What's Your Job

[Newtoitall]

I'm at the point in my life when I should be off carving my way through life, figuring our what I will do with myself, what my talents are, ect ect, but I'm to ..paranoid, I just can't think of anything that would be easy to manage with so many things I have to avoid, the best part of all this is I actually wanted to give being a cook a try at some point lol specializing in...pastries -.-

So what's your job

what do you do, how's it go for you?

did you lose or quit a job you had pre diagnosis?

[LivesIntheSun]

Before I knew what was wrong with me I worked as a lifeguard, because the water helped with my depression and panic attacks and because most of the time noone bothered me, which suited me when I felt like crap, and because I was replaceable on the days when I was too sick to go to work, so I could stay in bed guilt-free. I couldn't handle anything with more pressure or more responsibility.

Now I'm a billion times better and I'm a teacher. Most of the time it is totally fantastic, and being gluten-free doesn't affect my work. After a glutening it's hellish for a few days being up in front of a group of people with all eyes on me, but it passes after a few days, and at least there are gaps in between lessons to try and pull myself together. I normally come out and tell my students about coeliac disease (as part of their wider education!) and they are generally fascinated, and end up sharing things about themselves.

[MEH]

Well, funny you should ask that, as I will probably have to give up my job. I am an international tour director and trying to stay gluten free while on the road is just hellish.

Try telling someone in Arabic that you can't have gluten and you'll see what I mean. Try ending up at some shack on the side of the road in Guatemala for a basic lunch and expecting them to accomodate your "allergy." No one in Central America knows what a food allergy is.

So, yes.

I'll probably have to give up my job.

At 48, I am going to have to begin a whole new career with four kids in college. Good timing, universe!

To say that I am pissed off and miserable about all of this is not saying enough.

I'm feeling sorry for myself today.

Maybe it'll pass in a few days, when the bread I ate yesterday leaves my system and I am on better ground.

I cheated yesterday just to see what would happen....and it isn't pretty. But I guess I have a right to complain. I love my job but don't think I can keep it anymore...

[Jestgar]

Well, funny you should ask that, as I will probably have to give up my job. I am an international tour director and trying to stay gluten free while on the road is just hellish.

Can't you market yourself as an allergy-aware tour director? If it's hellish for you who knows how to travel, think how daunting it is for someone newly gluten-free who's never stepped outside their state.

[LivesIntheSun]

Oh, MEH, I'm truely sorry to hear that. I can sympathise as I live in Colombia and I'm currently planning my departure because of the difficulties with avoiding gluten here- I moved here before I was aware of the gravity of my problem with gluten. The teaching per se has been fine gluten-free, but the location hasn't.

I wish you all the best with finding a job that lets you look after your health.

[MEH]

Can't you market yourself as an allergy-aware tour director? If it's hellish for you who knows how to travel, think how daunting it is for someone newly gluten-free who's never stepped outside their state.

Love that idea!

[Almendra]

Before I knew I had celiac, I was having trouble at a job performing at my best. In cubicle world, there is no privacy to deal with certain things so I did the following things to make it (this was before I knew that Celiac was the reason).

I was so tired and fatigued - so when I felt I was about to collapse on my desk, I resorted to bathroom stall power naps (5-10 minutes). It was pretty pathetic and totally sitcom worthy.

Otherwise, when my stomach pains would become too painful to bear sitting at my desk from time to time, I found a virtually unused storage closet that I would go into to lie down on my back with my arms and legs in the air (dead cockroach position) to release the pressure and, well, try to fart.

I ended up quitting the job and going to school full-time. I was diagnosed within 6 months.

[love2travel]

Not due to celiac but due to a horrible back injury. So, I have not been able to work for three years except teach cooking classes. I was a Human Resources Manager. Not easy to do when you cannot sit for more than 15 minutes at a time and stand more than 30 minutes. Nor is it prudent to work while taking all sorts of yucky intense painkillers!

I have so much back/hip/buttock/rotator cuff/IT band/calf pain I often stand to eat, including at restaurants which is a touch awkward.

I bet my celiac is exascerbating the problem, too, as my muscles are so very weak. But I am working to strentghen them with physiotherapy, acupuncture, massage, cortisone injections, etc. Many days it is all I can do to just breathe. Although my medical team members are not terribly hopeful, I am.

