What Do You Do For A Living?

[Bosque]

As many on here, I was misdiagnosed with Celiac

[quietmorning01]

What do you for a living?

Hi, Bosque,

My first thought is 'you mean.. . NOOOW?' Currently I work for a software company - part time. It's a new job - I've asked what my current job title is. . .but no one seems to know. . .heh. . gopher, maybe? **laughing** I work at home two days a week and work in the office three, and pretty much can write my own hours - yeah, it fits me very well in my getting older age.

[Amyleigh0007]

I teach first grade. Let me tell you, I absolutely love, love, love my job but it's not the greatest job to have when you are a Celiac and you have accidently injested gluten! You can't just run to the rest room when ever you need to. When I am so tired I want to cry I have to force myself to have enough energy to handle 24 six and seven year olds. Parents are always making goodies for us and I can't eat any of them. When PTO orders pizza for us for lunch I can't have it. But, there is always a funny side. I teach cardinal directions with the sentence "Never Eat Soggy Wheat" (North, East, South, West - get it?) and my class gets a kick out of reminding me that I should never eat wheat, even if it isn't soggy.

[whitball]

I'm a case worker and work with adults with developmental disabilities. I cover two counties and trust me I know where every bathroom is in each part of the counties that I cover! Being a celiac has it's challenges, especially when I attend conferences. Most do not have a gluten free menu, so I often have to bring my own food. My clients often struggle with understanding my food restrictions, as they often offer their own snacks or food when I visit their homes.

[Lisa16]

Hi Bosque!

I am a professor at a large state university. This is the ideal job for a celiac-- you only have to physically be in one place for a couple of hours each day-- the rest of the time you can run to the bathroom all you like. Plus you get the summers off and a long holiday break. Plus the occasional sabbatical. If I didn't have this job, I would never have survived 23+ years of misdiagnosis.

Even so, there were times (before diagnosis) when I had to run out of class-- even in the middle of student presentations. Not good. Funny-- it always happened in the class after lunch. I would eat a bagel.

Now it happens only from time to time and I have many fewer sick days-- I used to get the most god-awful headaches.

[JennyC]

I worked as an organic chemist for a while, and now I'm back in school studying clinical laboratory science, meaning that I'll be running all of the patient lab tests for hospitals, clinics, and/or reference laboratories. I am counting down the days until graduation...

[nasalady]

As many on here, I was misdiagnosed with Celiac

[mushroom]

I was self-diagnosed after I retired; used to be a legal assistant. Sure wish at least one of the doctors I consulted in my lifetime had had the presence of mind to consider celiac--would have saved much suffering and permanent after-effects.

[blueeyedmanda]

I work in a large hospital as a Cancer Research coordinator. Pre-celiac and up till a year after the diagnosis I worked in the central lab here as a tech running blood work and other specimens on the patients. Interesting but this was a better option for me.

[hermitgirl]

I am a hairstylist and work at a health club. Love doing hair, club pays the bills. Going to school online. Was originally aiming towards communications, now thinking going about nutrition.

[Jamie]

Substitute teacher by day... personal trainer by night....

but... I'm the opposite of ALWAYS having to go to the bathroom if I injest gluten... that's my problem.. so I guess I don't really have to worry about that.

I'm very careful with what I eat when I'm at work(natural foods.. like fruits and salads) .. but if I do injest gluten.. I feel bloated and uncomfortable all day.

[DakotaRN]

Hi Bosque,

I am a Registered Nurse at a long term care facility. Love my job on the most part.

[elye]

I teach English as a Second Language, mostly contract work for the embassies here in Ottawa. Since my celiac diagnosis four years ago, I find I am often bringing the subject of diet and nutrition into the conversational/vocabulary practises in my classes. What strikes me profoundly is how relatively ignorant North America has been in regards to the nature of this illness. I mention celiac disease to French, Italian or Spanish diplomats, and they all know about it, discuss it quite easily (minus some grammatical errors!) and talk about how common it is in their countries. We've got a long way to go. . . . ....

[prayin4achange]

Substitute teacher by day... personal trainer by night....

but... I'm the opposite of ALWAYS having to go to the bathroom if I injest gluten... that's my problem.. so I guess I don't really have to worry about that.

I'm very careful with what I eat when I'm at work(natural foods.. like fruits and salads) .. but if I do injest gluten.. I feel bloated and uncomfortable all day.

I'm glad someone else has said that have the C problem and not the D. I began to feel a little alone haha.. it might be a little less urgent, but extremely painful and uncomfortable none-the-less!

To answer the question, I work part-time as a clerk in a medical billing office. My job is very stree-free and without much responsibility. I did an after school elementary program last year and almost died. I could never do it all day!

