The Migraine - Is there a better 'get out of work' card?!

Work?

As a migraine sufferer for over 35 years, stress can be a big contributor, so Mondays, or any day when you're returning to work, I can understand, but yes, some folks do take the piss.

'I'm not feeling well' works for me.  Don't see why work has to know anymore than that.

Most organisations have a sickness management policy or similar. I think ours starts if you have 4 periods of sickness in a rolling 12 month period. 4 concurrent days off is regarded as one period of sickness, but 4 separate days off are treated as four periods of sickness.

It's normally managed fairly well by managers as it gives them an opportunity to talk sensibly to someone e.g. if you have young kids starting at school/nursery you tend to get sick more. Quick chat and sorted.

Conversely if they feel someone is taking the piss they can ratchet it up to HR and make it their problem. Also gives HR something to do 😀

‘I’m not feeling well’ works for me.

How often do you use that Bruce? Our HR department wants explanations!

Well, from what i can gather, i havent taken a day off sick in... blimey, i cant even remember, 5 plus years easily.

With regard to not telling work what's wrong with you most will ask as part of the return to work process.

My finest moment was many years ago when I emailed my boss, pre Teams, and told them that I was suffering from a brown laser. They appreciated that as the first email they read 😁

At my work it seems to be the fat people who are off sick then most, there's a pretty good correlation between weight and time off sick. Same at my old work. No specific ailments though.

Not sure if it's cause or effect. Are fat people more likely to be unhealthy and need more time off (probably) or are lazy people who are more likely to take time off more likely to be fat (possibly)

Migraine vs bad headache is a bit like flu vs bad cold. Some people who've never had the real thing will mistake something unpleasant for something truly horrible. But if they've "just" got a bad headache/bad cold and are unfit to work as a result then I really don't care what they call it, they should still take time to recover.

Yes some people are more prone to take sick days, but as above if you're in a large organisation and log it then HR should keep an eye on things. For balance we've all seen people who drag themselves in when they really should be off sick, which can then spread their bugs and cause even more absence. You can't win!

There are some  poor views of  people on this thread.

🤦‍♂️

Remember Rule No.1

An old friend of mine who I worked with at the MOD was called in by his boss to discuss his sick days. But I haven't had any he replied, exactly said his boss and it makes everyone else look bad so make sure you start taking them 😂

Ironically he retired early on medical grounds later

As a migraine sufferer for 30+ years I have upped my game on the 'fake' symptoms front. I can now also spew my ring repeatedly until I'm dry-wretching with a thumping head and and my Stevie Wonder-esque staggering around because I can't see is something to behold.

My tip when it comes to work and colleagues and health is to spend less time looking at them and dreaming up scenarios for yourself in which you are the victim of their supposed '****lessness'.

Remember Rule No.1

Quite. One of my team gets around 50 migraines a year, it's incredibly debilitating. I've put in place some reasonable adjustments which have made the frequency a bit better.

There are some  poor views of  people on this thread.

Yep, feeling like the Daily Mail comments section.

There are some  poor views of  people on this thread.

or just general observations in their work place?

For balance we’ve all seen people who drag themselves in when they really should be off sick, which can then spread their bugs and cause even more absence

This is what happens at my place of work, as we dont get sick pay, so folks come in regardless (not all, but most do), which as you say, spreads the love 🙁

I wonder how many days of work are lost due to people going into work when they are ill, we never see that figure reported.

Oh, FWIW, a proper employer will have a Sick policy that possibly revolves around three 'triggers' for a discussion.

1. Total number of days sick.

2. Count of instances of sickness.

3. Pattern of sickness across the working week.

You should let HR deal with it and sort your own preconceptions about people now, at source, before it becomes corrosive to you personally.

i havent taken a day off sick in… blimey, i cant even remember, 5 plus years easily.

Everyone gets sick, If I had an employee that'd never taken a day off in 5 years, it would ring alarm bells. Especially so if their role involved the company's money. If they're coming in when they shouldn't be, then I'd also be having a quiet word.

My Mum is clinically diagnosed as having over 15 migraines a month, so classed a chronic migraine sufferer. Some she can carry on her day to a reasonable level, others she literally can’t do anything. She is not retired so thankfully doesn’t have this issue but there can be patterns for some people. There is the something known as a ‘Saturday migraine’, which I can get - that you get a migraine after you stop at the end of a busy week. For others it could be the stress of the week starting.

