to turn it into a real living yet. There are different ways to charge for it. I usually get paid $25/hour to read and edit someone's document. The nice thing about it is all I need is my eyes and a red pen. So if I'm lying in bed I can still do it.

It does sound like your job is very physical. But I can tell you that I did that routine of working, recovery, working recovery for 12 years before I couldn't work anymore. You have an advantage in that you have much more information at your fingertips here on how to manage your fibro.

If I knew 12 years ago what I know now I might not have burned out so young.

Good luck,

2tots

Hi, As I have said, I teach and now my principal is doing his best to convince me to retire which I cannot afford to do. Whichever one I have fibro/myofascial pain it's in full force. I can hardly walk, but with tramadol I make it through the day. If my husband didn't have a broken leg and was ambulatory , I think things would get better, I just don't know which way to turn. A flare up is a flare up, I gather, so why would I have to see a pain psychologist just because I asked for physical therapy now, and I cannot tolerate Neurontin. Your input please. Yourkie in iowa.

Thanks for the replies. I keep sending my resume out and get no responses. This is a tough state to get a job in. I know that I can't continue at my current job, not when it means that I lay on the couch on my days off. I wish I had a job where I could work harder when I felt well and slack off when I didn't, but I can't. How hard I work depends on how many sick animals there are out there.


2totsnfibro, I would love to start an editing, writing type of business, focusing on those who don't have the mean to write, such as the elderly or blind etc. I would like to some how combine it with digital photography because these are the things that I can do that don't require a lot of physical movement.

So thanks for the input on what you do for work. Do you disclose your disabilities when you apply for a job?

have you thought about unit secretary in a hospital or rehab center? Like I said, it is up and down which I think is good and no heavy lifting. It can be stressful but usually doesn't last long and when you learn the ropes-it gets easy.
As for the question-I don't believe you have to disclose any disability-but I would after an actual job offer depending on the job offer. Don't disclose before or they may just pass you up right there before even seeing what kind of worker you might be and what you could bring to the company. This has been a weight on me for years with my back-can I lift? What lbs? etc...I find the more I move around the better-IF I can wear good shoes, none of this dressing up stuff. NO WAY.
I hope you are able to get something figured out. Yourkie, is the Myofacial stuff the spasmotic muscles in the neck and traps??? Goes from shoulder blades, mid ribs to the top of my head, including my jaw and superficial muscles too.

mel1977, I've never been a secretary and I doubt I would do well on a typing test. I type my own way!

Never disclose your disibilities to a potential employer, it is also illegal for them to ask you if you are disabled as well. They can ask things like can you lift 20 pounds but they can't ask you why if you can't lift that much.

Wordweaver:

I work from home as a medical transcriptionist. I love it because even during my worst of flares, I'm still able to work fairly comfortably. It's certainly easier than having to leave the house and be up and down all the time. I did reception work then accounting before I trained to become a medical transcriptionist.

i work monday through friday 7:45am to 5:15pm, then pay week I work M, T, W, T 7:45am to 5:15pm and on pay day i work 7:45am to 4:15pm, as a clerk, and this is wearing on me, especially working with lazy folk who pass stuff on your because they don't feel like doing it regardless of the fact that I was hired on Schedule A as a disabled person, so its not like they don't know :rolleyes:

Daized, how did you get started?

Twinklez81, I am amazed at the lack of work ethic there is out there. I have experienced it in nearly every job that I have worked.


I have my fingers crossed that a position opens where I did work study. The boss there doesn't care when your work gets done, as long as it gets done. And you can bring work home, if it is something that can be done at home.

Wordweaver: I took a course for medical transcription, then I started sending out resumes and taking tests, and was hired for my first contract position within a couple of weeks of graduating from my course. A good course is pretty much the only way to go.

I think this is a great thread. Barring any unforseen circumstance, I will have my BS (majors in psychology and creative writing) in May. So I have been thinking about jobs as well. Right now I work part time, about ten hours a week, as a babysitter. After school, I pick up the little girl from school and we do homework, etc for two and a half hours. I've been doing that for years, since before the fibro. And when I did get sick the family was wonderful about it. Sometimes I need to take a week off here and there at short notice when I get sick (I had pneumonia three times last semester :rolleyes: ) and that is always ok, etc. Or I will show up in crutches, in my cane, whatever. The father is an MD, so maybe that helps. And the girl is great too. Kids always are. Oh, my babysitter can't lift anything over 20 pounds this week because she just had a procedure. Oh, you feel down again? ok. I love how accepting they are.

Anyway, I decided that I want to be a children's librarian "when I grow up" so that means I am applying to grad school now for January. But rather I get in or not (I honestly don't know if I will- goodish GRE 670 verbal, 660 math, but only have a 3.0 and I got two Cs last semester. Ever since I got sick my GPA has only just been a 3.0 and holding), I will still need to find work.

I was thinking of applying to the library to be a clerk. That is 20-35 hours a week at ten dollars an hour. I get married in August and my fiance has really good health insurance so benefits are not an issue, thanfully.

