DES friendly job idea: Ironing service

[jlg_uk]

I think my days working in IT are numbered in that both my current job will likely end soon and I can't face trying to get another one so I can suffer all day. Therefore, I'm trying to think of jobs which I can do which don't involve long commuting, serious computer use, bright lights and air conditioning.

I have noticed before that ironing can be beneficial, as I tend to iron my shirts when they are damp, and the steam obviously increases humidity. Although I'm male (I'm not implying only women iron), I don't actually mind ironing and am wildly pondering (expect possible future posts about other ideas) setting up a business from home where I control the environment, hours etc.

Any views on this? Any big DES downsides?

[lizibet]

I'm with you there on the ironing!! I love it now, when my eyes are giving me real grief I shut myself in my spare room and get out the iron and steam away. My husband and son have the best ironed underpants in the world lol!!

Let me know if you start a business and I will be your chief ironer ha ha.

[Roderick]

The pay would surely be absolutely miserable. Don't count on this to make a living.

Seeing as you are proficient in IT, I think you should get a job in support, as you could still make use of your skills and would only have to stare sporadically at a screen. It would be much better than a bottom of the barrel blue collar job. Perhaps open your own business where you fix people's computers from the comfort of your own home.

[jlg_uk]

The pay would surely be absolutely miserable. Don't count on this to make a living.

Seeing as you are proficient in IT, I think you should get a job in support, as you could still make use of your skills and would only have to stare sporadically at a screen. It would be much better than a bottom of the barrel blue collar job. Perhaps open your own business where you fix people's computers from the comfort of your own home.

Thanks for the replies

I've been in IT for 15 years, and I have considered local home IT support. There are problems though - there's lots of competition for the town I live in, and I would have thought much of the work would be in the evening where I'd really rather not be driving, looking at screens, working in people's smoky, dusty, dirty homes.

It's true the pay would be better, though somewhat more variable. Ironing wouldn't pay as much, but if I deliver/collect then I might be able to get by on that. I've worked hard over the last couple of years to get rid of the mortgage which is almost gone, so my money needs are pretty low.

[rooneyandfergie]

Hey jlg_uk,


I am actually in IT myself and have great difficulty with the PC as well. I dread having to change jobs as IT has always been my passion. I admire the fact that you are willing to venture into unchartered territories in pursuit of better health. I hope you succeed in whatever future endeavors you have planned.

[moni]

=(

Hey guys, please don't take this the wrong way, as we have all been on the same boat at one time or another, but threads like this are what almost made me commit suicide when I first got sudden severe dry eye. I know youre joking, but still...

If young kids are reading this, I just wanna let you know that there IS hope and youre gonna get better! You guys with careers and dreams do not necessarily have to end up working in steam rooms, moving to the tropics, having an ironing service haha. And dont give up.. what has really helped me is only focusing on treatments and the rest of my life, just read this site for the treatments/triumphs. Try to educate yourselves on treatments, treatments, treatments.. flax,antibiotics, IPL restasis, everything and anything.


If you have ocular rosacea.. FIND YOUR TRIGGER!

Good luck!

[Michael2]

im 21 and ill add to what moni said that when i came on this board last year, it was one thing to try to get help with dry eyes and another thing to "see" that practically no one got better...ever..or that it was random. and to hear people's dreams were destroyed and completely tarnished was even more devastating. im talking about the timeline like this...oct 1 im in perfect health, an extremely success college graduate ready to start my career at a firm making money and on oct 8th my eyes feel atrocious for no reason and i can barely move, i go on a website and start seeing people talking about this being forever and i went into a total psychological tailspin.

so ill just say that although im not 100% im much much much better, able to function completely, and am working at the job i wanted to with only limited restrictions that i push through.

this is thanks to finding the right treatment!!! (IPL, IPL, IPL, IPL, IPL)

so for young people out there reading this dont listen to the pessimism. youre not gonna be working with as an iron-er

[Rebecca Petris]

You are right folks about how these threads can affect people.

If you're one of those people reading this and worrying, I can't emphasize enough how very, very important it is to put the stories here in context. The bulletin board I ran for years on refractive surgery patients for example shows pretty much only the people who had unusual problems afterwards or whose healing course was much longer than normal... but NOT all the ones whose problems were resolved satisfactorily either sooner or later. It's so, so important to know you're looking at a tiny sampling of unusual cases here - even if you find here a lot of people who sound like YOU, that doesn't mean it's normal or that there's a high chance of your course turning out like theirs.

So I'm going to add my two cents here:

1) Discussion forums for diseases of any kind attract exceptions not rules.
2) People who get better, as a rule, don't come back and post about it.
3) THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO GET BETTER. It happens all the time. If not "healed", then at least better enough not to have their lives ruled by the eyes.
4) If the bulletin board is dragging you down or endangering your emotional stability, please, get off the board or use it sparingly... Try to find a dry eye buddy here, someone you can talk to on the phone for support in hard times.