Jenn

[julirama723]

I'm a K-12 music teacher. This makes it INCREDIBLY difficult when I'm glutened or sick, as I don't have an aide and have a room full of expensive (and potentially dangerous!) equipment in which I can't leave children unsupervised. I also teach 9 classes a day, with few breaks, which means I am stuck in my room. When I'm glutened, I'm usually stuck in the bathroom at HOME, totally out of commission.

The kids are very sweet though, like one of the other posters had said. They know that I can't eat wheat. One day during snack time for an after-school music class, I reminded the students to clean up their areas and wash their hands well (the snack was crackers, I was practically holding my breath the whole time.) and that they couldn't touch any of the instruments. One girl forgot and touched a doorknob. She immediately said, "Oh Miss B. I am so sorry! I do not want you to get sick!" and she immediately grabbed Clorox wipes and wiped EVERYTHING she even remotely came into contact with. A few of the other students helped her! That was the cleanest my room has been in ages...

[oceangirl]

It's so interesting to see what everyone does to make a living. I've been a professional actor (stage, film,TV and radio), director and teacher of acting at all levels for 35 years.

For the past 8 years I have also been a Special Educator in a behavioral program for students with emotional disabilities in a public high school whose goal is to ameliorate emotional and behavioral issues so students can succeed in their classrooms and in the world! Also not a good job to have when you've been glutened- you cannot tell Tammy to have her emotional breakdown at a later time because you really need to go hang out in the bathroom for a few blocks! Tra la la... fun!

On the up side: all my big, "bad", intense and troubled boys and girls all know what Celiac disease is and what the gluten molecule is and protect me fiercely from the evil gluten! They are great and I love working with teens even as I dislike all the labels ascribed to some of them.

Take care and good health to all,

lisa

[songstressc]

I'm glad someone else has said that have the C problem and not the D. I began to feel a little alone haha.. it might be a little less urgent, but extremely painful and uncomfortable none-the-less!

To answer the question, I work part-time as a clerk in a medical billing office. My job is very stree-free and without much responsibility. I did an after school elementary program last year and almost died. I could never do it all day!

Jenn

I belong to the c club! i too was wondering! Previously teacher - on a sabbatical ? or life change

[Roda]

I have been an X-ray/CT technologist for 14+ years and I also did mammography for 15 months. I am currently working 12hr night shifts to accomidate my boys' school schedule. I am contemplating going back to school, thinking about nutrition, or getting back into mammography. The cafeteria is not open at night so I bring all my own food. Some of my coworkers balk and can't imagine eating the food I eat. I had a thread going early on when I was diagnosed about that. Here is the link: https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.ph...ic=53774&hl

FYI, if anyone is wondering, alot of the people still look at my food as weird and won't try it, but I do have a few friends that love it and can't wait to see what I bring in next for them to try.

[ang1e0251]

I'm a florist with my own shop and we have a coffee bar in the shop also. Makes it easy for me when I'm the boss! But..a couple of times when I was alone, I was in the bathroom when I heard the bells on the door tinkle. A customer!! Kind of embarrasing but what are you going to do?

My assistant is great and everyone around me is very understanding with food. Flower shows were a challenge but now I just take my own food and don't worry about it.

Before we bought the shop and I was dx'd, I worked at a Pizza Hut!! Only 3 days a week but that's when my symptoms were starting to really crank up, no wonder.

Things are much better now and I'm looking forward to many years of good health. Now if we can just get the economy back on track.

[maile]

Financial Planner, in front of clients all day long, makes bathroom trips interesting!! (I'm quite honest with my clients, trust is a big part of my job and I've found it best to be up front with my "problems" )

[daveray]

Hi

This was an interesting topic. It shows the diversity of this disease.

I am a psychologist.

[Salax]

Definitely interesting. I work at a University inside Tech Services at a Helpdesk. AKA, a computer geek.

Kind of interesting for a woman. My hubby gets a kick out of it because he brought me into the field about 9 years ago and then got out and I stayed in.

[elonwy]

I'm a video engineer for a post production company. My office is right next to the bathroom . We get fed breakfast and lunch every day and dinner if we stay late and they are really good about making sure there is stuff for me to eat. They even stock the freezer with gluten free waffles and Amy's meals, its pretty awesome.

I just started night school to finish my degree from way back when, looking at going into astrogeology. Seems like a huge random change, but I got really sick the last time I was in school and dropped out....then needed to be working and making money. Now I'm feeling good and have energy and great support at home, so back to school! Figuring out the vitamin D deficiency has helped make that possible as well.

[Bosque]

Thanks everyone for your input. Being on sabbatical with Celiac

[quietmorning01]

Thanks everyone for your input. Being on sabbatical with Celiac