Pain does not define me. Just gives me some adjustments that have turned out well, anyway! Now I get to follow my true passion of food when I am able. Loved HR but am obsessed with cooking.

[AZGirl]

I actually came home from work after only being there for 2 hours today. I was cross contaminated last night and am still working through the symptoms. I am an occupational therapist who works in a public school system and people count on me. I wasn't able to see my kids today because I couldn't be sure I wouldn't have to run out of the room while I was with them to throw up or other wonderful things.

I have missed about 3 days since Christmas because of Gluten. I work so hard to steer clear of gluten and feel guilty when I do get sick....I guess I feel that it was my fault because I wasn't careful enough.

I don't know what the future holds for me, but it has crept into my mind, the what if.....

[Kim69]

Currently i am lying in bed on a work day feeling sorry for myself and worrying whether I can cope with my engineering job.

I have been gluten-free for about a year and have had lots of days sick or working from home in my pjs. Am not sure how much longer I can keep my job. I am 41 yo and am on meds for blood pressure and depression. Both drugs have side effects that are problematic. Being gluten poisoned every so often doesn't help the mix since I take 2 weeks to recover.

[Mari]

Oh yes. I had to give up my job working in medical laboratories, had to give up my PhD program because I was too tired to continue, eventually moved to a rural area to avoid the pollution, started becoming a successful sculptor but had to give that up because of increasing brain fog and confustion. Started a plant nursery and minifarm so I could work outside at my own pace but had to retire because of complications of undiagnosed celiac. I continue to improve strictly gluten free and am actually enjoying my retirement more and more. I keep busy with my website (www.wattshaysletters.com) and feel lucky to be alive as my 75th birthday approaches. Never give up and keep working toward better health.

[plumbago]

Great topic!

I am approaching my return to work having been away one year. I was working during that year, just not paid. I have managed fine more or less (usual complaints but nothing more, about the inconvenience of being gluten-free), but as the day to return to work draws closer and closer, I am starting to dread and panic what is going to happen. My job is, more than anything, fast-paced and sometimes stressful as a result. Sometimes, I would have to just cut out for a 15 or 20 minute lunch. It was convenient: we have a cafeteria, and I'd just run down and grab something. Either eat there or back at my desk. No problem. Now I feel like I am going to have to have militaristic discipline and precision as I must bring my lunch (or, will those Subway sandwiches REALLY be gluten free?), not to mention prepare breakfast and dinner too.

Bascially, I am not looking forward to any of it.

[Pamela B.]

I'm incredibly lucky that I have a work-from-home job, but even with that I'm only able to work up to 6 hours per day. I had to quit a job back in 2006 to avoid being fired due to my anxiety and fatigue that could very well be caused by gluten and then got fired from the 2 jobs I had after that. I'm trying to hold onto this one for dear life, but I really wish I could work full-time outside of the house again. I've only been gluten free for about a month, so I really hope I recover eventually.

[CarolinaKip]

I'm a teacher assistant in Kindergarten/sub bus driver. For now, with so many cuts being made, I may be forced to change jobs. I loss more time from work trying to figure out what was wrong with me last year. Plus the teacher I work with was upset by all the bathroom breaks as well.

Going gluten-free at a school with gluten all around me was overwhelming. We do activities that include cereals and have gluten snacks. Not to mention the lunchroom and my 5 year olds at times needing help with their lunch trays. We made pies at Thanksgiving and there are the classroom parties! With all this around me I was really freaking out. When I had a co worker eat gluten on my desk, I knew I had to say something. Now, the teacher I work with handles most foods, if not, I wear food gloves. It's hard to clean tables with all kinds of gluten crumbs without freaking out alittle. Everyone close to me knows about my Celiac at work and are often telling me of products they see. Yet, they do not get CC. I am a bit OCD about things now and changed things around to be as safe as I can. I told my school children bread makes me really sick. When they play in "housekeeping", they bring me gluten-free bread and doughnuts to "eat".

I haven't thought to quit my job, but have made a lot of changes in how I do things to be safe.

