itp and work..again

anyone here lose their job or have to stop work because of their itp? also, how do u juggle work, kids etc while having treatments? ivig gives me extremely bad headaches but i need to get it sometimes. i am scared it will affect my new job because these headaches are constant for a week or 2 after the infusion.

Chilli, you'll find that everyone has a different opinion on this. I was told to stop working the year I was diagnosed, so I did. I was out for 4 years. I went back to work in /08, but stopped again last Christmas. No kids to juggle, but I was suddenly needing treatment more often, and it would knock me out for a couple of days after, so I need to get that under control before trying again. I applied and got long term disability.

Good luck.

Well, the treatments did affect my job in that I did not perform nearly as well as I should have, especially while on Prednisone. The only days I missed though were the days I got Rituxan treatments (5 days). I've never had IVIG because it seems so temporary and I didn't want to miss that much work.

As for the kids, mine were 9, 13 and 15. Those were tough ages because they had so many activities to go to after I was done working, so we ran constantly (husband travels for his job).

It was a juggling act for sure, and I don't know how I hung onto my job without getting fired (made mistakes). I just took things one day at a time.

I'm having the same problem right now. I have three kids (5 years, 4 years, and 4 months). I've been getting written up at work lately quite a bit. I've NEVER gotten written up before! I've been trying my hardest to keep up with everything, but I feel like I'm not succeeding.

My husband and I are trying to figure out a way I can just stay home with the kids, but we haven't been able to figure out how to pay the bills (my oldest son is autistic, so he has quite a few medical bills too!).

I hate to say it this way, but I've gotten to the point where I'm concentrating on my health and my family. I go to work every day that I can, and I give it my best try, but at this point if they fire me I think it might actually be a blessing.

Right now I just keep pushing through each day, and trying new treatments, and hopefully one of them will end up working and I can go into remission and find some order in my life again!

Nicki

I'm in full time work in central London, but going by what other people have said, my ITP seems to be less severe than some. I've been off the steroids for over a year and my count has been anything between 36 and 112 in that time. When i get ill with a cold or something, it does usually knock me out completely for 2 days, but thankfully my work are very understanding, and let me go for hospital appointments every 2-3 months without trouble. Sometimes I have more energy, sometimes less, but I've as yet not been put on IVIG or anything else besides pred. Hopefully I never will, but I bet you all said that before, so in no way am I going to be complacent about such things - there's a first time for everything. I'm just trying to balance work, life and taking good care of myself as best I can.