How To Call Off Work With A Migraine

Common Symptoms Of A Migraine

Get Rid of Migraines Naturally and Fast!

The main symptom of a migraine is usually an intense headache on 1 side of the head.

The pain is usually a moderate or severe throbbing sensation that gets worse when you move and prevents you carrying out normal activities.

In some cases, the pain can occur on both sides of your head and may affect your face or neck.

Address Any Health And Safety Issues In Your Work Environment

Depending on your role and the nature of your work environment there may be additional environmental factors to consider in relation to your migraine. These may concern managing triggers, providing the correct equipment or even avoiding particular activities. All employers have a duty to manage the health and safety of their staff at work. However, you dont need to wait for your employer to raise these considerations with you. If you have concerns check the company policy and approach your employer directly to request a meeting.

What Medications Are Used To Relieve Migraine Pain

Over-the-counter medications are effective for some people with mild to moderate migraines. The main ingredients in pain relieving medications are ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen and caffeine.

Three over-the-counter products approved by the Food and Drug Administration for migraine headaches are:

Excedrin® Migraine.
Advil® Migraine.
Motrin® Migraine Pain.

Be cautious when taking over-the-counter pain relieving medications. Sometimes overusing them can cause analgesic-rebound headaches or a dependency problem. If you’re taking any over-the-counter pain medications more than two to three times a week, report that to your healthcare provider. They may suggest prescription medications that may be more effective.

Prescription drugs for migraine headaches include:

Triptan class of drugs :

Sumatriptan.

Butterbur.
Co-enzyme Q10.

Drugs to relieve migraine pain come in a variety of formulations including pills, tablets, injections, suppositories and nasal sprays. You and your healthcare provider will discuss the specific medication, combination of medications and formulations to best meet your unique headache pain.

Drugs to relieve nausea are also prescribed, if needed.

All medications should be used under the direction of a headache specialist or healthcare provider familiar with migraine therapy. As with any medication, it’s important to carefully follow the label instructions and your healthcare providers advice.

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Is It My Responsibility To Inform An Employer If I Need An Accommodation

Yes. If you are applying for a job or are an existing employee, it is your responsibility to inform your employer if you need an accommodation. Begin with an informal discussion with your supervisor or a member of the human resources department, if your office has such a department. It is also important to follow up with a request in writing that documents your functional limitations. If you do not provide your employer with this documentation, you may not be entitled to the accommodation.

Whats The Longest A Migraine Can Last

How long is too long for a migraine? A typical migraine lasts between four and 72 hours. If a migraine lasts longer than 72 hours, it is paramount to consult with a doctor. Also, if a person experiences 15 or more headache days per month, a doctor may diagnose this individual with chronic migraines.

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Sick Leave Application Letter For Severe Migraine

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When You’re Out Of Vacation Days:

When you’re out of vacation days but you need to extend your time off for one reason or another , you might need to tap into your sick days . Make sure you’re reasoning is legitimate if you’re calling in sick the last minute. Otherwise, talk to your manager ahead of time to ask about extending your vacation with a sick day.

Try saying: “X, Y or Z happened so I cannot make it back in time to get to the office. I will have to use one of my sick days today and come back in tomorrow. I’m sending an email to my colleagues to let them know of the situation and so they can hold down the fort while I’m out today.”

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Know Your Illness In Detail:

If you need to have a leave for two consecutive days then you must know about the illness thoroughly. Know what are its symptoms and what can be the consequences more adverse than what is it for now.

Having known your illness can give the boss immense confidence that whatever you are saying is right and also you can get leave without any question-answering process.

Bad Excuses And Mistakes: What Not To Say When You Call In Sick

7 Tips To Get Rid of a Migraine

If you read everything above, you now have multiple good excuses to miss work.

To wrap up, here are a couple of mistakes to avoid and bad reasons for calling out of work.

First, you never want to say anything that suggests you failed to plan ahead or that you didnt let them know promptly.

Dont give a reason that sounds like its something you would have known about days before.

Always think to yourself about how the excuse sounds before you call in on short notice. Ask yourself, Does this sound realistic that Id only be finding out at the last minute?

If not, pick a different excuse to stay home.

The other big mistake to avoid is overexplaining. You dont need to share every detail when you explain why you cant come into your job for one day.

