When to go back to work?

[cjsmith]

If you have a cold and you feel not-100%-rotten but not-100%-healthy, when do you decide it's time to go back to work?

I'd been thinking that as soon as I don't have a fever any more, it's reasonable to go back. 99.6 this morning, so by that standard I'm still home.

Rob saw his doctor this morning & randomly asked about "the cold with a lot of coughing" that's going around. The doctor said "Yeah, I've had that for two months."

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My coughing from the sinus infection we came home from Boston with last October has subsided within the past two weeks. I still have inflamed tissue in my sinuses, but feel much less snotty and am not coughing so hard I have to run for the toilet on a regular basis.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You and Casey have matching sinus infections? Awww, that's romance! ;-)

[platypus]

I go back to work when I'm reasonably functional (this generally means the sore throat is gone), or when I'm out of sick time, or when I'm going to go batshit crazy if I don't (I've been off work since Dec. 22nd, between vacation and holidays and sickness, and I was about to forget how to roll out of bed). A fever seems like a pretty good indication that staying home and resting is still a good idea.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA! Yeah, I feel like I'm forgetting how to roll out of bed too. :)

I feel like such a wimp staying home for a teeny tiny fever like that. I'm starting to wonder if 99.4 or so is my normal temperature. (I know darn well it's not... but...)

[lcohen]

i am usually really bad about this but this go round i went in for a short day, collected work i could do at home, and worked from home. i got better MUCH faster!

feel better!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Isn't it excellent when you can do that? Go you! (and thanks!)

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Fever and coughing you lungs out are pretty good reasons for staying at home. You are still going to be passing the germ off to your co-workers, and you don't want to be known as the Plague Carrier. :)
Once your fever clears up and you are down to just coughing your lungs out, going back to work is acceptible if you can keep from coughing in people's faces. You probably are no longer the Plague Carrier.
I suggest keeping a few masks around for if just in case the cough gets bad at the wrong time. But other than that, you should be ok.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

And Hope you feel better soon.
*hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

So you'd go by the fever too, then? I guess it's as good a measure as any. (And thanks! *hugsback*)

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

For me? I go back to work when I can think well enough to actually do anything.

For others? I stay home until I'm certain I'm not contagious.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the problem -- I don't know when I am / am not contagious. I've been *guessing* fever is a good marker for that, but I don't know, and it's frustrating to sit around the house this long when I'm not SURE that's the right measure!

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, fever is a great marker. If your body is still putting up an actual fight (as opposed to mopping up the stragglers), then you're still contagious.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Since you have Clue, I shall endeavor to pick your brain even more. Is 99.6 enough of a fever to count? 99.2? Anything at all? Again, thanks muchly.

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Given how hard you drive yourself at work, I suggest that anything higher than your regular temperature is enough to count. You need the break anyway, but more to the point, you push yourself very hard at work and might relapse if your body's not finished defeating the viral horde.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll be good. :) I can do some amount of work from home, which will help assuage my guilt. (Dang but I'm good at that guilt thing.)

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

A relapse is one of my hypotheses for what's happening with my sinuses. Until a couple of days ago I thought I as 99% better, with maybe just residual allergens as an irritant. A couple days ago I came down with a sore throat. I went to work Friday & Saturday anyway since the tasks I had at hand for those days didn't involve talking. Today I stayed home from work because I figured that between having the congestion & sore throat plus not sleeping well, I'd be pushing myself too hard at work & just asking to get sicker. I stayed home & slept instead.

Like others I've used presence of a fever as a cue not to go into work. Other cues I've used to stay home have been when I've been too sick to safely drive or function on the job. The hardest time for me to make such decisions is when I feel borderline as to whether I can make it through the day or not. ...and then it doesn't help that on my job, I don't get sick pay, so if I don't work I'm out that $ I'd be getting on my paycheck. (Which is yet another reason that I need a different, better paying, job.)

Being able to work from home is a good option! ...Especially for those borderline cases when you feel that you could do some work but are not sure how long your energy will last or want to be courteous to your coworkers in case you are contagious.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

And you'll probably enjoy it more too :)

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

Well, when you're mostly better, you're essentially (but not completely) non-contagious. And when you're getting sick, you're incredibly contagious. And when you're actively sick, you shouldn't go to work because you'll pick up even more germies from the bathroom door handle.

And what amywithani said, yo. Are you having that not-very-high fever in the *morning*? Yer still sick, dude.

(Don't you get lightheaded when you have a fever? I know I do.)

(Later on, when you're well, take your temperature 3 times a day for 3 days running, and you'll know more for next time. We all have our own "normal" temps, and we all start the day on the cool side too.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yep, in the morning. My temp doesn't jump much as the day gets going -- well, when I'm healthy, anyway. I have no idea what the pattern is now that I'm sick. (Took temp again a couple hours ago & it was the same as this morn.)

Oddly, I don't always get the symptoms people associate with fever, even when my fever is high. When I hit 103.8 a couple of years ago all I felt was tired. Other times I get the whole set of stuff: aches, lightheadedness, and feeling too hot or too cold. I just never know. (This time: tired. Lots of tired.)

[nosrednayduj]

Don't forget when you're establishing your baseline that women jump half a degree when they ovulate and drop back down when they start their period. My baseline is like 97.0 (first half), so even 98.6 is a fever for me!

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's really not what you want to hear! So sorry. :/

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

You should go back when you feel well enough to get actual work done for long stretches of time, but when you still have enough symptoms that you get loads of sympathy and your boss knows you weren't faking it. ;)

I send my kids back to school when the fever goes down, except Chris, who stays home until his blood sugar goes down (illnesses make his blood sugar go all wonky).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was thinking the fever, and then I got too impatient and I went back in with a face mask on. Everyone laughs when they see me, but then they also know not to get too close! :-)

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

After one or at most two days off, because I don't have enough sick days to cover any more than that since I get sick every month and a half like clockwork. :-(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh yuck! (Me, I get sick every two years like clockwork, and it lasts a month or more.)

Most places I've worked have been somewhat flexible about sick days. They'd rather have me work at home (even if I'm not as productive) than infect the whole office.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Yeah...unfortunately I don't have the option of working from home because I have to be available on my desk phone. What sucks is, the frequent illnesses have only been since I started the job.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh that's no good. Icky stressful job, perhaps? Or is something vilely unhealthful floating around in the air at your office?

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

I reckon it's probably not so much that the job is stressful as that having anything taking up so much more of my energy than I'd been used to is hard on my immune system. I still haven't quite adjusted to waking up before 10 every day.