What is the worst condition you have been in but still went to work/school

[mamamary]

I had a horrible kidney problem that took my doctors years to diagnose. Many times I'd be in so much pain in school. Luckily at age 17 it all got straightened out with surgery.

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

I did a colonoscopy prep at work too! Great fun!

 

[Vijoge]

Went to work day after my husband walked out on me. It was horrible and hard but it was a new job and I couldn't afford not to work.

That was brave.

 

[Thing 1]

I was feeling really "off" one morning but did not have a sub so I went on to work. By the end of the day I was in ICU after suffering a stroke!

 

[Vijoge]

I was feeling really "off" one morning but did not have a sub so I went on to work. By the end of the day I was in ICU after suffering a stroke!

Happy to hear you're ok. I also had a stroke at work, with about 5 minutes left in my shift. Didn't even get to leave work early.

 

[godders]

Trying to do my AS-level (exams at 17) with a slipped disc. A combination of prescribed painkillers and hay fever tablets made me fall asleep in several. I had a drs note to say I could stand up and go for a walk outside during them and in one 3 hour exam the invigilator wouldn't let me. Couldn't walk for a couple of days after that one.

Breaking 6 bones in my foot a day before university graduation and 2 days before I flew to Namibia to be an Animal-Care coordinator at a volunteer project for 3 months. My average day included 90 minute walks checking on all the animals 3x and very often running to catch an animal some stupid volunteer had let out. Took me till the week before I came home to walk normally and another month for the swelling and bruising to go.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I thought I had an eye infection. Went to the doctor and got antibiotics. Thought I was recovering, but then it started giving me problems again. Finally, I could barely see out of it (well, in low light). I had some HUGE projects to do at work, so I went in. It got worse while I was there. I made an appointment with my optometrist because I thought it must be scratched or something. I left work a little early and my boss was kind of pissed (even though the secretaries and everyone else could see my face was swollen and I was in serious pain). The optometrist told me that I had a corneal ulcer, which is excatly what it sounds like - an open wound in my eye. He prescribed me the most powerful antibiotics he could, and made an emergency appointment with an opthamologist the next morning (who could prescribe better stuff). Then I had to drive home. In the dark. Every time a car came the other direction its headlights were like a knife to my eye.

That first night I had to put the antibiotic drops in every 2 hours. Slept on the couch with an alarm waking me up. The next morning the opthamologist prescibed stuff that I had to go directly to the "serious" pharmacy to get (it was a lab, not a store). Had to use those every 4 hours. The opthamologist took a culture, as well. That's exactly what it sounds like, too. He stuck a dang wire in my eye and then scraped it on a petri dish. Had to take several days off work. Boss was very displeased. Ended up having to do some work from home, but could barely stand to look at a computer screen (the glow hurt).

The best thing I ever did for myself in life was get out of that job.

 

[ronandannette]

Nothing too serious physically; I'm fortunate to be pretty healthy in general. I do have fierce acid-reflux though and a few weeks ago I was really unwise with my food choices and ended up hurling my innards out from 1 to 4 am. I only dozed off and on for an hour or so before having to get up and go to work. I couldn't really swing a sick day as I'd just come back off bereavement leave.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Nothing too serious physically; I'm fortunate to be pretty healthy in general. I do have fierce acid-reflux though and a few weeks ago I was really unwise with my food choices and ended up hurling my innards out from 1 to 4 am. I only dozed off and on for an hour or so before having to get up and go to work. I couldn't really swing a sick day as I'd just come back off bereavement leave.

Also have acid reflux (hiatal hernia) and have that same issue if I eat too much before bed

 

[ronandannette]

Also have acid reflux (hiatal hernia) and have that same issue if I eat too much before bed

Been on prescription meds for over a decade and I know better...I imagine you do too. Are you eligible for the surgery? As of my last endoscopy I'm only rated "moderate" which here in Canada means I'm not a candidate for the wait-list yet.

 

[benji2012]

More emotional than physical...

DBF was taken to ER at 3 am or so on a Thursday morning. A metastatic spinal tumor was discovered, and emergency surgery was performed from 7 pm-midnight...I was at work 1.5 hours away on Friday morning.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Been on prescription meds for over a decade and I know better...I imagine you do too. Are you eligible for the surgery? As of my last endoscopy I'm only rated "moderate" which here in Canada means I'm not a candidate for the wait-list yet.