In the past I have worked with Autistic children (my brother is Autistic and I have a learning disability, Nonverbal Learning disability that is similar to Aspergers in many ways) and I am good at that and enjoy it. BUT it can be oh so draining. And I remember that it was draining back when I was healthy...

I thought about medical transcription, but I tried transcribing an interview or two for a psych lab and that just killed my back for some reason.

I have done receptionist/secretary type work in the past and enjoyed that. I had a comfy bar stool that I brought in and other stools that I used to make it very doable. I also have telemarketing experience and I could only handle that for a few weeks just psychologically.

Editing sounds interesting. As a creative writing major, I would like to think that is something I would be good at. Though I may need a refresher course in some more advanced grammer.

With my learning disability (I don't get, understand, and cannot play office politics at all and need a lot of feed back because everything goes over my head. Also cannot do anything spatial), more jobs are eliminated for me. So I guess I feel a little overwhelmed with having to find work.

Maybe I could do the nanny thing IF I work with kids who are old enough and find a good family to work with. I just don't know. It seems difficult enough for normal people, this job thing.

When do you disclose, if at all? I also have a lot of sleep issues (maybe narcolepsy, maybe RBD, maybe PLMD, can't afford sleep study yet) and if I nodd off at the desk on a bad day I don't want people to think I am just lazy. Or maybe I need a lot of sick days or something. Or the ability to work from home...

What I really think is that all of the people who have chronic illnesses or disabilities should just be independtly wealthy.

What about working with a temp agency?

Daized, where did you take the transcrption course? Locally? Online?

kyethra, I have considered going on for an MFA, but know that with student loans coming due in August, I can't add to them at this point. I am hoping to find a job that will pay for tuition, but I don't think that is going to happen. I loved being in school and if someone would pay me, I'd be a professional student.

I'm getting married in May and my fiancee currently has no job. He got hurt on the job a few years ago (both shoulders) and there aren't many jobs that he can do. So it's up to me to support myself, him and my youngest child who still lives with me. I don't mind, I just need to find a job that I enjoy and that pays enough to cover the bills.

I have considered working for a temp agency in order to try out different jobs. My current job is 32 hours a week and pays $9.50 an hour (after 2.5 years on the job). And I am exhausted by the end of the day. I try to catch up on rest during the weekend. Most nights I go to bed around 8:30-9:00 and get up at 5:30. This isn't me. Of course I don't stay sleep all night, but don't dare take anything to help me sleep because I need to be alert for work.

The job market where I live is very, very limited. Unfortunately most of my experience has been with animals and farming and retail. No decent paying jobs there. Thanks for the input.

I am very fortunate in that my fiance makes a good income so I don't need to make very much. I just want/need to be able to make enough to pay my student loans and my car expenses and personal debts and so forth. And to contribute to the cost of my health care and and our housing. I think that if I made 10-15000 a year that would be fine.

From a financial perspective, I suppose we could manage without my working if that was necessary. But I don't think eiither of us would feel satisfied with that. If I couldn't work I would try to get disability of course. But I want to have a career in a few years and to be able to make money so when we have kid(s) we can get a bigger house and spoil ourselves and take trips and do things like that. Also, if something were to happen to my fiance like an illness or injury that took a while to heal I would need to be able to work then. And half of being able to work is having work experience or education...

Kyethra,

I have an MLS (Library Science) but have never been employed at a prof'l level in a library. Due to a variety of factors (moves, family, health) it never worked out for me to be on a professional track lib. career.

I have done paraprofessional work, however. Before you shell out for lib school, there are a few things you might want to consider. First is to ck the long-term economic outlook for the profession. There are various specializations, in addition to children's librarianship, that you may want to consider.

Second, the field is in a period of transition. For many jobs you need more physical capability than you'd think; handling hundreds of books several times per day is not unusual, which can be a trial, depending on one's physical abilities. There is also typically lifting and reaching required. On the other end of the transition, many jobs require a fair bit of time spent at a computer. Depending on how relative immobility for hours at a time works for you, it can be a good thing or not.

Third is to consider that many librarianships involve extensive contact with the public. While that is stimulating, cheering, etc. it also means contact with germs/bugs etc., in addition to handling materials that are far from sterile. And that goes double for children's work. For me this was a big problem, as my fibro symptoms flare greatly when I'm exposed to bugs & fighting them off.

Sorry if this is rain on your parade. I went to library school thinking it would be the perfect job, physically & mentally. I wouldn't trade the wonderful grad school experience for anything, but the job reality didn't work out for me & that's been a bit of a bummer. On the other hand, there may be possibilities that I have not fully explored.

Do you have any interest in pursuing an MFA creative writing program? I'd think that with a background in psychology you'd have certain aspects of characterization "made" ...

Best wishes.

I wouldn't want to get an MFA at this point in my life. Right now I need more life experience and time to think about things to write about. And even if I did have an MFA I'm not sure that would drastically reduce my job chances...

Other jobs I have considered are working in text book publishing. I always thought that would be fun. And I know there are different library type careers that I could end up pursuing. But I think something along that line is what I really want to do. If I couldn't get into library school here then I would probaby try to go to education school for reading and literacy education.

