Jane, I'm sorry. I know from recent experience that even if you THINK you want to leave work because of having so much pain and fatigue, once you do it takes a lot of adjusting. But I will tell you that I now have recurrant nightmares about trying to work and not being able to perform. These are caused by months of staying in my job but not being able to perform well because of lack of concentration due to pain and meds.
Is it better to work yourself to a more severe illness or have to quit when you first get sick? There is no answer to that. Its tough, but what you have to do is put yourself first. Part of the dificulty of this disease that in someways we feel (and definitely look) as though we're not really that sick. We don't normal die of Lupus, we just feel like we're going to. And who hasn't worked on despite feeling sick when we've had colds, viruses, etc. When you in many ways just feel like you have a mild flu, its hard to see it as a career ending illness.
So I'm afraid I have no tried and true answers for you, just know that there are many others out there with the same feelings. We really DO understand how you feel.
Is it better to work yourself to a more severe illness or have to quit when you first get sick? There is no answer to that. Its tough, but what you have to do is put yourself first. Part of the dificulty of this disease that in someways we feel (and definitely look) as though we're not really that sick. We don't normal die of Lupus, we just feel like we're going to. And who hasn't worked on despite feeling sick when we've had colds, viruses, etc. When you in many ways just feel like you have a mild flu, its hard to see it as a career ending illness.
So I'm afraid I have no tried and true answers for you, just know that there are many others out there with the same feelings. We really DO understand how you feel.
