'Living with long term conditions' course today. We spoke about pain and fatigue and several other things. The 2 ladies there who also have Fibromyalgia have been wonderful, they tell me anything I need to know and answer any questions I have. Had found out from the discussion site yesterday that Fibro is classed as a disability and contacted an organization mentioned on there who liase between sufferers and employers to sort things out at work. They told me to ring my Disability Employment Advisor at my local job centre. I did and spoke to a nice lady there who said that they can send someone into my work to talk to me and my employers about what adjustments need to be made to enable me to continue in my job. The good news is that sick leave taken because of a disability must not be counted in the sick leave total used to determine whether I have taken too much sick leave or not. So I won't have to suffer a repeat of the nastiness I have gone through in the last 18 months over the amount of time I had to take off due to the IBS with them calling me into meetings about my sick leave and threatening disciplinary hearings and possible sacking if I don't cut down my sick leave!
The 2 ladies at the course have assured me that that is indeed the case and that there is no way that work can sack me for having time off sick with the fibro. They also have said that work will most likely have to allow me to work from home more often. That would be wonderful, not having to get up so early and being able to nap in the middle of the day if I need to.
They also let me know that there is a certain amount of help out there to help pay the interest on the mortgage if I did have to give up work due to the fibro. That is such a relief to me as it is the main thing that has been worrying me having only just taken out the mortgage.
Both ladies are lovely, it's so good to have that support there. Our course leader also gave all of us a load of information about fibro and support groups and webistes available for sufferers. I am so glad I joined that course, it's just a shame it's only for 6 weeks.
The rest of the day was spent working and then band this evening.
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