Lisa (2:59):<\/strong> I have worked in healthcare since high school. I did an internship that kind of sparked my interest in working in healthcare, and I’ve done everything since from clerical jobs to eventually becoming a CNA, then LVN, and eventually moving on to get my RN. I\u2019ve mostly stayed in the same companies, moving around to different positions, just finding my footing until I found the job that I really wanted and loved.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (3:47): <\/strong>It sounds like your passion has been progressive care stroke patients in particular. I know you\u2019re very knowledgeable about those things, and you\u2019ve been loyal to a particular organization for a very long time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, just as we are nurses and we take care of other people, sometimes we have to take care of ourselves, and there came a point where you needed to step back and take care of yourself. What happened?\u00a0<\/p>\n >>Listen to this episode on the Ask Nurse Alice podcast<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> Lisa (4:20): <\/strong>I\u2019ve always suffered from migraines and I know a lot of people have them. They don\u2019t look at it like it could be a disability, or something that could affect their career, but it really can. It\u2019s sort of one of those unknown medical conditions where they don\u2019t really understand fully why they happen to certain people. We just treat the symptoms and try to figure out what the triggers are and how to avoid them. There have been some enhancements with medications which have helped a lot, but overall throughout my life, I\u2019ve suffered and it\u2019s affected my job. Before I knew what opportunities I had to actually protect my employment, I would call in sick whenever I was really sick from migraines.\u00a0<\/p>\n That happened to me a lot. When migraines hit you, you can get hit with all types of symptoms from nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sleepiness, pounding and throbbing headaches to confusion and sometimes weakness. There\u2019s a lot of reasons that you would need to stay home, because you\u2019re literally just too sick to go to work and take care of other people. So you have to take care of yourself first, otherwise you are no good to your employment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (5:31): <\/strong>And this would hit you out of the blue, right? You can\u2019t plan for a migraine and call in 6 hours before shift to give them plenty of time for staffing. Sometimes this could happen right before work, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (5:46): <\/strong>Right. I work the night shift a lot and just getting your life organized down to the minute to get dressed, getting in the shower and all of a sudden you start feeling so dizzy and nauseous, your head starts pounding and you\u2019re realizing it\u2019s coming on right now and there\u2019s nothing that stops it. Even medication takes some time to kick in, and even then, the medications can make you feel sleepy or weak so you have to lay down. So it comes out of nowhere, and sometimes it could be within those two hours that you\u2019re getting ready to report to work, and then what do you do? You\u2019re at risk of having a late sick call when you call in sick. For years I dealt with that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (6:37):<\/strong> As nurses we often put ourselves last and there\u2019s so much pressure for us to show up, even when we don\u2019t feel our best. How often would you say you went to work still with your migraine, trying to take care of others?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (7:01): <\/strong>I would say 75% of the time. Then there were times where I would go to work, report and then halfway through my shifts I would leave because I was just too sick. And again, we\u2019re talking about a time period also where there wasn\u2019t much advancement in the medication either. So you\u2019re just stuck with meds that essentially knock you out and almost make you feel worse before you feel better.\u00a0<\/p>\n So I\u2019ve gone to work feeling ill because my migraines were called intractable migraines, where they\u2019ll last for 2-4 days at a time. So you don’t go to work one day, but then you\u2019re trying to figure out do you call out again on the second day? Because you\u2019re still sick. But sometimes you have to go to work because you either don\u2019t have enough hours to cover you next day off or you don\u2019t have any more available sick days so you\u2019re at risk of getting written up. You\u2019re just kind of stuck.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (7:53):<\/strong> That\u2019s a terrible situation. On the one hand, you don\u2019t feel good and in good faith, how can you go to work and take care of someone when you don\u2019t feel good yourself? Yet on the other side you have leadership and unit demands, pestering you and let\u2019s just be honest, you can\u2019t see migraines. You mentioned that you would go to work, try your best and sometimes you\u2019d have to leave because you felt so horrible. What was that like with your colleagues? Was there any tensions on the unit?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (8:53): <\/strong>People are planning their workflow around the staffing they have, so if they know they have X amount of employees there, they know they can project their night a little bit easier. But if they\u2019re losing staff in the middle of a shift, they have to adjust to those things. And sometimes the workflow doesn\u2019t allow for that, but you still have to adjust and it puts a strain on everybody. Eventually they\u2019ll start to look at you like you\u2019re a flaky employee that doesn\u2019t want to commit and they might even have regrets about hiring you. Your reputation is on the line because if you\u2019re working your way through the ranks and you\u2019re trying to use people as references, they’ve formulated opinions about you because they don\u2019t think you\u2019re a committed employee. So not only are my employer and coworkers impacted, but my family is too from taking care of me when I\u2019m sick.