Some people use the term migraine when they mean bad headache. Proper migraine is another level. I told my son the other day not to say migraine when he means headache, and explained the difference. I'm not a massive sufferer, fortunately, but I had some a few years ago and I'd rather not have any more!

Bit like when people say "my OCD" when what they really mean is * like things put away properly.

Think there's been a bit more in the press recently about migraine, but I think it needs more awareness so people don't miss use the condition. Maybe that is something employers need to be doing.

I went through a period where I would get debilitating, migraine like headaches* regular as clockwork every Sunday afternoon at about 2 pm.
Never missed a day of work as a result but ruined countless weekends.

Am I a malingerer too? (Full disclosure: I am quite fat)

*not migraines. Occipital neuralgia as a result of nerve damage sustained in a car accident but still enough to render me temporarily blind in one eye and utterly useless for a day.

Everyone gets sick, If I had an employee that’d never taken a day off in 5 years, it would ring alarm bells. Especially so if their role involved the company’s money. If they’re coming in when they shouldn’t be, then I’d also be having a quiet word.

Interesting. Dont get me wrong, i have been sick, the odd cold or sniffles, but ultimately nothing bad enough to stop me doing my job. I would put it down to my work ethic and trying to eat well and stay fit and healthy.

I mean i have had time off over the years of my employment, but its holiday... for holidays. Oh and i did take a day here and there for funerals.

I would love to be told to take more sick days.... assuming they would pay me for it!

I'd like you to experience a migraine, preferably with flashes, then reassess your opinion.

but ultimately nothing bad enough to stop me doing my job.

OK, but are you bringing germs/infections into work that are bad enough to make others sick? Perhaps more sick than you might be. There's a new strain of Covid doing the rounds, if you just get the sniffles and a sore head, you'd come into work, right? Would you remember to test? Are there folks at work who would need to shield? have a less effective immune system than you?

Don't get me wrong, 5 years and no sick days is admirable, but being ill isn't a character flaw either.

Are fat people more likely to be unhealthy and need more time off (probably)

Yes, but it's generally phrased a little more nicely.

This is connected to my line of work - which involves weight management and trying to help people stay in employment.

A study from this year, albeit part-funded by Novo Nordisk (who make wegovy):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-69002714

But it's not controversial to say obesity is correlated with a number of serious health conditions.

"Everyone gets sick, If I had an employee that’d never taken a day off in 5 years, it would ring alarm bells."

That's nonsense.

Apart from Covid, I've not had a sick day in years, possibly decades. When I get colds etc they almost always disappear overnight and I've been lucky not to have anything serious yet.

I got bitten by a dog the other day commuting in and was off to minor injuries, patched up and back at work in a couple of hours but thats all I can remember in recent years. I'm pretty sure hQ consider this a positive and not a red flag!

I should probably declare my particular present ire at the tone of the OP.

My migraines are now very manageable - prob 4 or 5 a year - because I finally (after many years) identified the trigger as physiological. Mine relate to neck stiffness originating in the traps muscles in my upper back. Lots of stretching keeps them at bay, mostly.

But Fender Jnr (2) has been getting them for the last 18 months or so. He's currently moping around on the sofa having has 5 migraine attacks in the last three days. He's got through end of year assessments and is now supposedly in the nice run into summer hols. Instead of doing a school trip yesterday and Sports Day today he's been chundering, waking up in the night with the aura already happening and looking like death in between. He's 13 and has already had to accept that these are probably never going to go away 100% and will need managing.

So I'm not sure what pisses me off more, TBH - that some people inevitably use 'migraine' as an excuse to skive or that other people immediately think 'skiver' when migraine is mentioned.

I'd much rather migraines didn't exist at all.

🤷‍♂️

What @fazzini said. I often get them on mondays, but most common is saturday when you have just got through a stressful week at work, and then when you get to relax after, bang its on. So I usually waste either half of the weekend, or the whole weekend if I get one that lasts two days. What fun.

I have had bad migraines my whole life, and can't use most of the common medications because of serious side effects. And it is most often stress or the relieving of stress that starts the attack. The worst one in my whole life was after we had been hiking for a week in the wilderness, and on the way back we went to a sauna and a bath, and I relaxed there for hours.

Right after the relaxing sauna and bath I got a horrible migraine attack, could not sleep the whole night, it was all cold sweats and suffering, all the while being close to throwing up and could not even keep my eyes open.