[thleensd]

I'm at the point in my life when I should be off carving my way through life, figuring our what I will do with myself, what my talents are, ect ect, but I'm to ..paranoid, I just can't think of anything that would be easy to manage with so many things I have to avoid, the best part of all this is I actually wanted to give being a cook a try at some point lol specializing in...pastries -.-

So what's your job

what do you do, how's it go for you?

did you lose or quit a job you had pre diagnosis?

Yep. Wrecked my work life. I had a pretty crazy job actively working 8-12 hrs/day working with kids. I'd been working at my position 8 years when I got sick, missed an entire month of work... all of my sick leave and vacation time. I found another position where I had an assistant, but felt terrible because she always had to pick up the slack when I was down. I'm still not healthy (tons of fatigue, etc), but now I can work for slightly longer stretches... but not like before. I TOTALLY understand the "what do I do now" dilemma... I've decided to allow myself a little experimental time - kind of like college when it's ok to not know what's next. I realize I'll have some debt to pay off, but finding a new career (at least for the next few years while I heal) is a big deal!

Now I'm setting my own schedule and teaching music lessons. If I came across a couple million dollars, I'd open a local gluten-free restaurant and hire someone to run it... then I'd go eat there for free every day

[jaywalker]

Unfortunately, perhaps, I was a full-time single mother, when i started getting symptoms. this enabled me to stay on benefits, as my symptoms worsenened to the point where I really wasn't up to working...and beyond. Thus I was able to ignore the symptoms and hope they'd go away, until (under pressure to get work, as my son was practically grown-up, but living in a depressed area of the UK where work is really hard to get ) I signed up for agency work, went gluten-free and asked for a dx, all at the same time. Of course the dx test came back negative because i was already gluten free, but i really had no option. My arthritis was so bad i could barely get out of bed, i was being knocked flat for a full 24 hours by the gluten attacks, and also suffering extreme fatigue. I had to go with the (well informed) hunch that gluten was the cause of my heath problems, and hope to God the diet worked, or else lose all benefits, because i didn't have an excuse not work, though I was clearly incapable of working.

The diet heelped enormously, and enabled me to actually work, though it was hell for the first few months, due to mistakes in my diet, and cross-contamination. I developed the habit of not eating anything (except maybe a banana or two)until half-way through my shift, so that, a reaction , if I got one, would not occur until after I finished work . It was also hugely expensive, because the work I was given was mostly very strenuous warehouse work, and i was eating 3 times as much as usua,lto keep up my strength. I had to buy an awful lot of expensive gluten-free snacks and convenience foods for my lunchbox, as there was no other really practical answer (i didn't have the time and energy to pre-cook my own lunches. I also lost my emergency supplies of food on many occasions, either through theft (as Agency , I didn't have a locker)or through being moved to a different workplace, at no notice. As the work was low-paid and erratic, I found myself getting deeper and deeper in debt.

About 18 months later, I had to give up Agency work altogether (yayyyy!)because the place where I mainly worked started handling regular consignments of wheat flour, which got everywhere due to bags bursting in the machinery, and I was coming home with white dust all over my clothes instead of the usual black dust. Not surprisingy, I started getting gluten reactions at work, day after day after day. Not only did I have to quit early, on several occasions, i was becoming increasingly debilitated. Luckily, my doctor was willing to sign a sick notre, despite that I still had no dx. It took a few months to recover from that (partly because i lost my home and had to move in with Mum and share her kitchen!)then I signed on for Jobseeker's Allowance.

However, I am still not really up to working (largely due to other-possibly associated- conditions) so I am now on sickness benefits, and likely to remain so for the forseeable future. At least the pressure to look for work is now off...and the awful prospect of working in a warehouse again (at 51, i'm getting a bit too old for that anyway)

How's that for a cheery story?

Btw, Newtoitall, please don't give up on your ambition. There is surely an increasing demand for cooks in gluten-free restaurants and bakeries these days. That would be an ideal job for you, wouldn't it? The only problem I can see with that is that training for a recognised qualification in a gluten-free environment might be diffocult, but I think that if you could show enough enthusiasm, you might well find an employer who would bend over backwards to help you.

Good luck!

I'm at the point in my life when I should be off carving my way through life, figuring our what I will do with myself, what my talents are, ect ect, but I'm to ..paranoid, I just can't think of anything that would be easy to manage with so many things I have to avoid, the best part of all this is I actually wanted to give being a cook a try at some point lol specializing in...pastries -.-

So what's your job

what do you do, how's it go for you?

did you lose or quit a job you had pre diagnosis?