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (10:03): <\/strong>Right. So the Federal Family Medical Leave Act, this is something that generally provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12 month period, usually for the care of someone else or for your own serious medical condition. I\u2019ve had to take it because I\u2019ve had minor surgery, and that\u2019s a planned thing. I knew I was going to be off from this day to that day and once I was out, I was out of the mix. Migraines can be very serious, they\u2019re debilitating as you\u2019ve talked about, so you took a form of family medical leave. Can you tell us a little bit about that? I don\u2019t think as many people are aware or familiar that this option actually exists until they\u2019re down to the wire.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (10:56): <\/strong>I was one of those people that didn\u2019t know it existed but wished that I had, because I probably could have saved my attendance record and even the faith in my capabilities to show up to work. My employer could\u2019ve had more confidence in me because they would\u2019ve understood my situation a little better.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once I moved away from just seeing my family primary doctor for my migraine management, I was referred to a neurologist, and that\u2019s when things started getting a little better for me as far as managing my migraines. It\u2019s also where I discovered that they have, under the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) umbrella, an intermittent leave that you can. This is essentially an intermittently reduced work schedule, so you\u2019re not fully off of work, you\u2019re not on disability, but you\u2019re allowed to call in sick based off of the doctor\u2019s recommendation of how many times you have what they call a \u201cflare up,\u201d or something involving whatever your health issue is.\u00a0<\/p>\n For me, since my migraines would last 2-4 days, that could be working just 2 days out of a week. I work 3 12-hour shifts, so I could be working 2 shifts in a row, and if I\u2019m having flare ups for 2 days, then that\u2019s considered 2 days. So I can call in those 2 days if I need to. Once I discovered this, it totally changed my entire situation, for at least being able to hold onto my employment and call in when I need to and just take care of myself. I wasn\u2019t putting myself or my family at risk of losing my job.\u00a0<\/p>\n So I took advantage of the intermittent leave. It\u2019s a form that has to be filled out by your provider. There\u2019s a series of questions that document, not everything about your condition, but just how many days they feel you need, how frequent this is happening for you, things like that. They also have it where if you need to call in sick within the 2 hours of reporting for work, then you should be able to do that, but they have to indicate it on the form because it\u2019s very specific.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (13:05): <\/strong>You are helping so many people right now. There are so many people who are struggling with some form of illness, or maybe it\u2019s not even them but it\u2019s their child or significant other. They\u2019re ill and they\u2019re torn from wanting to stay home and take care of their family member because this really is my primary job, but I also have this other job that I need to pay rent and buy food, but I can\u2019t really go there because I\u2019m having to be here. You\u2019re just being torn between two very important things. We love being nurses and taking care of people, but at the end of the day, you and your immediate family should be your priority when it comes to who is your number one patient.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (13:51):<\/strong> It sounds like you didn’t know that intermittent leave existed, so you were just calling out a lot of the time, and every hospital, clinic or employer has a slightly different attendance policy. So if you haven\u2019t already, please make sure you check out your attendance policy! That is one policy you want to be familiar with because too many missed-attendance instances could lead to disciplinary action. At any point in time, did you have to deal with that?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (15:26): <\/strong>I did, I was getting verbal warnings. They were being very nice about it and they were concerned because I was sharing with my employer a little bit about my situation, which you don\u2019t have to do but because I had worked with these people forever, I did. At the end of the day you work for a corporation and everybody has these laws, but once I got into the intermittent leave situation, it kind of cleared all that up for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n I do want to point out one thing. When you use intermittent leave, you are calling in sick. So it\u2019s a sick call, but it\u2019s categorized under the intermittent leave so you\u2019re protected by that. Eventually though, you get to the point where you start to run out of hours whether it\u2019s sick leave or vacation hours, because you\u2019re likely covering with those hours too. Once you\u2019re running low on hours and you\u2019re still not well because it\u2019s a chronic issue, you\u2019re going to have to start making decisions. Do you just keep calling in with intermittent leave and eventually not getting paid? Because that\u2019s the reality, everybody runs into that if you have this chronic health condition that isn\u2019t resolved yet. .