For me, the worst attacks involve serious nausea, sometimes throwing up, throbbing pain on the left foreside of the head, the whole visual field may flicker and flash, and any light will cause pain - usually necessitating being in a dark room, preferably with an ice pack on my forehead.

For the migraineurs here - one cool tip I learned of a couple years back is that pure green light can alleviate the pain quite considerably. Especially being in a totally dark room, with only the green light shining on you.
I read about a couple studies done on this, and then ordered a stage light producing green LED light from Thomann. It really does help - both for reducing the pain when an attack is on, and if you keep the green light on daily, it will reduce the frequency of attacks for many people.

https://hms.harvard.edu/news/green-light-migraine-relief

Harvard Medical School researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have found that exposing migraine sufferers to a narrow band of green light significantly reduces photophobia and can reduce headache severity.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32903062/

Discussion: Green light emitting diodes significantly reduced the number of headache days in people with episodic migraine or chronic migraine. Additionally, green light emitting diodes significantly improved multiple secondary outcome measures including quality of life and intensity and duration of the headache attacks. As no adverse events were reported, green light emitting diodes may provide a treatment option for those patients who prefer non-pharmacological therapies or may be considered in complementing other treatment strategies. Limitations of this study are the small number of patients evaluated. The positive data obtained support implementation of larger clinical trials to determine possible effects of green light emitting diode therapy.

For pain relief, I have found that high dose CBD combined with paracetamol helps me a lot, as I cannot use triptans at all.

I cannot use triptans at all

Me neither. My side-effects weren't properly serious other than them often making things feel much worse and often being unable to lift my arms whilst it was in my system.

@fenderextender I get heart problems and they may cause a heart attack for a small subset of people, whose heart veins are affected by triptans. I also have a very high hematocrit / hemoglobin (180) - hereditary, so I may get a sroke from them. Thats also the reason they are not recommended for smokers.

I’d like you to experience a migraine, preferably with flashes, then reassess your opinion.

I am hoping this isnt aimed at me, as if so, you clearly havent read my opening post or just dont understand what i have written. I clearly stated that i understand they are debilitating, my wife occasionally suffers. My point was that it appears people use this as a reason to take a day off sick and i was curious if anyone they work with is a 'sick note' and what their excuses are.

If it wasnt aimed at me, ignore the above and feel free to address who you have taken offence to.

This was a light hearted thread to unearth if tracy in accounts is often off ill as her dog dies once a month, or that Dave in dispatch often suffers from an ingrowing toe nail every other week.

OK, but are you bringing germs/infections into work that are bad enough to make others sick? Perhaps more sick than you might be.

Unfortunately its a culture where i work, as we dont get paid sick, those who dont want to lose out on pay generally come to work. And yes, its a breeding ground, especially in my office where the aircon just spreads it far and wide. It infuriates me, as i dont want to pick anything up, i dont want to spread, but i have a mortgage to pay, food to buy. I am happy to share my HR departments email if you can get them to see sense! 🙂

Bit like when people say “my OCD” when what they really mean [s]is * like things put away properly.[/s] i'm the kind of boring bastard that like to draw round my tools and colour in the lines with black paint

Ftfy

Everyone gets sick, If I had an employee that’d never taken a day off in 5 years, it would ring alarm bells. Especially so if their role involved the company’s money. If they’re coming in when they shouldn’t be, then I’d also be having a quiet word.

Alarm bells ? I had a day off last year and I had to look at the Self Service app online to check when I last had a sick day- 2018. I am a pain in the arse moaning employee. Also overweight, ex big drinker, ex smoker so not claiming to be Mr healthy.

In bad organisations presenteeism is a common consequence of inaccurate performance metrics and the absence of a growth mindset. Pathological management often embraces dysfunction as it’s easier to quantify absence than actual business value, and allows training and improvement to be left to the individual initiative of employees with ambitions elsewhere. These organisations are where careers go to die; be very careful.

If you took the time to read any of the migraine threads on STW you'd be aware that stress is a major trigger, as is reduced stress. I had countless bank holiday and annual leave days wasted as I'd have a migraine.

That’s nonsense.

Nope, experience. I worked with a woman in accounts that 'managed' the companies money, never took a day off, always always dragged herself in,  rarely even took holidays. The HR management found out eventually it's becasue she was on the take, and came in so that no one else would to look closely at what she did if she wasn't there.

as we dont get paid sick

That's against the law. What you mean is 'we don't get anything above statutory sick pay' Then if it bothers you, find a new job or re-negotiate your contract. folks leaving a business becasue it doesn't look after it's employees soon start to find ways of offer better conditions.

