I Really Need Advice for Employment With C.D.

[Zac with no K]

I am really in need of a lot of advice and apolagize for the long post..

I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease just over a year ago and have been sick for a year before that. I'm currently only taking Humira once every two weeks, and still believe I am very anemic.

I have some days when I have a good amount of energy but I have a lot of days where I have very little energy. Because of this, I've been haveing a lot of trouble trying to find places to attempt to get a job at.

It's difficult for me to do a lot of labor intensive tasks..

I'm 20 years old, still live with my parents. I'm also trying to find a self-paced internet college also at the moment.

So what are you supposed to do if you are very un-reliable for a job due to Crohn's Disease? If I find a "normal" job that requires a lot of energy, how and when am I suppose to tell the employer about my C.D.?

Or am I just supposed to try to get dissabilty and live off the tax payers and government which I REALLY don't want..

I would feel a lot better if I could work for a decent income and stop living off my parents and sitting around the house doing nothing..

Any advice really helps a lot.
Thanks,

Zac

 

[taxdaycrohnie]

I have to say some days are interesting working with this disease. I am also very embarrassed by it, and do everything I can to get privacy in bathrooms. I work in a large convention center and find myself going out of my way to find a bathroom where no one is around. That being said, I still work well. I battled through the pain to begin with. Once I got more comfortable with my coworkers and my boss, I let it be known a little at a time that I had "issues." Then more specifically Crohn's, and in less formal conversations, my patterns. (Often I have very painful mornings, with many episodes. After a couple hours or so, I seem to be better.) Getting through the first months is hard... I wish you much luck. I have an office job, so going back and forth to the bathroom is expected to some degree. You don't say what kind of work you would be interested in? I also went to school as well, and found on line classes worked great. I did the majority of my school work between midnight and 3 am, in between trips to the bathroom.

 

[new2crohnsinVA]

Don't stress about it

First, it sounds like you don't have to worry for a few years, which will give time for improvement in your condition.

Second, my experience has been that I know myself enough to predict a problem day before I leave in the morning. Usually, a bad day starts the night before or early in the morning - pain, bloating, etc. I'm lucky that i have some flexibility with my schedule. Really bad days tend to be sick days or partial sick day - usually I'll make it up on a good day.

I got sick after my second baby was born last year and my boss had already given me some flexibility due to the new baby. I did tell him I was having some serious medical issues before I had a diagnosis, but I don't think it is necessary to go beyond that at this point.

I think letting an employer know that you have some medical issues isn't required. You'll probably be best off if you mention to HR after you have a written offer in hand. HR will keep it confidential and protect you if you do end up missing for an extended period. Check the laws of your state about discrimination due to medical conditions - it may be a protected status.

 

[Zac with no K]

Thanks for the advice.

taxdaycrohnie, I'm interested in pretty much any type of job, but I've only been trying to find office jobs as I would hopefully be able to sit most of the time. I think that would be better with my low energy. Although I would perfer a job where I can move around interact with other employees and customers more, I just don't think I have the energy for it. I feel the same for school to I've barely left my house in the past two years. And it is pretty embarrasing and uncomfortable in class when my stomach makes loud noises every two minutes.

new2crohnsinVA, I didn't think about HR at all. My dad is actually in HR for his career and he could probably help me out a lot. I haven't really talked to him about getting a job much.

Thanks again

Zac

 

[Lisa]

Zac.....I think one of hte first things you need to do is find out if you are anemic - if so, getting that taken care of should help with the energey levels. Also get your Vitamin D and B12 checked....

As for jobs - there are ones out there that can be condusive to having bowel issues. At one point, I worked for a wholesale company packing out merchandise at a big box store and was able to make my own hours - I could go in at 5am if I wanted, or 10pm....as long as I didn't go over my number of hours for the week...also didn't matter how many bathroom breaks I took!

 

[bamboling]

Yes, employers are not allowed to ask you about health problems or disabilities, and they can't fir you for it either.