Has anyone here ever taken time off for "burnout"?

In My Humble Opinion
1

One of my doctors recently suggested that my stress level is unhealthy and I need some time off, or maybe I should just work part-time for a while. She suggested that I take some short-term disability leave and try to recuperate before the stress makes me very sick.

I’ve never taken time off like that and I’m uncomfortable with it. It’s one thing to be off work for a broken leg, but to say “I’m too stressed out, so I can only work part-time” just seems like I’m complaining. How would I deal with coworkers asking me why I’m on reduced hours for a month or two? Also, this is only for the short term - I’ll have to go back eventually and it’s not like the job will have changed. And won’t this color everyone’s opinion of me and count against me later for raises and promotions and the like?

On the other hand, my blood pressure is up and I get heart palpitations sometimes, I’m taking regular antidepressants and occasional antianxiety meds, and I’m always exhausted. I almost never find myself having any sort of fun these days, or even laughing at funny things. I’m detached. I find myself wishing I could catch a good case of influenza so I could have a week off to sleep - that ain’t right. I feel so powerless at work, and I’m doing too much work without any backup because we’re understaffed. It’s approaching a dangerous level (I work in a hospital lab - I’m scared to be so overwhelmed that I’ll make a mistake). And I can’t just do less work, or work slower, because I have to do whatever comes in, there are patients on the other end who need results. Other hospitals aren’t likely to be much better, based on my recent mission to scout out new jobs and ask some contacts what their labs are like.
I am burning out, there’s no question. I’m just not sure what I want to do about it. What I should do. Has anyone else been in this spot? How did you handle it?

2

You might try asking your boss if taking a sabbatical is possible. Believe me, you don’t want to tell them you’re burning out on the job, because then you’re first up for job cuts.

3

Do you live to work or do you work to live? Is what happens at your job the most important thing to you, or would you like your outside life to be more important?

Since you asked, I have a job that stresses me out because I hate it so much. I take all the vacation available to me every year, including several half-days off for “mental health”. I don’t hesitate to work from home if I’m sick. If something can’t get done during normal working hours one day, tough, it doesn’t get done till normal working hours resume. I never wanted a “career” and absolutely don’t care for my work, though, which helps. I’m nowhere near stressed out enough, on a permanent basis, to need to take more time than I do. Sounds like you actually care about your job.

4

I think if you’re an American, your employer isn’t allowed to ask what’s wrong if your doctor excuses you from work. And even if you did give a reason, “stress” is much more acceptable than “burnout”. I’ve had a couple co-workers who’ve taken time off for stress, and although no one was thrilled, thinking it less acceptable than surgery or something, I don’t believe it affected their job prospects on their return. Although to be honest, neither person was on a track that meant much in the way of promotion to begin with.

StG

5

My mom took time off for stress leave last year. I think she took six weeks. It did her a world of good.

6

I’m considering doing so right now, exploring the possibility of getting a leave without pay (I’m thinking three months, if it’s possible).

After a long period (one year and a half) of serious work-related stress, I sort of “crashed” last week, not going to work and not even calling, even envisioning to resign, which would be the worst possible idea.

7

IANAL, but I believe this is correct. There have been times I’ve been off the job for surgery and chose to tell my employer that. However, when asked what the surgery was, I just said it’s personal and I don’t want to discuss it. No further questions were asked.

This leads me to believe that if you said you were taking x days/weeks/months off for medical reasons that you don’t care to discuss in detail, that would be fine. You might be asked to provide something from the doctor verifying that you needed time off for medical reasons. And of course you’d be subject to whatever the company policy is regarding paid and unpaid time off.

One more thing: If a doctor is willing to say you need the time off for medical reasons, you should check to see if you qualify for disability.

8

I have a friend who gets around 5 weeks of vacation a year.

One to two weeks of the year he claims as a “staycation.” Uberstaycation.

No phone calls (except emergency). No e-mails. No texts. No visitors. He’s home. He might run out for some groceries but that’s about it. A week in his house, just putzing around and not worrying about everything else that’s going on.

It seems to work. He hasn’t shot up his office yet.

9

I think your laws might be similar to Canada in this respect (as noted by previous posters). I took a month off three years ago to go to outpatient rehab. My doctor wrote me a note that said I needed ‘medical leave’ from this date to this date, I gave it to my boss, and no questions were asked (they can’t ask anyhow). No one knew what it was for, and aside from the hard work involved in recovery, it was so nice to have that time to focus on myself (and my health).

10

Two things strike me here - one, you should indeed take some stress leave. Your body is giving you big, flashing, neon signs saying that THIS ISN’T WORKING! DO SOMETHING!