How often do you use that Bruce? Our HR department wants explanations!

What kind of explanations?

If I've determined that I'm not well enough to come into work and the illness is not work related then it's really none of their business.  If they want to push things then I'll quite happily go and find somewhere else that doesn't feel the need to get nosy.

Might be different if you are a migraine sufferer as it's more likely to be a chronic condition and work might have to provide additional support.

If, as the OP and others are suggesting, they aren't actually suffering from migraines and just fancy a day off then there's nothing wrong with, 'I don't feel well, it's not work related, I don't need any support.'

Why does HR need to know if you've got a fever or if you've been sat on the toilet evacuating your bowels with excruciating abandon for two days?

A former colleague used to get annual jury service for several weeks and my useless manager never batted an eyelid.

If they’re coming in when they shouldn’t be, then I’d also be having a quiet word.

That's long been a massive irritation for me in office-based work. People sitting there sniffing and coughing and sneezing over their keyboard, getting up for a another mug of Lemsip, moaning about how ill they feel but "their work ethic means they've come in anyway..."

Yes and then you make everyone else ill you absolute cretin - plus you don't actually get much work done after all that.

Thankfully it seems much less common post-Covid.

“Everyone gets sick, If I had an employee that’d never taken a day off in 5 years, it would ring alarm bells.”

That’s nonsense.

Certainly is. My longest period without a day off sick was 12 years, and I think my total sick days over 35 years was probably about 15. Some people are lucky, some are less so.

That’s long been a massive irritation for me in office-based work. People sitting there sniffing and coughing and sneezing over their keyboard, getting up for a another mug of Lemsip, moaning about how ill they feel but “their work ethic means they’ve come in anyway…”

WFH has it's drawbacks, but I'm so glad I don't share an office with one particular bell end who used to do this.

Genuinely didn't realise what a **** he was being and expected praise.

Nope, experience. I worked with a woman in accounts that ‘managed’ the companies money, never took a day off, always always dragged herself in,  rarely even took holidays. The HR management found out eventually it’s becasue she was on the take, and came in so that no one else would to look closely at what she did if she wasn’t there.

ooosh, thats a pretty niche experience. Never ill, but defo a criminal. Do you know what happened to her? Just her marching orders? Or criminal proceedings?

And just to reiterate AGAIN, this isnt about migraines existing or not, it was a bit of friday fun  to unearth things like...

A former colleague used to get annual jury service for several weeks and my useless manager never batted an eyelid.

but, anywho.....

I had a colleague who was off for 6 months straight with migraines. Coincidentally, 6 months is the point when they dropped to half pay. I'm often surprised by how many people seem to become well enough to return to work at that point.

And just to reiterate AGAIN, this isnt about migraines existing or not, it was a bit of friday fun  to unearth things like…

I think the problem is trying to have a bit of fun with an issue people genuinely suffer from.

Don't think it came across the way you intended.

I think the problem is trying to have a bit of fun with an issue people genuinely suffer from.

Don’t think it came across the way you intended.

yup, fair play, apologies to anyone who mistook what i was trying to say, i was in no way trying to poo poo anything migraine based. My error.

Do you know what happened to her?

The cops turned up one morning (both plain clothes and uniform). I mean at the time, I was just an office junior, the uniform turning up at the office was their first I know of it really. They did the whole 'hand on the shoulder, would you like to come with us' routine. Partly for our benefit as well I reckon. Took away the computer, emptied the drawers. The company (logistics) prosecuted her for thousands and she got a prison sentence - couple of years.

It's less niche that you'd think, a chap in a circle of friends was also caught with his hand in the the till of the company he worked for, was sent 'darn' as well.

What BruceWee said. If you're trusted by the business, "I was ill" really should be sufficient.

Most organisations have a sickness management policy or similar. I think ours starts if you have 4 periods of sickness in a rolling 12 month period. 4 concurrent days off is regarded as one period of sickness, but 4 separate days off are treated as four periods of sickness.

I got bitten by this. I had a stinking cold, was off for a couple of days, felt better so came back in on the Wednesday or Thursday, then had a relapse and was off again at the end of the week. Two periods of sickness, another day within 12 months either side of that and it triggers a review, I'd have been better off staying away the whole week.

