I am just wanting to know who works out there and what r ways that u found to cope with this disease at work without people thinking your crazy?
I think people thought I was crazy - long before I got this. Now, I figure, I have a valid medical excuse to be as crazy as I want and the meds make me so absent minded and forgetful, that I have another excuse to add to it. I quit worrying about what other people thought a long time ago. I can barely deal with the pain, much less deal with other people's attitudes toward me. We all have a very disabling type of nerve disorder that affects every aspect of our life, especially our work. People we work with have to understand that we may never be the people we used to be, but we learn to live with this. We have to, for now. I believe there will be alot of advances in the treatment of all nerve/pain disorders. Patience is the hardest part of this to accept.
2345woody,
I am still teaching high schoolers. It is intensely difficult many days, and I have no doubt that some people think I have a mental disorder instead of a neurological disorder. Fluorescent lights seem to make my TN and its permanent headache companion much worse. I work in a school that is absolutely full of fluorescent light. My Neurologist wrote me a note stating that my workplace had to accommodate me by letting my classroom be lit by incandescent light (lamps) instead. It helps me get through the day as long as I stay in my room, though that is of course not possible. As for medication, I steer clear of anything that will make me unfit to teach students. That stated, my Indocin and Neurontin are not doing a great job controlling the pain. I spent most of each day with my right eye, eye socket, and right cheek in a good smolder to a solid burn. This burn often agitates my unilateral headache (by often I mean daily) as well. This makes things less bearable, but I keep at it. I am too stubborn to keep it up right now...not sure how long that will last. ~Fred