The second is that you are 100% right - when you go back into the same situation, you’ll end up in the same place. You know what they say about craziness - doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I run into this in my anxiety support group all the time - people drag themselves in, half dead, panicking all day every day, and resist every suggestion that they make some changes in how they’re living their lives. Doing what you’ve been doing is how you GOT here; it makes sense that you need to change a few things to make things better.

I know you’ve said that you love lab work, and you love your job, Antigen, but I think you need to seriously consider making a change. There are tons of lab jobs in the world - I completely believe that there will be one that you can enjoy and it won’t make you sick with stress. Or you can make a different deal at your existing job - these are the things I’ll do, and these are the things I won’t do, because my health is more important than your short-staffing problem. If you’re ready to quit anyway, you’re in a strong bargaining position.

11

Last year, I developed palpitations and tachycardia. My doc suspected anxiety, since I was grieving, and put my on an anti-depressant and a beta-blocker. It knocked me out. I stuck with it for months, but I couldn’t take it any longer because I was always exhausted and falling asleep randomly.

Tranquilizers agitate me rather than working as designed.

Is there any chance your meds are doing more harm than good?

12

During a major reorganization at work I totally lost perspective. I ended up taking 2-3 months off. I did it by switching to half-time and using all my vacation plus some sick leave and some leave without pay. It was one of the best things I ever did. I can back to work able to cope with the stress and function again.

13

You know the concept of suicide by cop? I committed resignation by boss. I got so depressed and anxious I basically stopped doing any work and waited until they canned me. If I’d had a more rational view of the situation, I’d have realized that my belief that I couldn’t quit because I needed the money was false. I got fired and haven’t worked in the subsequent 8 years, and we’re fine. I don’t know where my career might go if/when I try to go back into law, but I know for sure that I’m not going back into the type of career I was in, because it made me insane, and it’s so not worth it! I’ve decided that if I wind up working as a secretary or something, that’s fine with me.

I agree that you should look for something else that uses your skills, and won’t drive you into madness. If this job is a package deal that includes stuff you love, but also mortality-risk levels of stress, you might need to let it go.

Take care of yourself.

14

Lots of good responses so far, you’re giving me lots to think about.

I don’t live to work, like some people I know, but I do love what I do. The problem is that right now it’s taking so much of my energy that I don’t have enough left for any other aspect of my life. I think that it’s the environment of the job, and not the job itself, but how can I really know that? Well, on days that I have backup, I don’t leave there all wound up, so I guess that’s a sign. But we’ll hire people eventually… maybe… I have my resume all polished up and ready to send, but the thought of starting a new job right now doesn’t exactly relax me. It’s a stressful thing in itself, it may not be a better place, and also - I’m planning on having some babies in the next few years. Seems silly to go someplace new and then leave right away on maternity leave.

I am looking at our financial situation to see if I can drop to part-time without killing us. It would be a substantial pay cut and a lifestyle change because it would be completely different hours. I’m also reading over the medical leave plans and disability plans, but it looks like I’d eat up ALL of my vacation time by doing that. So… may as well just take a damn vacation and skip the paperwork headache, if I’m using up the days anyway.

[QUOTE=jsgoddess]
Is there any chance your meds are doing more harm than good?
[/QUOTE]

I’ve been on the Wellbutrin for a couple of years now and it’s never been a problem. Without it, the dark despairing thoughts come back and I can barely get out of bed. I don’t think it’s causing any anxiety symptoms. The anxiety attacks seem to go with the worst days at work when I’m pumped full of adrenaline and I find myself jumpy on the drive home. I only take an anti-anxiety pill on the worst of those occasions and I still haven’t gone through the whole bottle of 30 pills that I picked up in April. I’m scared of those meds and don’t want to take them much.

[QUOTE=Cat Whisperer]
Or you can make a different deal at your existing job - these are the things I’ll do, and these are the things I won’t do, because my health is more important than your short-staffing problem. If you’re ready to quit anyway, you’re in a strong bargaining position.
[/QUOTE]

I don’t know that I can really make a deal like that. I’ve been thinking about a list of complaints/demands but I don’t see what I could reasonably ask for. The main problem is that the evening shift as a whole is understaffed. We’re short two or three people for at least part of every night, and there’s no budget to be paying people overtime. I feel fine every day until about 4pm when the day shift leaves - then the second half of my day usually goes to hell. I have proposed to the boss that the evening shifter assigned to blood bank should be the primary blood banker and I will be backup there or where I’m needed. She basically said she thinks I’m the best of the bunch and she feels much better knowing I’m in charge of her blood bank. Which is flattering, but doesn’t help me much. the fact is, the blood bank is in a room off the main lab, so they can’t tell that I’m getting swamped unless they walk in to check. Which most of them do, but the craziness is usually sporadic and it would be better if they could be physically present more often so they could handle things as they happen. But without enough people to run the core lab, they can’t spare someone to hang out with me unless it’s a dire situation, which leaves me in the position of having to beg for help when I’m overwhelmed, but I have to physically leave the blood bank and go find someone, and I usually get some resistance form them, so more often than not I just do it all myself. Which means I’m an awesome tech, of course, but also that I’m killing myself at this job. Maybe I need a big red panic button that triggers a flashing light in the main lab…

It occurs to me that another part of my problem is that while they’re all busy as hell out there, they’re still a group and can socialize and laugh and bitch together. I’m alone and muttering to myself. No wonder I’m going crazy.

