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@Effeoh 

Last reply

Effeoh

Work stress causing neuropathic pain

Hi guys, Just venting a bit and need some advice about what I should do about work. I'm the head of a department at a company I love but about 3 months ago due to a load of staff leaving at the same time it's been a really stressful time. Pretty much instantly I started getting pains in my right leg - I used to get this if I stood up or walked about for long periods but now it's all the time, even when sitting. I've been taking Gabapentin to combat it and it works a bit but I can't take too much as it sends me doolally and I can't concentrate on work. Also to make things worse recently I've started to suffer from short term memory loss which obviously isn't ideal in a working situation. The staffing situation is now sorted and my work load is less but I still feel under stress and the pain is still there. It's almost like a barometer of my stress. Clearing up a bit on the weekend but come Monday morning like today its killing me! I'm the main breadwinner in our household and we're getting married next year as well as trying to buy a house. The plan was that we save and get some assets so that we're more secure if I go more downhill. But all the stress of working towards that goal IS making me go downhill. I'm not sure whether I should just carry on and work towards our future, have to deal with daily pain and potentially affect my long term health. Or maybe I should look for a less stressful job and deal with money issues later on. Any advice?
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@Stumbler
@Stumbler
 

That's a difficult one, @Effeoh. I'm a firm believer that workplace stress is a major antagoniser of MS. I can relate my two major attacks to situations that were ongoing at work at the time. Now, in my (early) retirement, I can look back and reflect on whether it was all worth it. Managing MS is all about striking the right balances. If your MS starts causing problems on a Monday, then workplace stress needs addressing. MS does make us all re-assess our life plans. It looks like you are being faced with the question, what price would you pay for better health? But, if you are the Manager, couldn't you enlist assistance or consider additional delegation to offload some of the stress? There's always more than one way to strike a balance. I hope this helps.

@Effeoh
@Effeoh
 

Thanks Stumbler, Some sound advice there. Yeah I've started to offload some work now so hopefully things will get better in the coming weeks. I just feel like I need to hold out for at least 3 years in this job to earn the money to take it easy later on down the line. I just wish I didn't have to go through all this crappy pain to get there! How did you find early retirement? I definitely want to do that and can't wait!