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How To Identify Your Ideal Job

Effect of Your Health Condition

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When considering a new job, think about  your mental and physical needs as they exist today, and as they may be expected to change.

Start with basic information about your health condition. For example:

  • Your diagnosis.
  • Treatments that you are undergoing or can reasonably expect to undergo.
  • Potential short and long term side effects of your condition and treatment(s).
  • What can be done to reduce the effect of your condition or side effects. (Survivorship A to Z has information about side effects and how to deal with them. See "To Learn More").
  • What time line can you anticipate?

You can find this information by speaking with your health care team. They can help you figure out when you will be at your most effective, and when you will be most fatigued. 

When thinking about what could happen, don't focus on the things that could happen. The key is changes that have occurred or that you can reasonably foresee as occurring.

For example:

  • Stress is a very common problem. The amount of stress you are willing to accept may have changed since your diagnosis. What causes stress is different for each of us. Think about what causes you stress so you can factor it in when considering what job you want to do. Some factors which are frequently reported as causing stress in a work setting are:
    • Lack of control over time, job priorities or work methods.
    • Dealing with discrimination or hostility because of a health condition.
    • Competition.
    • Frequent deadlines.
    • Management of other people.
    • Arbitrary, constantly changing rules.
    • Fear of job loss.
  • How will your treatment affect work, including the work schedule? 
  • Stamina may be decreased temporarily such as during treatment, or the decrease may be more long term. If so, working long hours, meeting production deadlines and working in a culture which rewards self-sacrificing acts like not taking breaks may be difficult.
  • Fatigue can be a major problem for some health conditions and/or treatments. In addition to affecting your work, it can affect your commute. An exhausting commute for a healthy person may be out of the question if you are dealing with fatigue. 
  • A drug or a health condition can include headaches, nausea, intestinal upsets and diarrhea. Perhaps intestinal problems can be handled with working closer to a restroom. Intestinal problems also require a job that allows for frequent breaks.
  • Exposure to extremes of cold, such as walk-in refrigerators, or damp heat, may cause discomfort or aggravate symptoms.
  • There may be memory loss and problems in concentration. If so, you may need an easier job, or a job where you can create aides to help.
  • Scheduled and unscheduled medical appointments may have to be taken into account if they will be ongoing or even be likely to occur periodically.
  • Complicated drug schedules. Drug intake often needs to be coordinated with meals or not eating. It can be particularly difficult for people who work on ever-changing shifts, who cannot control their mealtimes or breaks, or who have frequent overtime demands. Drug side effects can include headaches, nausea, intestinal upsets and diarrhea which can make matters even more difficult.
  • Methods of taking drugs may require a particular kind of work place. For example, some drugs have to be injected. Others taken intravenously. Time to be able to take the drug, and a private place, need to be considered.

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