For balance we’ve all seen people who drag themselves in when they really should be off sick, which can then spread their bugs and cause even more absence

Martyrs can do one. "I've never had a day off work in my life!" No, but everyone else has because of you, you throbber.

The rule of thumb I use is, "if I go in, will I be of any use to anyone?" If no then I might as well be in bed.

6 months is the point when they dropped to half pay. I’m often surprised by how many people seem to become well enough to return to work at that point.

Or, they aren't but can't afford not to.

The rule of thumb I use is, “if I go in, will I be of any use to anyone?” If no then I might as well be in bed.

Nice one, that will be off work for the rest of my life then, illness or not.

Or, they aren’t but can’t afford not to.

Yes, that happens too.

Migraines are awful if you work with computers all day. I seem to suffer them less since working from home though. Probably something to do with the awful office lighting.

I've actually only had two days off since I started WFH in 2020. That was due to gastroenteritis (the both ends, soul leaving your body, praying for a quick death variety). I even worked through having Covid twice so I wouldn't end up behind in my work.

Reading between the lines here, but I think we have a classic case of workplace disillusionment on the part of the OP. For whatever reason, he has ended up in a workplace that has poor regard for its employees. Over time, he has bought into that philosophy and prided himself on being 'hard' and never taking a day sick. Possibly with dangled carrot of promotion that has either never materialised or has, but at a glacial rate. Now some realisation is setting in and he is looking for a focus for his ire. Justifiable? Possibly.

Healthy for the OP? Very unlikely.

Life is too short to worry about the motivations of others. If someone is taking the piss, the HR algorithm should pick it up. Or a general consensus may develop - which can also be unhealthy.

Do your own work, to the required standard, in the allocated hours (or more if you want). If it is too much, too little, too hard, too easy then deal with your own situation with whatever management you have. That is enough for anyone to manage without any lingering resentment towards others.

If you work in a place that has a zero-sum attitude to the workforce (a good thing for one employee has to come at the expense of another), then it might be time to find another job. Those kind of zero-sum arrangements only exist below the glass ceiling IME, keep the high salaries, guaranteed bonuses and buggering off early on a Friday to play golf for 'us' and let 'them' provide for 'us' by fighting amongst themselves for the last 5%.

I used to suffer with them, I'd go blind in one eye with the worse ones.

So, ermmm, yea the OP has my sympathy for having to suffer through life as a bit of a tool, it must be a burden.

Certainly is. My longest period without a day off sick was 12 years, and I think my total sick days over 35 years was probably about 15. Some people are lucky, some are less so.

Yea..... but how many people around you got the flu as a result of you coming into work?

Or, they aren’t but can’t afford not to.

I think it's a fine line that has to be drawn somewhere.

Should people be able to take time off to recover quicker/better even if they ostensibly could work but to the incremental detriment to their health. - yes

Would almost everyone be better off physically and mentally if they didn't have to work - also yes

At the end of the day you're paid to work because it's not something you'd otherwise chose to do.

As for the OP,

It's not hard to come up with a 24-hour "illness" if you're that way inclined.  Food poisoning, the squits and so forth.

Migraines are grim things.  There's an adage in skydiving circles, "those who do can't explain, those who don't can't understand."  I, thank the stars, don't have chronic migraines but I've had a few "several weeks" bouts and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  As someone else said earlier, migraine is to headache as flu is to bad cold.  I can power through a headache but I could no more work with a migraine than I could if I was on fire, it's horrendous.

More women have migraines than men and are often linked to their menstrual cycle, so pretty unavoidable in this case. They can be managed though and I can recommend trying different Triptone drugs as there could be one that works well and can stop a migraine instead of just masking the symptoms.

People often think a migraine is just a strong localised headache, and although this can be the case, they are often much more, with symptoms of sickness, diarrhea, dizzyness, nausea, visual distortions, confusion, slurred speech, lethargy etc. So I'm a bit more empathetic with sufferers. But there are often triggers too, so sufferers do need to have a look at their lifestyle, diet and sleep routine as these are often triggers.

The only person that gives a shit about someone never taking a sick day is the person themselves. Companies certainly don’t.

You never know what people are going through/letting on, suggesting they are faking is a pretty big breach of rule 1 imo.

What are the chances they fall on a Monday or sometimes on a Friday?!

A little less than 1 in 3

Yea….. but how many people around you got the flu as a result of you coming into work?

