AIBU for wanting to give up work?

[TheWayBackHome]

Posting for traffic and advice as much as anything, but AIBU for wanting to give up work??

I'm almost 50. Two children (one teen, one pre-teen). Definitely perimenopausal, on HRT. Have a number of long term health issues. Managing all these as best I can with input from HCP. Recently blood tests have found no additional issues (low iron etc) wrong.

I am exhausted. Everything is a huge effort (physical and psychological) - hardly have the headspace for the bare minimum. Went into the office yesterday and was nearly asleep with exhaustion by 6pm.

I work 4 days a week, mostly from home, which make life easier. But even with this I feel fit to drop.

I'm also in pain (ongoing frozen shoulder that hasn't been fixed with the usual treatment) which means I don't sleep well and often can't get comfortable when sat at a desk.

I want to stop work in an attempt to find ways of managing life, improving health etc - but I know this is impossible for financial reasons.

So what can I do instead to help manage things?

Could you go down to 3 days a week? I had young children and dropped from 3 down to 2 days and made a massive difference and not a huge difference in pay after taxes, pension contributions, etc, had to make some sacrifices but was well worth it

Well YANBU to want to, most of us would like to! But you can't. How is your weight, diet, sleep? Do you have a partner? Could you afford a cleaner or to outsource other household tasks?

Alternatively to dropping down to work three days, could you split your current hours over 5 days to make each of your working days shorter or give yourself a 90 minute freak in the middle of the day so you can move around more and give your shoulder some relief from sitting at the desk?

Maybe look at some of the desk yoga videos and try and practice those to stop your shoulder from seizing up at your desk.

can you get a cleaner in weekly for 6 months or so to take some of the physical load away

Thanks all - I'll have a look at whether or not reducing my hours is possible. Tbh I just feel so wiped I'm not sure getting more help in would help - I could happily go back to bed now and it's only lunchtime!

My sleep is poor - even when I've technically had 8+ hours, I regularly wake up with the pain. Painkillers don't seem to touch it as it's sharp pain that comes and goes during the night. I've had it 2 years now and am hopeful it'll ease off, but no amount of physio/hydrodilation has sorted it yet... I think if I could get that sorted it would make a huge difference.

You say you have a number of long-term health conditions and that they're being managed. If you're that exhausted, it doesn't sound like they're being managed well enough (or could there be something else undiagnosed going on?). I think it's great that we're all more aware of the menopause and HRT, but I'd be wary of putting things down to that when it could be something else. I don't know what pain relief you're getting but could the GP try something else/stronger? Would it be possible to be signed off work for a short time to try to get on top of your pain?