Early pregnancy fatigue, headaches and sick leave

[MegH94]

I am 4+3 today. I didn't expect the symptoms to start so early! I get nausea on and off over night. I have had migraines and headaches since conception and I am so damn tired all of the time. I don't know if this level of tired is normal, but I normally struggle with fatigue anyway because I have other health problems.

My problem is, I am a nurse. And been in a lot of trouble over sickness the past year already. I know pregnancy related is different, but what counts?!

I have heard headaches don't count, but morning sickness does. What about the fatigue at this early stage?

I work for the NHS too. In my trust if your sick leave is pregnancy related it doesn’t count towards your sick days for disciplinary purposes, they can’t discipline you or use them to tip you into monitoring as that’d be sex discrimination given that only women deal with it.

Speak to your manager but know your rights! If it’s related to pregnancy or caused in part by pregnancy it counts. For example I got a UTI from an internal scan and that counted and they said don’t worry, take all the time you need, it doesn’t count as sick leave and they can’t make you use leave for it or work it back with TOIL.

Have you checked your trust policies online?

I spoke with my manager yesterday, she did say I am protected with pregnancy but that the headaches wouldn't count..annoyingly seeing as they are hormonal! I am working tonight so if I get time I am going to have a good look through the policies. I know the normal one inside out, but this is my first pregnancy so I have no idea with this stuff!

Are the headaches a new thing you’ve not suffered with before? Maybe your manager doesn’t realise that and thinks you just get them anyway. I get migraines, usually maybe one every two months, but if I suddenly had a real uptick since getting pregnant that’d be included in our leave policy too. Exhaustion is as well, if there’s been a day where I’ve simply not been able to keep my eyes open to do my job I can go home and it’s covered. Only happened once for half a day but it’s good to know. The NHS is absolutely fantastic in terms of maternity policies and taking care of its staff in my experience and the experience of friends. Guess it depends on the manager though and how flexibly they implement things.