How long did you take off work to recover from burnout?

[BurnoutNHS1]

And do you think it was enough to help you reset and stay well?

I'm on week 2 of being off work due to quite severe burnout. The thing that made me finally accept I needed to do something was that I had become so detached from DC and DH and had no joy or motivation in me. Obviously work has been a contributing factor but I think this is a long accumulation of everything. Work, parenting, school moves, house renovations.

I know I need to make changes to improve my wellbeing as I think part of the issue is that I've just stopped doing anything for me as always felt too busy and too tired. At the moment I just feel utterly, utterly exhausted.

I wondered how long is reasonable to take off work? All the advice is that you shouldn't go back too soon because it won't help. I'm NHS and the guilt is already creeping in.

i haven’t had burnout but if I heard a colleague of mine was off due to it, I would expect they’d be off for at least a few months. Hope you get the time you need to recover

My work helpfully pay full pay for 6 months so I would take up to 6 months. That isn't to say I wouldn't go back before if I felt better, just that I would take the full time if I needed it. I am very lucky to work somewhere that has good healthcare provision too that I would be able to harness to help me e.g. counselling etc.

Basically, I don't think there is a magic number, you will know when you feel better and most places should offer phased return.

I had about 6 months off..but I just left with no job to go too then was too unwell to work at all

I had a breakdown aged 18 after a severe trauma (I had been working for a year) and was never able to go back and I’m 44 now. I wasn’t able to access any help initially which I think make it worse.

I hope you are ok soon

Take as long as you possibly can. I’ve been off since February, I have a number of issues including burnout, and am applying for ill health retirement at 53 - don’t go back too soon it’ll just happen again x

I had 18 weeks off and then a phased return over about 8 weeks.

I had what in retrospect was a breakdown in October 2023 and went back to work after 4 months but came back very gradually - it took a couple of months until I was back full time.

I couldn’t work for 5 years after NHS burn out. It sounds excessive but when I eventually had therapy I was thought to have ptsd from it. I should have sought therapy sooner.

I’m now 3 years in to building my career back up slowly. Not in NHS, mind

Thank you. Sorry to hear what you've all been through too Definitely sounds like there is huge variation. Suppose in my head I was thinking a month off and a couple of weeks phased return but I think I may have to have an open mind that it could be longer.

I have a deadline I definitely can't get out of in about 4-5 months. But I don't have to physically be in work to do this project. I could chip away at it slowly.

I've been put on waiting list for some talking therapy but the wait is at least 2 months.

I think in my case it's a combo of work burnout and parental burnout. That feeling on being on the never ending treadmill and I'd started to resent a job I used to love.

3 years. Please check your thyroid levels, often an insidious companion to female burnout. Get the antibody test not just tsh. Attend also to your gut health and microbiome. Omega 369 - DHA and EPA. Yoga nidra.
all the very best

I was off for approximately 6 months in total, but did try and go back twice (2 months in and lasted 3 weeks before going off again) and 2 months after this, and lasted a bit longer before going off again.

I was off with physical symptoms being investigated, but didn’t factor in that there was a huge amount of work stress and some home stress too which were significant causes. Every time I went back it flared up again.

I am back now after having meds and therapy as well as working on healthy eating and fitness and feeling significantly more myself and actually motivated to work rather than dreading it (nhs, high pressure patient facing)

good luck! Take whatever time you need, there is no thanks for going back too soon.

I was diagnosed with ADHD burnout 18 months ago. I don't work as I took early retirement. Despite stopping attending many volunteer groups I still feel absolutely exhausted and I barely do anything at home. I thought it would be a matter of months and I would start to feel better and I get frustrated that there is no end in sight. I know financial reasons may come in to you factoring when to return to work but please try and put yourself first and help your recovery as it will likely rebound on you if you don't.

I took two months, and also needed lots of talking therapy. I didn't go back to my old job though, it was high pressure and toxic and I couldn't bear the thought of it. I was lucky enough to find a new job and am thriving there.

I went off sick with severe migraine in May 2024, but we later realised it was severe burnout.

I'm still off, and probably several months away from being back to work - but definitely seeing some recovery over the last month or two.

Mine was complicated by a surprise diagnosis of breast cancer last October, and treatment for that, so hopefully yours will be much shorter but what I would say is
don't have any fixed ideas about how long this will take - that deadline in 5 months doesn't matter when it comes to your health
brain recovery is very different to physical recovery but like physical recovery can't be pushed - it needs the time it needs
if you are NHS clinical there may well be an element of PTSD
it may have taken longer than you think to get there - looking back I can course my journey over 5 years - this may affect the length of your recovery
if you are eligible for NHS Practitioner Health have a look at them - they have been invaluable for me

💐

What do you class as burnout? Genuinely asking because I have been struggling for the last 3 months and am not sure how to label it.

It has been a very gradual thing. It crept up on me rather than a sudden breakdown. Over the last few weeks/months I have been chronically exhausted, no motivation to even do things I would normally enjoy, very irritable and tearful, becoming increasingly distant from DH and children. Also, losing confidence and a lot of self doubt and lots of headaches which I don't normally suffer with. Can't focus on things. Easily overwhelmed by tasks.

My eldest DC started to say she was worried and I didn't seem happy and it made me realise I need to stop ignoring this 😥

Thanks @roxyfoxy123 that's a very good point, I did have thyroid etc check a couple of years ago but definitely worth checking again. I think I am likely to be low in iron as well so I will ask for bloods.
I read recently about how important omega 3 is so will get on that. Definitely food for thought.

@quietmaelstrom so sorry about your diagnosis, I hope you're doing well

I thought it would be a fortnight... it was three months.
Finally went back and the atmosphere was so toxic that HR wouldn't let my LM talk to me without them (during pandemic so remote working made this easier). Management also refused to give me anything like my old job back and tried to manage me out until it became apparent that I wasn't crap and they didn't have a leg to stand on.
I was paid off to not take them to tribunal (and signed an NDA but - you know - we are anonymous here). It wasn't a huge payout. If I had had the mental strength I could have taken them to tribunal and got £££, but I didn't because they absolutely destroyed my MH.

Three months

Please let us know how you go. Be gentle with yourself and try and access a kind of deep “soul rest”
when you sleep and go about activities which give you joy and strength.

Two and a half months then I went back and worked my notice and left. I did a less stressful role for four years and now I have returned to my original job in the same team! It helps that DC is now a teenager.

I was off for 6 months. I went back but never really "got back into the groove". After about 18 months I had a relapse and never went back or to another job. I still get knocked off course very easily.

I had burn out from working in the NHS too - to the point where I ended up in a hospital bed.

Initially I took about 2-3 months off and then after two weeks of being back at work (phased return), I realised that nothing was ever going to change and so I resigned.