Mine's mostly handled with OTC now. But yeah, I know better. Nothing like waking at 2:00 am choking on crud.

 

[perditax]

Dry-eye syndrome/meibomian gland dysfunction that appeared literally overnight. It took me two months to figure out how to manage it (if you want to bore the hell out of an optometrist or opthamalogist, be a woman of a certain age with dry-eye syndrome. They hand you a pamphlet and some eye drop samples, which is NOT sufficient. I went through three of them. None of them bothered to explain that it can be tricky to get the glands "unclogged", or how I should do it).

So I had to work a computer job for two months with extreme light sensitivity, headaches, and a condition that felt like my eyes were filled with infected sand.

(It's manageable now. Silver lining: at the time I made a deal with myself that if I ever got back to normal, I would stop screwing around and finish the ol' novel. I did, over the next year, got it published, working on the second one.)

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I twisted my ankle one morning and went to the ER for x-rays. It wasn't broken, but the doc was concerned enough to refer me to an ankle specialist. That doc put me in a boot and ordered an MRI. The boot allowed me to walk with much less pain so I went back to work for a few days as a teaching assistant for a special needs preschool class. Let's just say I don't sit much in my job. The morning after the MRI, the doc called me and said the radiologist rushed my results back to him because I had a "severe injury." It consisted of mulitiple torn ligaments and bruising all the way to the bone marrow. He ordered me to stay off it completely for six weeks. And to think I chased a kid across the field just a few days before!

 

[MataHari22]

I always had jobs where I had to go in unless I was about dying. I've dragged myself to work so many times where I've been pretty sick and should not be there. Also plenty of times with no sleep and or exhausted. One time I was so exhausted from working 65 hour weeks, I sleep drove. I drove all the way to work, 17 miles, and remembered none of it. I woke up walking across the parking lot because a car almost hit me. I even stopped to pick up a cake at my step mom's bakery and talked to my father. Remembered none of it! The day after, I was talking to my dad and he asked me if I caught up on sleep and if I felt better and asked if I was going to have a day off. I was so confused and asked him how he knew I was so exhausted. He was like, are you kidding me- you stopped at the bakery and I talked to you!! I told him I was tired, etc. Nope. Did not remember a thing.

I was at work with pneumonia. I almost passed out, and then I finally got to go home. I actually missed 5 days of work that time. Most I ever missed.

I also worked up until the day of my neck dissection. Huge tumor in my neck, under my jaw, it was about the size of a large lemon. Stage 4 cancer. I was in a lot of pain every day. A stabbing ice pick pain in my left ear and my neck hurt pretty badly, too.

 

[scrhsa]

Back when I was about 19/20 yrs I worked at a daycare...I had to open at 6 am. I had 104 fever and felt horrible. I think I did go home about lunch time. The owner didn't come rolling in til about then. Going to work the last month my Dad was alive was really tough.

 

[Bilberry]

Oh, I have or had a severe stomach condition. Going to work ill to the stomach and in pain was how it always went. Most days were uncomfortable but workable as energy levels would be OK. Overtime once the energy went away, it could be miserable trying to work.

 

[Aliceacc]

I won't GO to school if I'm over the top sick, but have come down sick while at school.

The worst emotionally was probably as a colleague and close friend was dying of cancer. Her son posted something like "pray for my mom at this time" on social media, and the school was buzzing that she had died. I had to give a presentation, reading off several hundred names, not knowing her status. (I'm sure I mangled more than my fair share of those names.) It turns out that she had taken a turn for the worse, and we lost her a day or so later.

 

[IDoDis]

Many years ago when I was in college, I had a bad staph infection in my throat that was finally diagnosed with a blood test during finals week. I was able to take my last exam 2 days later because I was too sick on exam day. But on that make-up day, I had developed a severe rash from the strong antibiotics I was on. I couldn't stop scratching and was soooo miserable. My throat still had blisters on it, too. I remember sitting in a small room taking the make-up exam with 2 other students, and not being able to get up and scratch my legs which were one big hive. This was before Benedryl was around. It was awful!

 

[nerdydisneygirl90]

When I was in college I got a really, really bad cold/sinus infection but it was finals week so I had to go. I loaded up on cold medicine and carried a bunch of tissues in my purse and made it though.