here is the deal....im a chef in a fine dining spot here in Winchester, Va. i told my boss that i get CH. he was cool with it and said he had heard of them before. i usually have 5 hits during my 9 hr shift. if i get hit i slam a monster and go stand in the walk-in freezer til its over. ive got a few coworkers that like to joke me and talk shit because they have no fucking idea whats going on. i took the letter to friends in for them to get educated and understand a little more and all they could say is "who wrote this and the pain cant be that bad". shit pisses me off sooo much. its as if they take what im saying as a joke. there is one girl that gets migraines and knows of CH that does understand what im going through, but thats only 1 person. it just angers me how they down play the pain and tell me to "just get over it", or go in the freezer, turn the light off and mock me. as i feel a hit coming on right now. so ill leave with that.

or you could stab them in the face with a screw driver and show them how it feels....no im joking. dont do that man

There are always going to be some pompous asses who will behave that way Chris.  It's unfortunate they are your co-workers, but you have to learn not to direct any emotional energy their way.  It's hard, but just remind yourself it's just ignorance, plain and simple.

One of the more difficult aspects of CH is accepting that people who do not suffer from CH, will never understand. My best supporter, and wife of 28 years, tries harder then anyone to understand, and even she will never get it! (

Don't waste your precious time or energy, trying to make them understand, it's like counting snowflakes, it'll kill some time when you're bored, you will never accomplish anything.

Spend your time hanging out with us and educating yourself. We'll never tell you to suck it up, it's just a stupid headache!

Joe

I feel the same way, there are so many people out there faking this or that to get away with not working that it is just inevitable that someone would look at one of us and think it of us as well.
Those that we do call friends just do not want to believe there is something that could cause us this much pain and there denial is at least in the right place and even the closest supporters as Joe said will never fully understand and we don’t want them to since it would mean them suffering this as well.
We just need to except the fact that there are a lot of people out there that are heartless and will never understand what it does to someone that suffers like this when they belittle our pain and make jokes, I just try to hide my pain as much as I can to minimize such behavior from others or have to explain it yet again, it just gets old.

Charlie wrote on Jan 24^th, 2011 at 5:38pm:



The mental image!!!


Joe

its just one dumb ass m*th*rf**k*r that is an ignorant not a very nice person. and one chick that is getting ready to have a baby that doesnt believe any of it. it sounds to horrible to believe she says. AHHHHHH!!!!! they give me a fucking headache.

I know most clusterheads absolutely do not want anyone to see them during a hit. Their loved ones, family and close friends maybe, but nobody else.

There comes a time especially in my opinion, where especially those we work with who absolutely do not understand and belittle our pain, need to see just one hit.

I had explained to my boss and given my boss the letter about "this is what CH is".  He read it and understood that if I had to disappear for a few minutes, no problem, but he really didn't understand.  Until one day - he and I were writing up a presentation to a major customer when I started getting a hit.  My boss, Bill, was talking on and on while I was taking notes when I lifted my head from the paper I was writing on and loudly told him I had to leave for a few minutes.  At first he was angry because this was a very important presentation - until he saw me - with my sagging eye, tearing, running nose and clearly in pain.  He said GO!

When I came back about 30 minutes later I walked into his office with my notepad, read off where we had left off in the presentation and said, let's continue.  He was absolutely dumbfounded and never again ever questioned me if I had to take a few minutes to "handle" things.

I'm not saying go out there in front of everybody and show them your pain, but in the workplace, especially where if you are incapacitated that someone else must fill in for you, that someone needs to understand and in order to understand, they need to see.

CH is a physical problem.  Don't use it as an excuse, but also don't hide it from those who need to understand.

Sandy

I'm glad for you Chris.

ChefChris wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 10:18pm:

Chris, do you think that instead of going home like your boss wants, you find out if there is maybe a vacant room you can go into to dance until the attack subsides?

Wow Chris, sounded like things were getting better and now sounds like they have gotten way worse.
I feel for you brother and hope your cycle will end soon and you can be PF again. It is hard to hide it from everyone I struggle myself every day with hiding my pain and then I get upset when someone does not understand when it is partly my fault for hiding it to well. Sucks that your boss id making you go home it would be better for him to just dock you the time each night that you have to take time to deal with the hit at least that way you are still making some money and not losing an entire shift, maybe you can run that past him I am sure the financial burden of losing more hours is not going to help you.
I will be sending you all the vibes I got and keep hoping things will get better for you.

Matt