If I'd knowingly had flu I wouldn't have gone to work.

I've not knowingly had COVID either.

Thankfully it seems much less common post-Covid.

The ability toward from home means that sick leave is reduced. Not been into the office for two weeks, but I have been working with this miserable cold. Not as effectively last week, but working.

Anyone with a genuine migraine would much rather be working without one. I've had only one. I'd rather not have any more. The analogy between cold and flu is accurate.

Some of the anti-CGRP antibodies for prevention are impressive. You are required to have failed three previous therapies and have four or more migraines per month (NICE).  Pfizer bought a company called Biohaven to provide intranasal and oral CGRP blockade. These work the same way.

Master sick day takers, take off Wednesdays. Or if they are going to be off a Friday or Monday, plant the seed days before, with the odd cough, sniffle and complaint of feeling like something 'coming on'

You never know what people are going through/letting on, suggesting they are faking is a pretty big breach of rule 1 imo.

I think there are a lot of people out there who aren't faking as such but have very different expectations around work and well-being and how the two relate. I don't think the colleague I mentioned above was faking but the fact is that she pretty much missed 6 months in every working year.

Says as much about the employers procedures as it does about them TBH.

The masterstroke for days off in my workplace these days seems to be stress/mental health. Ain't nobody going to question that in this day and age. 😉

What is worse...pretending to have an ailment to dodge working, or pretending to work and spending all day on stw....

This place is honestly incredible. I realise now why i only really post about bike stuff these days. And why some people leave to never come back.

My post was to create some discussion on those that have a 'sick note' in work and their reasons. Please remove the word 'migraine' and replace with 'the squits', or any other 'less offensive' ailments.

Some of the guff spouted above, then to suggest i am a throbber.... get f-ed. Utter utter tosh.

Its friday, the sun is shining, the weekend is about to begin, smile.... FFS.

Any mods in here, please close this thread, its just not worth it.

Serious contraventions of rule 1 here.

Before I started having steroids injected into my head, followed by 31 injections every three months, and now a self injection every month with not great side effects, I was on between 16 and 20 migraine days per month. Chances are some of those would fall on a Monday.

Yes, it's such a convenient excuse, what with the nausea, the tunnel vision, the depression, the searing pain, the dizziness, the tremors, the fatigue, and then followed by the side effects from the drugs and the 'hangover'. And the effects on personal life and relationships.

My wife also suffers with them hormonally, to the point where her previous employer started disciplinary processes, but backed down pretty soon once she pointed out the pattern of them, and reinforced it with an endocrinologist's letter

So there's a little understanding why your initial post has pissed a good number of people off.

The masterstroke for days off in my workplace these days seems to be stress/mental health. Ain’t nobody going to question that in this day and age.

That’s as equally unfunny as the post that started this thread.

That’s as equally unfunny as the post that started this thread.

Thanks, I was aiming high.

Its friday, the sun is shining, the weekend is about to begin, smile…. FFS.

I went for a ride before work, in amazing sunshine. It was you who decided to start a thread about the behaviour of others. Some people have set out to help you understand what some of those others are going through. Why wouldn't they?

Its friday, the sun is shining, the weekend is about to begin, smile…. FFS.

Well, I would head out and ride my bike in the lovely weather, but as this is one of my migraine triggers, it's lead to me kind of withdrawing from one of my favorite things to do in life.

Congratulations for not having a sick day for 5 years. Some other people actually are ill, or have an ongoing illness, or don't come to work to spend illness.
I used to be fit and healthy and hardly ever took sick days. Now I have a bowel disease and struggle regularly to come to work ( but still manage to generally). To look at me you wouldn't know I had any illness.
My wife gets migraines and I really feel bad for her. It's not nice and comes on out of nowhere.

 then to suggest i am a throbber…

For the avoidance of doubt, "you" wasn't you in my post, I was discussing people who boast about dragging their diseased carcass into work when they should be in bed.  Apologies if you took it personally but that isn't what I said.

My post was to create some discussion

So trolling?

That’s as equally unfunny as the post that started this thread.

You seem to have interpreted my comment as showing a lack of understanding of mental health but it's actually anything but (although it was slightly tongue in cheek). The understanding shown by my employer around stress and mental health is regularly weaponised by some staff. They use the threat of absence due to stress to get decisions they don't like overturned in the full knowledge that it's unlikely to be questioned and that cover staff will not be available. It's absolutely crippling for school leaders trying to implement change and demeaning to those with genuine issues.