[Fire Fairy]

I think developing celiac during college is a large part of why I never found a career. The last 8 years I've barely had the energy not to mention concentration to function let alone try to have some sort of career. I really regret not going into nutrition like I had originally planned. What a great field that would have been for me. I expect I would have figured out my problem on my own much sooner if I'd gone into nutrition.

I am a cashier. I had worked for my family but after several years unpaid I got a job at Home Depot. I work in the garden most of the time which means when the guys come inside from the wheat straw truck I avoid them like the plague. Inside I worry about dry wall dust. (Apparently it has gluten in it.) Like another poster I like this job because I don't have a lot of pressure.

(Diagnosed Nov 2nd 2010)

[maryphyl]

I guess I have had gluten problems all my life but I was not diagnosed until last year at the age of 64. For 35 years I ran our family small grocery store on the Navajo Reservation. Among many other symptoms about 10 years ago I developed a neuropathy that finally put a stop to my working. I could not stay on my feet any length of time. I ran from doctor to doctor and they ran every test known to man (except gluten) and declared I was in great health. $20,000 dollars later I decided it must not be serious and I just walked in pain. I have hiked Grand Canyon many times where every step was misery. I told myself that my nerves were just lying to me and to some degree I learned to ignore my feet.

A year ago January I had a bad rash--I ignored it because I have had many bad rashes since I was a child. This one got out of hand and was ruining my sleep so in August I went to a dermatologist and she took a hunk of my knee and sent it off to wherever you send those things and called me a week later to tell me about the gluten.

I still get messed up way too often--I live with messy cooks and I get stressed just going in the kitchen sometimes. I did a really stupid to myself last week and ate a big bite of a candy bar without reading the label--it had malt and I am still recovering. Mary

[lacey]

I'm at the point in my life when I should be off carving my way through life, figuring our what I will do with myself, what my talents are, ect ect, but I'm to ..paranoid, I just can't think of anything that would be easy to manage with so many things I have to avoid, the best part of all this is I actually wanted to give being a cook a try at some point lol specializing in...pastries -.-

So what's your job

what do you do, how's it go for you?

did you lose or quit a job you had pre diagnosis?

I can very much relate to you. I went to school to study baking and pastry. I've been a pastry chef for several years now, but have recently found out i'm border line celiac. I've accepted a job for this summer at a resort as their pastry chef. I'm worried how its going to affect me....even if i don't eat my pastries. as sad as it makes me i'm wondering if i need to go back to school and study something else. i guess i'll have to see how it affects me.....good luck to you.

[sa1937]

I can very much relate to you. I went to school to study baking and pastry. I've been a pastry chef for several years now, but have recently found out i'm border line celiac. I've accepted a job for this summer at a resort as their pastry chef. I'm worried how its going to affect me....even if i don't eat my pastries. as sad as it makes me i'm wondering if i need to go back to school and study something else. i guess i'll have to see how it affects me.....good luck to you.

...like becoming a gluten-free pastry chef?

[kdonov2]

I have not been employed for a while as I have been trying to keep my GPA up so I can get into a good Grad School, but I used to work at Panera 3 years ago. During that time, I figured out I had a gluten intolerance and wondered if I should quit. Well, I got fired a month after I started due to over-hire. Although I was pretty pissed off at the time and feared I would have black mark on my record for a long time, it may have been a bit of a godsend. I was constantly experiencing extreme fatigue and a foggy head there and it was difficult to keep up with the fast pace, the busy atmosphere and constant demands of customers, special requests that I had to put into the register, handling the math at the register, carrying incredibly heavy coffee makers, being on my feet for 8 hrs., and the stress of it all. This was all from the flour floating in the air because I knew I could not eat anything there, so just being around air-borne wheat was enough to hurt me.

Also, I wanted to be a chef too! That is out of the question for me now mostly because I have at least 4 different food intolerances, corn being one of them and extremely difficult to avoid in every day situations, but I am also on a different educational path now. I have, however, been to many gluten-free restaurants where the head chef decided to cater to celiacs because they found out they too had the condition.