Referred to occupational health for pregnancy related sickness

[BlueeSpottyTiger]

I'm 7+5 and have very bad all day vomiting and nausea.. and have done since I was 6+1.
I've been to my doctor's about the sickness and was told I needed to self certify for a week then i could have a sicknote.
So i self certified for my working week (4days) still felt awful so then the dr signed me off for 2 weeks.
My manager has now referred me to occupational health and i dont know why!?
If i could work i would be in work and my Dr wouldn't have signed me off!
What happens now.. I've never been referred before!?
Thanks x

This isn't a bad thing....don't panic. Their job is to help you to work as best as you can...they are on your side. They may suggest working from home or reduced hours if and when you are ready to return to work. Just be honest and work with them....hope you feel better soon.

Thankyou! X
Sorry it just worried me as she said it as if it was a negative, like a threat.
It seems like a silly thing to be referred for.. i under stand other illness like stress as they could put some measures into place like reduced working hours ect.. different role thats less stressful.. but what can they do for physical vomitting.. nausea and dizziness. My last pregnancy i suffered with HG and was off near enough my entire pregnancy and my manager then (sane company) did nothing but be supportive of me.
I'm working myself up probably unnecessarily.

I agree with the above post. I work in occupational health, and when people see our doctors/nurses for referrals, they have a consultation with the employee, and then send a report to the employer which outlines the person's condition, their ability to do their job role, and any workplace adaptations or support that they recommend should be put in place. You have a right to read the report before it goes to your employer - you have to give consent for the consultation to go ahead and for the report to be written. People get worried coming to occ health but really it's your employer wanting to support you good luck!

I was referred to occ health in pregnancy as I had really extreme off the chart exhaustion in first and second trimester. They suggested working from home one day a week to cut commuting time etc and it really helped. I had a power nap at lunch time :)

Does the manager know it's due to pregnancy?

There is no work I could complete from home, all our work has to be office based to comply with dpa. Even if there was I don't even feel well enough to be able to work at this moment.

Thanks so much for replying ladies xx

Rainy yeah! She knows i had to tell her when i first took the time off for the sickness. I wanted to be open and honest with her.
I have only had 2 days off sick in 7months that hasn't been pregnancy related. I had tonsilitis.. I had a mc 2.5months ago and I was signed off by my doctor for 2 weeks then for the mc and she recorded that with he as pregnancy related x

With HR*

I was referred to OH when I was off sick with HG during my secong pregnancy.

The OH advisor said it was a pointless box ticking exercise and apologised for wasting my time. I was hooked up to a drip when they rang but I was glad to have it because it stopped the frequent calls from my boss despite being officially signed off.

Hi you poor thing, also on 2nd pg with bad nausea and tiredness after having hg first time round.
Got referred to occ health both times, was helpful, think of it that your employer is taking your symptoms seriously as required and don't feel guilty that you may not be able to do a lot of the tasks related to your job. Occ health will help your manager plan any adjustments to your role if possible, if not it is obvious that you will need to take some sick time to manage. It is what it is unfortunately!
My work weren't able to make that many adjustments, e.g. No facilities to lie down at lunchtime, limited abilities to work from home but at least this appt helped my boss to plan what he could and I just had to take sick days when the symptoms got too much.
Wishing you all the best with this pg and that your symptoms subside very soon!
If not come and find fellow vomiters on the hyperemesis support thread, it's what got me through!! Xx

Ooh forgot- recognise your name you've already found the thread I think! All the best Xx

I'm not sure OH can do much for HG . Hopefully they'll just support you in being signed off if your work can't be adapted. I'm lucky, I'll been working at home full time since Feb due to HG. Was signed off from 6-11 weeks but would have been an awful lot longer if I couldn't have worked from home.

daffodil yes i have found that thread although im more of a lurker atm hehe.
Thanks :) I'll try to take it as a postive, Just feel abit strange as last pregnancy nothing like this happened.
lemon wow that's good! That is very supportive of them. How far are you now?
can'tstand yes the more I've been looking into it the more it does seem to be abit pointless.
My mum works at the same place and has advised that the wait for a referral is Veryyyyyyy long due to alot of backlogs so doesn't look like it will be any time soon anyway.

Sorry to hear about your sicknesses too.. pregancy is amazing but rubbish sometimes isn't it! xx