If you say you have a sick child, you dont need to share every symptom as proof that theyre not feeling well.

If youre going to say that youre sick, you dont need to try to cough on the phone or sound miserable. Just be clear and direct, give the general excuse/reason that youre going to use to miss work, and then stop talking and see how your boss responds.

When you call out of work, its often better to say less. Chose one of the reasons from the list above to call out, explain it briefly, and then just stop.

Even the best excuses can be ruined by talking too much or continuing to sell your story after your boss is probably already okay with it.

So stop talking and let them respond once youve explained the basics.

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What Are The Types Of Tension

Healthcare providers break down tension headaches into two main types. They base the type on how many headaches you have and how often:

Episodic tension-type headaches happen less often . Your provider may call them infrequent if you have one or fewer headaches each month.
Chronic tension-type describe when your headache days outnumber headache-free days. Chronic tension headaches happen 15 or more days each month for more than three months in a row.

Can You Get Fired For Calling In Sick

The short answer is YES, you can be fired for calling in sick.

In many states, employment is considered “at will,” unless a signed contract sets out other conditions.

Employment at will means that you are legally free to quit without explanation at any time, and your employer can also fire you at any time without reason.

One practical result of at-will employment is that your boss is free to fire you for merely being sick unless you have an individual or union contract in place that says otherwise .

Fortunately, there are some notable exceptions. – thebalancecareers.com

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Youre Interviewing For Another Job

Job searching when you work remotely is definitely easier than if you were in a traditional workplace. While you dont have to worry about colleagues questioning why youre suddenly wearing a suit , you might still have to call off work if youre interviewing for another position.

You never know how long your interview might take or if your prospective boss might want you to interview with other team members on the spot. To give yourself enough of a time cushion without worrying about your current boss needing something from you ASAP, it might be worth it to call off work instead.

What Is The Difference Between A Headache And A Migraine

Headaches cause pain in the head, face, or upper neck, and can vary in frequency and intensity. A migraine is an extremely painful primary headache disorder. Migraines usually produce symptoms that are more intense and debilitating than headaches. Some types of migraines do not cause head pain, however.

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How Are Migraines Diagnosed

To diagnose a migraine, your healthcare provider will get a thorough medical history, not just your history of headaches but your familys, too. Also, they’ll want to establish a history of your migraine-related symptoms, likely asking you to:

Describe your headache symptoms. How severe are they?
Remember when you get them. During your period, for example?
Describe the type and location of your pain. Is the pain pounding? Pulsing? Throbbing?
Remember if anything makes your headache better or worse.
Tell how often you get migraine headaches.
Talk about the activities, foods, stressors or the situations that may have brought on the migraine.
Discuss what medications you take to relieve the pain and how often you take them.
Tell how you felt before, during and after the headache.
Remember if anyone in your family gets migraine headaches.

Your healthcare provider may also order blood tests and imaging tests to make sure there are no other causes for your headache. An electroencephalogram may be ordered to rule out seizures.

What Do You Say When Calling In Sick

If Youre Actually Sick Try saying: I started feeling unwell yesterday evening and feel even worse this morning. Im not well enough to come to the office and I dont want to risk passing anything on to others. Im going to take a day off to get better and, hopefully, I will be OK to come back to work tomorrow.

Calling In Sick When You Arent Sick

1Pick the right time for a sick day. If you’re committed to calling in sick, you should take a look at your calendar in advance to make sure that the day you choose doesn’t stand out as the perfect day to be off from work. Here are some ways to choose the right day:

Recognize that if you pick a Friday or a Monday, you will have to be extra convincing because it will seem like you’re trying to carve out a nice little three-day weekend for yourself.XResearch source

Make sure you haven’t been taking too many days off recently, whether it’s been for a real illness or not. You don’t want to look like the person who is always looking for a day off. Make sure you’ve gone to work every day for at least two months before you decide to play hooky.

Don’t pick a particularly important or annoying day, like the day of a meeting everyone dreads, or the day when a client everyone knows you don’t get along with will come in. This will make it obvious that you’re trying to avoid being at work on that particular day.

Don’t pick a day of a major sporting event in your town. If everyone knows you are a fan of a certain team and that you’re dying to go to a day game, your excuse will not work.

