How do you decide when to go to work when you're sick?

[Aaaahfuck]

I'm ill at the moment with a cold/virus but it's keeping me in bed/on the sofa so not just sniffles I'm feeling pretty awful. When I'm ill I often end up trying to do too much or go back to work too soon and then get worse or take ages to get properly better. So I'm curious how everyone else decides when you're well enough to go back to work or do things? For example I wonder if in an ideal world I should rest for another day after I can't get out of bed? This is something I wouldn't normally do. What does everyone else do? On the other hand I feel like some people don't even rest up when they're ill and seem to get over it just fine.

I'm lucky in that I get paid sick leave which I know everyone doesn't.

@Lookingforadvice123 yes it sounds like you're not getting better properly. Especially ar 29 weeks a rest is well deserved.

Last year I had an horrendous cough that didn't go away for weeks and I struggled into work. I won't be doing that again. I'm sure if I had just taken a couple of days off when I felt really rough, it wouldn't have taken so long to go and I probably would have been more productive at work!

I had bad tonsillitis last year and had one day off.
I have to be rough not to go in.

I have to be really really poorly to stay off work. I find if I give in to illness before I really need to i get really ill rather than just a bit grim if I power through it. Not in a martyr way, it just seems to work for me, suppose it's like a mental/mind type thing.

I am taking today as sick tomorrow probably. I’ve felt awful today with a really bad cold and have spent most of today in bed.
I’ll message work in the morning and let them know if there is anything really urgent they can phone me and I will log in and look at it from home.
I don’t phone in sick often but I have an auto immune disease and I know when I can soldier on and when I need to take time to rest.

Colds are a tricky one I think. If you tell people you've got cold they assume a sniffle and a bit of a cough. Yet colds can really floor you if it's a bad one.

I think that's why people embellish and say it's flu... flu is an acceptable excuse for sick days, colds not so much. At least in my experience.

Yeah that's so true. But I hate to say I've got flu when it's a bad cold. As it just encourages this!

If I can get out of bed I go to work. And I get 6 months full sick pay. Am not a martyr nor am I indispensable but I have this massive work ethic. It bloody annoys me, tbh

justhere I do the shower test too! If I feel better after a shower, I go in. If I need to go back to bed to grey over the shower, I stay home. Also, I don't go in for 48 hours after d &/or v.

Sickness or flu then I'm off.
If I have a proper migraine (not people saying migraine to make their bad head sound worse) then I'm off.
Colds - tend to get on with it if it's a normal cold, sure I'm under the weather but the world doesn't stop for the sniffles.
Laryngitis or voice loss then I'm off unless first day of illness I have a day where I have GCSE/a level in which case I go in, set silent exam work and get cover work ready to be off the next day (every little helps with cover).

I work on the principle that if I'm well enough to potter around the house and get showered then more often than not that's well enough to go to work.

If I can get out of bed and I’m steady on my feet I dose up and go in.
We’re on a skeleton staff at the moment due to cuts but we have to maintain ratios (nursery) if one person goes off sick it means juggling children to different rooms which causes stress and disruption, burdens my colleagues and stresses them too. I try my very hardest to not be off sick.

I have virtually lost my voice i just have this awful hoarse whisper. I should work tuesday. I rang today and 'spoke' to my boss and asked if i could go in another day instead. Of course if you are full time that's not possible. If i had to have a week off it would be unpaid or i wld use holiday if i had any left.

Hope you get better soon

I can’t have the day off without my mum saying it’s ok!

I should also so say I have had half a day off once when I had laryngitis and was sent home. Apart from that I’ve never missed a day.

I’ve been in the same job for 8 years and never taken a day off sick. I always ask myself if I could be more Ill, if the answer is yes then off to work I go. I have gone to work in some states but it’s a small office and one person being off affects a few people. We also don’t get sick pay so I can’t afford to be off. 😢

Colds are a tricky one I think. If you tell people you've got cold they assume a sniffle and a bit of a cough. Yet colds can really floor you if it's a bad one.
This is why I say I'be got a viral infection rather than I've got a cold if it's bad enough for me to be off.
It means exactly the same thing but for some reason sounds more serious :)

When i’m too ill to go into work I know it, but I can’t pinpoint what that is.

Had a sick day last Monday due to norovirus over the weekend. My boss thanked me for not coming in.

At the start of the year I had a chest infection. I powered through for a few days but one morning went to work and could feel myself going downhill. My boss sent me home at 11am and I slept almost constantly for 2 days!

Am I highly infectious?
Am I safe to drive?
Am I able to function & do my job?

I'm allowed three absences a year. If I'm not dying, I go in. I'm very replaceable in my call centre job.

I'm having an operation under GA after Christmas and I've booked holidays for the couple of days after while I recover.

Admitted to hospital overnight then I’d probably phone in sick but might do a couple of hours on my laptop.

We're only allowed 3 incidents of sick leave in 12 months before we go on to monitoring. 🙄
Regardless.
I'll go in as long as i can physically ride my bike..even if I'm propped up by drugs.