To take the rest of the week off sick?

[Emiliex1o]

So I’m that person who hates calling in sick, I will work sick, I get anxiety if I have to be off sick.

Yesterday I was sent home because they thought I had Covid; I don’t, I took a test. However I’m feeling grotty and have a weird tightness in my chest, cold symptoms etc.

I still feel grim this evening, so will likely be off tomorrow too which I’ve made my manager aware of. She's very chill about this and has said to not return until I am fully well again but why do I feel so anxious about it?!

I’m freaking out about the whole, what if I’m not even well by Friday?

I haven’t had a day off for sickness in 10 months and I almost feel like punishing myself for it - wild I know! Anyone else get these feelings?

Why do people still test? If you’re unwell you’re unwell.

You sound so wound up perhaps taking the rest of the week off might be good for you…

@OurBeautifulBaby because I was asked to by my employer due to vulnerable people in my office.

I had symptoms of covid for 4 days before I tested positive. Is it worth testing again. I am the same I feel guilty if I am ill. I hardly ever have any time off at all but if you do feel bad don't go in and try not to feel guilty.

@Nachoinseachthu ehy? Because I enjoy my work and feel guilty letting people down? Oops, sorry.

@Iloveeverycat literally don’t know why I feel like this! Drives me mad 😂

Calling in sick gives me so much anxiety. I spend the whole time I'm off sick panicking and anxious that they are all mad at me, and when I return to work I feel sheepish. I don't know why! I am always genuinely unwell! 🙈 even when I have a doctors note I usually go back early and before I am ready tbh because I can't handle the anxiety

I couldn’t care less about going off sick - if I’m unwell, I’m unwell.

@Momstermash94 I’m exactly the same!

@Minniliscious I will attempt to channel this energy!

I am the same. I don’t know why.

I get them but tbh when my colleagues are ill id rather they were home because they aren't as efficient so I cover a bit anyway and I risk catching their germs. And I dont begrudge them being ill so I try and talk myself into being as kind and understanding to myself as I would be to them

It baffles me that after years of living through a pandemic people still don't realise that covid was dangerous because it was novel, not because it necessarily causes severe symptoms. Other viruses can make you feel worse than covid.

So if you're ill, you're ill. Covid isn't the be all and end all. I hate calling in sick too, but better to have two days off sick to rest and be fit for next week than struggle in, be unproductive and potentially infect your colleagues.

Just me that doesn't think 10 months with no sick day is particularly long?

Because we have about twenty tests left in the cupboard and we are sometimes curious. My husband had to take a daily test for work so we had quite a lot in when testing was no longer needed. None of the tests have shown Covid when we test our illnesses though for years, i do wonder if the tests can even identify the new strains.

@owlexpress I mean, I have a three year old, so back when she started nursery it felt like I was sick every month because she kept passing things onto me!

Some people, I.e. my husband hasn’t had a sick day in nearly 15 years of work, so in that sense, yeah 10 months doesn’t sound a lot 😂

I agree with pp. Several people I work with only tested positive days after getting covid symptoms.
For that reason alone, stay home.

So you enjoy your work, great! But you have vulnerable people in your office...🤷🏼‍♀️

If we worked together, vulnerable or not, I for one would be appreciative of you keeping your (non COVID or otherwise) germs to yourself. The boss even said so!

The angst probably comes from being a hardworking working mum, but also a hardworking employee...

Hope you're well soon 🥰 💐

@NewsdeskJC oh great 😭

Divert your guilt and anxiety into guilt and anxiety about possibly making your coworkers ill when there is no need to.

You do realise that these tests go out of date, don't you 'DustlandFairytaleBeginning'?

I'm exactly the same as you OP, I always think that they will think I'm "faking it", even more so now I work from home the majority of the time, but if you are too sick to work then you are too sick to work! It will all be forgotten about in a week x

Having battled through some pretty serious physical health stuff over the past few months ( fortunately able to WFH) I took a few days off recently for mental health reasons. Drugs are managing the physical stuff but I'm not coping with the emotional fall-out.

If you're not well enough to be in work, take the time off to recover.

Yeah but we are only taking them for curiosity, it's not serious.

This! Think of it as not making your colleagues less efficient, of ruining their plans. Also by taking the time to recover, you’ll feel better sooner, rather than doing a half-arsed job for a longer period. Hope you feel better soon whatever it is and thank you for testing.

Your reaction is much stronger than this though, so you need to work on that anxiety because it will be impacting on other bits of your life.