<\/p>\n That\u2019s the point where I eventually talked to my provider about taking a disability leave, which is a whole other topic, but it\u2019s what I had to do. Because if you\u2019re missing this much work, you\u2019re working 3 shifts a week and you\u2019re missing 1 to 2 shifts a week because of your chronic condition, you probably should be off of work so you can fully address your situation and can get back in the game later. Just put all of your attention on your health, take care of yourself and yourself, so you can eventually report to work and be productive. Because if you don\u2019t have your own personal health intact, then nothing else works in your life. But intermittent leave is there for the short term, or if you or a family member you\u2019re caring for is trying to get through something.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (18:11): <\/strong>You mentioned that you\u2019ve been on your unit for a long time and they\u2019re like family so you felt comfortable sharing some pieces of your health situation and what you were going through with your manager or whoever did the scheduling. Can you share with people, do they have to share the details of their diagnosis or their health issue, whether it\u2019s themselves or their family member? Are they obligated to share that with their employer? And can you walk us through the paperwork?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (18:59):<\/strong> I\u2019ll start with the forms, because the forms are set up to not indicate what your health problem is. It\u2019s just supposed to indicate through a provider certifying the forms, because the provider signature certifies what is going on with your condition and not what your condition is. So the form is basically just certifying what you and your provider talk about, how much they feel you need to be off of work to address these issues. They fill out the forms and they\u2019ll put it down to the hours of how many increments and hours you have to be off, or maybe even leave for an appointment. You should be able to leave for an appointment if you\u2019re sick in the middle of your shift and it should not be counted against you. You can have it written down to be able to call within 2 hours of your shift, or maybe even 1 hour. So they will put everything on there to help you get through this so that your job is protected.\u00a0<\/p>\n So you do not have to disclose your health issues to your employer. I did, but I can tell you that it doesn\u2019t make a difference at the end of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (21:56): <\/strong>What advice would you have for someone who has a chronic medical condition, or maybe a new diagnosis of something that could potentially interfere with work?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (22:18):<\/strong> I would suggest finding the right providers that you need to be seeing. In my case, I should\u2019ve seen a neurologist years before I saw one. But me not really being at that stage in my career where I identified my condition matching a neurology condition, I just didn\u2019t see one. Don\u2019t be afraid to see a specialist early on and discuss the effects of your life. How this condition is impacting everything from work to family life, so they can get a clear picture of what is exactly going on with you. Also be sure to keep in contact with your doctor throughout this process, because the intermittent leaves are usually for a designated amount of time and you have to get it re-certified.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (25:30): <\/strong>As a nurse who is maybe on a shift with someone who is experiencing this, what would you say to them? How would you recommend they handle this?\u00a0<\/p>\n Lisa (25:58):<\/strong> People understand when you have something going on, and they tend to respect you more when you call out a little bit better, because they realize you\u2019re sick.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alice (26:29): <\/strong>This is where we as nurses need to have compassion for one another. Because we recognize that yes, you\u2019re the nurse today, but you could possibly be a patient tomorrow or that night. And then for the colleagues who may experience working short or having to shuffle assignments around because a colleague is sick, it\u2019s important that we have compassion for them too. We just need to exercise the same compassion that we have for our patients for our colleagues as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes, we as nurses need to be off of work more than just \u201cI\u2019m calling in sick today because my tummy hurts.\u201d Some of us may need to be off for an extended period of time, which is usually covered under the Family Medical Leave Act. But sometimes you don\u2019t need that prolonged period of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-4810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-migranas","8":"tag-dolores-de-cabeza","9":"tag-migranas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4812,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4810\/revisions\/4812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanchiropractors.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/media.nurse.org\/images\/blog\/2022\/12\/02\/image_9473509721670003711663.png\")
<\/strong><\/p>\nWorking While Sick<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Intermittent Leave<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Protecting Your Job<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Advice For Nurses<\/strong><\/h2>\n