Expert: Kathleen Lewis Date: 6/17/2007 Subject: FMS & career
Question Dear Kathleen,
I am in a bit of no-man's land at the moment. I was diagnosed with fms 2 years ago and was off work for 6 months as I could hardly move by the time the diagnosis came. I exercised and rested my way into remission and returned to a 3/4 day, quite low stress job. I was absolutely fine in this job, no sign of a relapse for 4 months when I was offered an exciting opportunity in Dubai. My family and I moved to Dubai just over a year ago and I realised when I got here that the job required a lot of "physical" work e.g. standing on my feet for 8 hours training. The flare-ups started within 3 months of me being here and became more and more frequent and longer-lasting until the last one in April this year where I was almost immobile for nearly 6 weeks. I have resigned as I believe this is not the right place for me to be with my condition. Sorry about the long explanation but my question follows: is it just this job that was not right for me with me now having fms or should I be realistic and look at doing something completely different career-wise as my profession is Human Resources Manager which is quite a stressful role in itself. I am currently looking for another HR Manager job but am I going to face the same situation over and over again? Many thanks!
Answer Hi Clair,
It sounds like your body is trying to tell you something ... you need to listen!
It seems you were right about leaving your current job with the way your body reacted to it all. Whether you need to change professions entirely is another question ... a difficult one! Whatever you do, you need to do something that fits within your physical limitations ... whatever that is?
You also need to be sure that whatever job you take has good disability coverage benefits should that ever become an issue for you in the future.