I imagine that if working with lots of people didn't work out in a library field I could find something quieter or tutor or whatever...

But I really want to do the LIS thing right now. I am especially interested in death in children's literature and I want to study that from a couple of different angles- in fairy and folk tales and from modern children's literature. Don't worry though, I will be good and be quiet about that now.

And if I get in here at UIUC its not as expensive as other places, especially if I get an assistanceship. But I don't want to apply to the PhD program as 1) its not appropriate for my current proffesional goals and 2) its too rigerous and too long of a program.

Thats the problem with PhD programs. They are all to rigerous. They are better funded though.

I am a receptionist/registration clerk too and it's harder than people think. I am right in the center of the office and not only do I feel I pick up the slack for other departments but they come to me with their complaints like I can do anything about them. It it mentally hard to remember what area needs what and to make this many copies for this department or get certian informations for another department. I answer calls from people who can be in a wonderful mood to angrily screaming in my ear over a problem even iv it wasn't my fault. Technically I don't have an illness from getting up and down and running from one end of the room to the other but it is very stressfull and can sometime wear me down and I get suseptable (sp) to colds or the flu more often than I ever use too.

I think stress can have a negative impact. That is one of the reasons that I am willing to hold out for a job that may have more physical downsides and be less overall stressfull.

I have worked as a receptionist before temporarily. For the past six years I have been behind the desk at the secretary's office at the county fair at home, so I answer phones, make anouncements on the PA system, call the electrician, vet, etc, help patrons get registered, etc.

While it is really fun because of the mix of people who come into the fair and I enjoy a lot of the tasks (though I hate doing ribbon inventory, but I've developed a system), there are a good number of people who will come in screaming about something or other or demanding that they be able to park right on the fair grounds (this is truly an absurb request. If everyone could park where they wanted, there would be no room for the fair on the fair grounds because it would be covered in cars). For most things I have learned to be impervious- I explain that I cannot help them with that and why, and then I encourage them to have a nice day as they swear me out on their way to the exist. If they insit on talking to someone with power I check to see if my boss, the secretary of the fair board is available to tell them why they are being stupid...

And I worked as a telemarketer for two summers. So I really got used to people yelling at me and telling me I was evil. That I could handle. I especially liked the people who didn't waste my time or effort with a ten minute pitch and then decide not to get it. No and a hang up was fine with me... But the stress truly came from management on that job. Especially the second summer I worked there with the new Do Not Call List stuff. Management became really hard about sales and getting enough sales and numbers and the products we were selling a lot of the time were not very good, so they were hard to sell. Most of us weren't going to lie to the customer and say something was wonderful if it sucked, so sales suffered. And they started being more strict about workplace atmosphere too. Before if you were doing ok with knowing the products and sales pitch and so forth you could flip through a magazine or chat with other people, do your nails, and they were ok about dress code. But they started insisting that we just stare at the computer screens and wear more buisiness casual stuff- on the phone? With all the sales pressure it was just way too stressful. I would rather have a job where I had to do some light lifting I think or some other physical stress than deal with the stress managment put on us there.

alleycat2, nice to hear from someone else who is a receptionist. It is one of those jobs that is more diffcult than it looks, but comes with no glory at all. I have to deal with the clients when the vets don't return their calls after I give the vets the message. Everyone thinks their animal is the most important and they should feel that way. But sometimes the vets cater to the dogs and cats.

My ideal job would be similiar to a work study job I did. I worked for a literary journal. I processsed mail, did mailings, helped with editing, etc. I could set my own pace, pick my own hours. No phones, no clients no running. Maybe I should go get another degree just so I could do work study again!

kyethra, if I go back to school, it will be for an MFA at a low residency program. How old are you? There is always something to write about, but I think you are right that you need to be old enough to have things to really get into when writing. I'm 40 and was probably in my late 30's when I really felt that I waqs mature enough to do all the processing that goes along with writing.

I'm only 22. I haven't lived enough yet. I think my writing will get better with age. But for now it is on the back burner.

Hi I had Fibromyaliga for fifteen years, I ache all over like some had beat me with a baseball bat from head to toe. I would often say if you turned me inside out I would be look bruised all over. About two years ago I went to a sleep clinic and had a sleeping test done. It showed I was waking up while I was sleeping I don't remember how many times a minute but it was a lot. Anyway I was put on a CPAP machine and my Dr. gave me a prescription for Ambien and Clonazepam because the mask would wake me up. The Ambien was to put me to sleep (because it would only work 4 hours and the Clonazepam to keep me asleep all night. I have been on it for two years with no side affects, and if I want to take a nap in the the day which is seldom now I have no trouble falling asleep with our medication. I am 100 percent better. Once in a while when the weather changes I feel a little ache but nothing like it used to be. I take Tramadol (Ultrim) for pain when I have it, and Gabapentin for restless leg syndrome. Some people get by with just a the good sleep. Fibromyaliga is a sleeping disorder, you get that fixed and your life will change back to normal. God Bless and my prayers are with you.