If you’re American, don’t pick a Monday after Super Bowl Sunday. This is a big drinking day for many Americans, and it’ll be pretty obvious that you’re calling in because you’re hung over, not sick.

Cough or sniffle once in a while.

During lunch, casually mention that you don’t have an appetite.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

How to instantly stop a Migraine!

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is responsible for enforcing all forms of discrimination in the workplace, including disability discrimination. It also offers guidance and education to employers regarding compliance, including instructions on how to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities.

What Happens In Brain During A Migraine

But during a migraine, these stimuli feel like an all-out assault. The result: The brain produces an outsize reaction to the trigger, its electrical system firing on all cylinders. This electrical activity causes a change in blood flow to the brain, which in turn affects the brains nerves, causing pain.

Preparing To Make The Call

1Pick a good time to do it. You may think that every day is a good day to fake sick, but if youre really determined to fake your illness, then you should put a bit more thought into it. If you pick the wrong day to fake sick, then itll be a lot harder to make a convincing case for yourself. Instead, make sure that the odds are in your favor before you execute your master plan. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Be prepared to be extra convincing if you call in on a Monday or Friday. Itll be harder for your boss to believe youre really feeling sick during a long weekend.

Make sure you havent recently been sick or taken a lot of time off.

Dont fake sick right after youve had an altercation at work, or after youve done a lot of grumbling. You dont want your boss to see your fake illness as an affront. Your illness will be much more convincing if all was fine and dandy the last time you went to work.

Try not to conveniently miss a particularly unpleasant day at work. If your boss knows you hate the dreaded monthly meetings, then you shouldnt fake sick on this particular day no matter how good it will feel.

Try to fake sick when someone else at work was sick, or if it’s flu season. That way your boss won’t be too suspicious, since everyone is getting sick.

Act more reserved that day, too. If youre extra energetic one day and then call in sick the next day, people will be surprised. Turn down invitations to lunch or happy hours the day before you call in sick.

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Are There Any Risks To Taking Medication To Treat Tension Headaches

Over-the-counter pain relievers are generally safe. But overusing pain relievers can cause other problems. Make sure to follow the instructions on the bottle carefully. Always check in with your provider if you feel the need to use pain relievers more than twice a week.

Take these medications only when you need them. Use the smallest dose that relieves your pain.

In general, overusing pain medications may cause:

Headaches: Taking pain relievers too often can actually cause a headache when you stop taking the medicine. This effect is similar to withdrawal.
Other side effects: All drugs have side effects. Avoid taking aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , such as ibuprofen, too often. Overuse may cause stomach pain, bleeding or ulcers. If you take any medication regularly, discuss the risks and benefits with your doctor.
Reduced benefits over time: Your body can build up a tolerance any medication. You may notice that a medication youve used regularly doesnt work as well as it once did.
Dependence: Some medications can become addictive. They may pose more risks than benefits. For that reason, healthcare providers usually recommend against prescribing benzodiazepines and narcotics to treat tension headaches.

How To Write A Sick Day Email

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Steps to follow when you write a sick day email:

Begin by greeting your boss or manager by name

Next, be clear and upfront, and immediately reveal that the purpose of your email is to inform them that youre not feeling well and youd like to use a sick day

Be brief and concise dont provide excess information. You dont need to say, my stomach hurts and I have a fever of 101 degrees. In fact, providing extra details sometimes makes it less convincing. So keep it simple and say that youre ill or not feeling well.

Tell them how youll be keeping in contact while sick

Thank them for understanding

Sign off with your name

Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission: The best way to be convincing when calling or emailing for a sick day is to TELL them youre ill and cannot come in, rather than asking if its okay. Any good boss and company should want you to stay home and recover if youre sick. Forcing you into the workplace is just going to put other employees at risk of catching your illness.

So dont leave the door open for them to push back by saying something like, please let me know if this is okay. Its usually more effective to tell them that you want to take a sick day and make sure they know thats not a request.

As long as you have sick days to use, a good employer should have no problem with this.

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Sick Day Email Templates To Get The Day Off

If you need to send a sick day email, then youre in the right place.

This article will show you what to put in your sick-day email with word-for-word templates and samples that are ready to send.

And if you prefer to call in sick to work, were also going to cover what to say when you call in sick on the phone, too.

Lets get started