I realise now why i only really post about bike stuff these days.

And yet... here we are.

throbber

get f-ed

🤔

It’s less niche that you’d think

Common practice in my work (banking) that you need to take your holidays, and need to take at least a weeks worth at any one time. Big red flag if you never take more than a day off at a time

It’s less niche that you’d think, a chap in a circle of friends was also caught with his hand in the the till of the company he worked for, was sent ‘darn’ as well.

The first chemical company I worked at, a previous employee had been sent down for about 6 years IIRC for making ecstasy on the quiet. Little corner of the fume cupboard in amongst a load of other reactions, no-one gave it a second look. It only came to light because the primary ingredient for it was disappearing at an unusual rate...

After that it was kept under lock and key by the Chief Chemist and it needed several tiers of sign-off to access it.

One of the guys there was forever on sick. He'd rock up late or leave early due to "not feeling well", he'd usually have 1 day off a week. Basically just a complete slacker. Anyway, work put in place a new policy around sick leave, return to work interviews etc and his health miraculously improved.

After a few months he found the loophole of claiming that his kids were ill so he returned to his usual 1-day a week off.

^^^

That was a fortnight BITD at my first job (LloydsTSB).

My side-effects weren’t properly serious other than them often making things feel much worse and often being unable to lift my arms whilst it was in my system.

I got the same on sumatriptan, so much so I hardly took it. I am finding the new generation of triptans released by NICE in the last couple of years 1000x better. I now take Rizatriptan which honestly it like night and day by comparison. In general, i can function to a good degree within an hour and apart sometimes sensitive teeth, experience no side effects of note.

For those who have struggled on the old triptans, I'd certainly recommend getting a review with your GP.

Am I alone in not giving a ****? I have 6 direct reports, that's all I concern myself with, I do the roster/RTW. Sickness convos as is my job and HR and the Bradford Factor does the rest if when required. If people are working their ticket it's either inept managers or falible processes of which there are quite a few sadly.

Persistent sickness can also be an organisational culture issue, some places are a shitty place to be but they'd rather go after the people than tackle the culture.

The first chemical company I worked at, a previous employee had been sent down for about 6 years IIRC for making ecstasy on the quiet. Little corner of the fume cupboard in amongst a load of other reactions, no-one gave it a second look. It only came to light because the primary ingredient for it was disappearing at an unusual rate…

After that it was kept under lock and key by the Chief Chemist and it needed several tiers of sign-off to access it.

One of the guys there was forever on sick. He’d rock up late or leave early due to “not feeling well”, he’d usually have 1 day off a week. Basically just a complete slacker. Anyway, work put in place a new policy around sick leave, return to work interviews etc and his health miraculously improved.

After a few months he found the loophole of claiming that his kids were ill so he returned to his usual 1-day a week off.

wow! a real life Breaking Bad. Was it for his own consumption or selling to the weekend ravers?!

Mrs Merman hasn't worked for... nearly two years now, largely due to debilitating migraines. They've got progressively worse over the years to the point where she can now be bed-bound holding her head and unable to speak for four days at a time. Can't keep anything down inc pills or water for the first 2/3 days, and can only sip water by the 3rd or 4th. It then takes her a day or two to recover, so that's a week written-off. Impossible to hold down a job when she gets a bad one every couple of weeks.

Umpteen GPs and even more specialists seem unable to help. "I'll prescribe something different, see if that works."

Sometimes the (many) meds she takes, work but more often than not they don't.

She'd give anything to be able to work.

Covid should have brought about a massive change in presenteeism, but it didn't take long before covid related absenses counted towards absence warnings again. So just like with colds/flu etc., someone mildly affected could report at the workplace and then infect many not so fortunate. And because a covid absense counted towards absence records, they'll turn up because they are either on the final or penultimate absence warning.

Even though those under 50 around December '21 without a vulnerable to illness record, haven't been able to get a free covid vaccine jab since.

While I can't prove my covid came from my old rm delivery office in late Sept '22, distancing was often diabolical while in the office before going out on delivery and the only other place I went near people were literally a few individuals in the Tesco Express on what turned out to be my last work day. After almost a year off with long covid, I ended up taking ill health retirement and I'm still a long way from being able to manage getting up at a reasonable time and managing to do at least a regular 4-hour shift somewhere part-time.