Please offer college advice???

[100000426190638@facebook]

What are some careers I could do part-time from home?

Also, if you are working, what do you do for a living, what symptoms do you deal with regularly and how have they affected your ability to work?

I'm really nervous about what to pursue in school with how sick I've been. The worst things are muscle weakness, fatigue, and sometimes confusion. I also deal with pain (sometimes severe), vision problems, dizziness, and other things, but the first three are the real biggies that would interfere with working.

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BTW:
I'm 23 and currently in my second semester of college. Originally I decided I would get a degree in songography because its an associates degree making 55k / year, full-time - w/ part-time positions available just in case I'm unable to work full time.

However, I was unable to make it to class most days last semester (taking 10 credit hours) and barely passed. (I almost killed myself to do it too.) This semester I'm only taking an online English course equivalent to half time. Its very difficult to have the energy to get the work done, and the courses for my major need to be done in person.

I'm not able to work full-time right now, and I no longer trust my body to be well enough to work part-time out of the house. I don't know how I could handle a set schedule since i never know when I'll be at my best and what days I'll be too sick to do anything.

I desperately want to work, but right now, I think I should change majors to something offering both the ability to go to school via online classes and something I could work part-time from home if necessary.

I know its not good to make major life decisions when stressed out - especially out of fear, but I need to pursue something I'm able to do. Any ideas?

[kikiblue]

Have you considered graphic design or web development? Both lend themselves to being able to work from home.

Also accounting, any kind of analysis work, copywriting, technical writing, psychology (counseling), of course for counseling you have to get a masters degree and do an internship but afterwards you could work when you wanted to and the money isn't bad at all.

I was diagnosed 8 years after I started having major issues with fatigue, with a B12 deficiency and fibromyalgia. I experience major memory and cognitive issues. I was already on medication for these issues (such as there are any) when the fatigue worsened. I really didn't think it could get any worse because all I did was sleep, but get worse it did. I was 42 when I first started having problems and was 50 when I was diagnosed. At 42 my MRI was clear so they didn't do the lumbar puncture. At 50 I had lesions and a positive lumbar puncture.

I struggled during those 8 years. I was having excrutiating pain in my feet, making walking a nightmare. I had blisters in my mouth from the B12 deficiency along with constant burning in my mouth. The fatigue was unreal. I woke up constantly at night with pain.

During all of this I worked. I had only been at my job about 3 years. I got up everyday even though I may have only had 4 or 5 hours of sleep and none of it restful.

I am the advertising manager for a company that manufacturers commercial cleaning equipment. We do a large part of our business direct to end user through flyers, catalogs, etc. In my position I create the schedule, coordinate all of the processes including graphic design, layout the piece, write the copy, make sure everything is done on time. It is a very high pressure job.

Now I still do all of the things above plus marketing analysis which requires creating computer programming quiries to ge the information and then putting it in the correct format and then analysing it to see if there is anything we need to do to improve sales. I also handle the mailing list functions and database management.

And then there are the special projects. The list is endless.

I still get up and go to work everyday. I no longer have the constant pain in my feet or the burning and blisters in my mouth, but I have everything else. There are days, more and more frequently, that I just don't think I can do it anymore. I am constantly fighting the fatigue and the cognitive and memory issues make my job very difficult.

When you have MS you have to decide how you are going to deal with it. I am not ready to sit at home, not to mention the fact I don't want to live on social security and the lack of insurance that would bring makes me crazy. I have learned that I can still do my job, learn new things and excell. You just have to push past the symptoms.

I hope you find something that you love to do. Otherwise it is just drudgery and you will feel worse.