15

Antigen, I hear you loud and clear about job burnout. In your position, one mistake could be the difference between life and death for a patient. That is a scary thought for anybody in a hospital knowing the lab tech is burning out and there is a possibility of an error in their lab work.

My job requires me to be fully alert at all times because I’m around large moving equipment and overhead cranes. I have to be aware of everything around me because if there is a chemical spill from one area of the plant, I have to be able to move to a safe location until the threat is over. If one of the overhead cranes fails while carrying a load overhead, several tons of metal is falling ( it has happened a few times in the four years I’ve been here at this job!) and imminent death follows if someone is caught underneath it.

I’m currently suffering from sleep deprivation as a result of only getting 4-5 hours of sleep out of 48. I sometimes have to work a 12 hour shift with just a couple of hours notice.
Right now, I’m working 7 days a week noon til midnight. I get into bed around 1 AM only to get back up at 5 AM to get kids ready for school and drop them off. I usually get back home around 8, but it would only give me about an hour or two to get more sleep before I have to leave around 11 to be back in at noon.

I have worked my shift alone, meaning I’m the only one working because there is no one else hired to work with me. I have worked non-stop some nights until about an hour before clocking out. That is when I get my lunch break.

My work has to be done nightly or I face the chance of being terminated. I’m usually drafted to do extra work if the other shift doesn’t have anyone to volunteer to do it.

Yes, I’m am totally burned out and wish to have some time off to rest, but any request for such time off always get denied on my shift.

I have been hospitalized several times for exhaustion, yet I have to go right back into it the same day I’m released from the hospital. My BP has increased to dangerous levels at times and my doctor repeatedly warned me of a possible heart attack if I keep doing it.

I would quit my job right this instance if there were other jobs available in my area right now.

16

The more I read and think about your situation, the more I think you might simply want to address the understaffing. And you have the advantage that you’re not necessarily whining. Frame it as concern over safety and liability, and you will have the ear of your boss. Health care businesses are nothing if not petrified of being sued. Tell them they need one or two more people, and you will be happy to supervise them (since you’re such a rockstar). When they poormouth, remind them that it’s cheaper and easier to hire the appropriate number of staff than to defend a lawsuit when someone gets hepatitis.

17

I was a teacher for many years in Germany, Switzerland and then in Los Angeles. The last job didn’t end well (school was closed abruptly) and I had had it.
Went off to work for a film studio for several years, then moved to Las Vegas and worked for a law firm designing databases.
However, now I am back to teaching and loving it again - I guess I just needed the breather and the perspective. I think I am a better teacher for having done so.

18

Holy crap, ratmanizhere. Do you have any help?

And Antigen, I think that addressing the understaffing like Cinnamon suggests does sound like the best advice, but I would strongly recommend taking leave first. I took two weeks at my last job where the workload was impossible and I was completely burning out. I took vacation time because I had a bunch, not medical leave, but it did make a world of difference just to have those two weeks. When I got back I was able to sit down with my boss and coherently and rationally to discuss things, which was much better than the half-crazed ranting I would have done prior to the break.

19

Not to mention that while you’re gone, they’ll realize how much you do. They might think they realize it now, but when you’re not there doing everything for two weeks, it really drives it home.

20

Good points. I think any discussion you have after you come back from a refreshing vacation should take the form of, “I can do X, Y, and Z on my shift, and I will ACE them, and patients won’t die. B, C, and D are going to become optional, and I’ll do them if I have time. If they’re as critical as X, Y and Z, you’ll need to assign them to someone else.” I can just about guarantee you that you’re getting a list of duties as long as your arm because you’re so competent; it’s one of the bitter ironies of working that the competent people usually get the short end of the stick because the bosses know they’ll kill themselves trying to do everything. You have to be really mentally strong, too, and not do the extra duties and ask for help whenever you need it, right away.

This probably doesn’t help you at all, but having been a lab tech has been a great asset for my office career - I truly know that if a deadline is missed or something gets mis-filed, no one dies. When people start to get into panic mode over stuff, I don’t buy into it.