Is this still a reaction to the stress?

[neverputasockinatoaster]

Hi, I am in the process of making an appointment to see my GP about this but I thought I'd pick your brains if that's OK?

A bit of background... I am a 43 year old teacher with 2 children, DS is nearly 7 and DD is nearly 4. DS is the process of being investigated for ASD and ADHD and has not had a good year at school behaviour wise. I have been called in a few times and he has been sent home from After school club twice. Last year I had a year six class. There were several with SN and behaviour issues and it was a god awful year. My stress levels were ridicuously high and I came perilously close to being signed off.
Term ended and the first 2 weeks of the hols were filled with catching up on all the things that didn't get done during the term! Then we went away and had a lovely holiday.
On getting back I find myself totally lacking in energy, I am tired all the time but I am sleeping very badly, lots of strange dreams about work.
I do feel that this is probably all a reaction to the crap that was last year and that these last 2 weeks have been the first bit of 'down time' since I waved farewell to my class. I am going to see my GP regarding my periods as they have gone haywire and I shall ask for an MOT but in the meantime I keep worrying that this is something to worry about IYSWIM.
I wondered what you lot thought?
Thanks

[ameliagrey]

I'm a former teacher.....

sorry you feel a bit crap- if you are stressed then you periods can go haywire anyway.

I think you need to assess what it is about the job that is causing you to feel anxious.

For example, did the children with SN have behavioural problems and did you find discipline tricky?

Or is it the sheer workload?

I know that teaching is stressful, but if anyone is struggling the reason needs to be identified.

Are you simply over loaded with your own family issues- and too much to do at work?

I only worked part time when my kids were at school, as I have a child with a type of SN, and TBH I knew I could not hack full time secondary teaching with home life and a DH who was overseas alot.

Maybe it's a cliche- you need to assess your work-life balance, and think about going p/t if you can, or getting professional support via work to help you manage it better.

what do you think?

[neverputasockinatoaster]

There were 36 children in the class, 9 had IEPs and there were a significant number of boys with 'Alpha Male' syndrome ( as I like to call it). They were not the smartest cookies in the box and I had huge pressure to get a certain level in the SATs.
I will be going back part time in September. I am worrying about that. Thing is the job had changed sooooo much in the past 20 years and I am regarded as a bit of a dinosaur at work because I don't think the lesson is better just because there were 76 pages of planning with every sentence scripted!
Basically I struggled with the whole year. The boys with Alpha Male syndrome didn't give a flyinh monkeys about the discipline strategy we use in school, the had zero respect for anyone, the head included.... thye would come back from lunch having beaten each other up and I would have to sort it!
Senior management were supportive, they tried so hard to help me.
My concern is that the class is gone, I will be part time, picking my DS up from school 3 days a week, at home with my DD one day a week, I have allowed myself plenty of time to do marking and planning and yet I still feel like a wrung out dish rag. I was hoping that I would feel better by now, ready for the new term and instead I feel crap. I don't even want to go to church and that's one of my best destressing tools (if I go alone and OH stays at home with DD and DS!)
I hope that this is just the aftermath of the year form hell (I cried on the way to work most mornings) and tht once we have a new routine I will start to feel better.

[ameliagrey]

All that paperwork and prescriptive lessons were the reasons I left teaching...having trained in the 70s when it was much more creative and autonomous.

What do you do to keep yourself fit? Do you do any exercise?

It can be - and is proven- to be a great de-stressor, as effective as meds for moderate depression.
If you want any sort of help, CBT might be useful and many GPs now offer this on the NHS- it would work on identifying your anxiety and helping you overcome it- to me it sounds as if you fear of what lies ahead is not reality- it's based on a kind of Pavlov's dog reaction to last year!