As for me, I got dry eye in 2001. My eyes are still not great at all but I have everything I need to deal with it and I hardly think about my eyes during the day. I know so many people who get "there" and more every day.

[Roderick]

I just went today and swallowed my pride, making a demand to receive welfare. To say I Just got my degree and was about to start a career, now thanks to this mess I can't stand staring at a computer screen for any prolonged period and I spend every single second in intense pain thinking about my lids. I have become one of those people who is turning into a hermit, I can't even stand going out with other people anymore because it means the next day will be hell. It gets constantly worse at an alarming rate.

And there do are people with unusual symptoms that everyone is at a loss to deal with, like me and my eyelid nerves problem. The only member who I've seen with similar symptoms still hasn't found any mean to alleviate her pain after years. We have every right to be concerned so long as we've no solid proof that we're not one of these problem cases. And what of these people, what will happen to them? How will they find a cure when they've already tried nigh everything?

It's very, very easy to state generic pop-positivity stuff like "it'll get better, just have faith!", but in reality there do are a LOT of cases of people who have had it for years and years and still have found zero solutions. Let's not turn our heads away and pretend that they don't exist because I've read about plenty of them in my tenure here. As for myself, I prefer to believe only in actions and concrete results rather than being a Pollyanna.

[jlg_uk]

This thread has gone in a very different direction than I expected, though I suppose that's sometimes par for the course on a forum and doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Career modification is something that some of us have no choice about, and is probably even more challenging when you live by yourself and have to cover all the bills (as I do, though thankfully I don't have kids to worry about). If you're reasonably new to DES then it is perhaps sensible to not focus on worse case scenarios which can be temping to do - but rather seek medical help, and emotional support.

Sadly whilst I'd love a magic wand solution there hasn't appeared to have been one in my case in the 2+ years I've been trying to find it. I'm suffering in my current job and can't continue to do it long term, so one has to look for alternatives that don't involve walking through the door marked exit if one can. If I can be financially viable that will be a big step in the right direction.

[Rebecca Petris]

Career change

Jlg,
I had to face that challenge a few years into my eye problem and it was a process that took years. It's hard. And I know a lot of IT workers who have hit the wall big time with computer work and I wish I knew what to tell them. All I can say is I wish you the very best. I like the ironing idea. I'd love someone to do mine I have hated ironing ever since LASIK (try ironing black trousers with no contrast sensivity) though I have a lot of it restored with my sclerals.

[irish eyes]

.I'm suffering in my current job and can't continue to do it long term, so one has to look for alternatives that don't involve walking through the door marked exit if one can. If I can be financially viable that will be a big step in the right direction.

When I first read your post, I shared some of the concerns that others expressed. I think now that this could be a very enterprising move. How about calling it somethig like `Hard Pressed' or `Ionise'. (Sorry for the awful pun - iron-eyes)

I work in higher education and this is the sort of thing that many of our graduates are looking to - ie entrepreneurship.

I had to change career and found it devastating at the time but now know I've really found my niche. It's not just the work I do - it's the also the workplace culture that makes a difference. Good luck with what ever you decide to do. At the minute, we all have to be innovative and creative and these are qualtities that any employer would value.

PS You might have heard this announcement on the news the other day:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...wooing-a-woman

[20/20_Hindsight]

My take on this is that JLK_UK should be encouraged and congratulated on looking outside the box for ideas that can help him make his life easier with the current eye situation. Not all dry eye is created equal, or has the same underlying factors.

Maybe the ironing service is a good idea. If you can offer pickup and delivery, and then do it in the comfort of your own home, why not?

Everyone is just trying to find their own way, and newcomers should not view these types of posts as an indicator as how their own life is going to go. We are all different. I think JLK_UK is just trying to find his way and needs a sounding board. There could be a lot of working people who have no time to iron and would welcome this type of service. Maybe they can drop off their own stuff and pick up on the way home from work. Can't tell till you try it.

I, for one, have not found any helpful treatments and every day is an 'eye day' for me, after 10 years. Not meant to scare anyone, but some people just need to look for work changes that suit their needs while they make their way through the dry eye realm. I had to leave an IT job because of it, and spent 3 years working at various jobs such as a greenhouse, a medical transcriptionist, and other things like that, scraping by financially. Eventually, I got my old job back, and work in a home office now with goggles on all day and I can do it! Lots of pain, but I'm happy to do my job again.

We have to look for alternatives sometimes while we are working through dry eye. It does not mean that down the road things can't change, and sometimes you go full circle and it works out.

[jlg_uk]

PS You might have heard this announcement on the news the other day:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...wooing-a-woman

Now I'm definitely doing it

Thanks for all the positive replies. I'll keep doing my current job while it lasts or until I've got the mortgage clear with a little savings - say 6 - 12 months. But then we'll have to see what works.

[sazy123]

Hey guys, please don't take this the wrong way, as we have all been on the same boat at one time or another, but threads like this are what almost made me commit suicide when I first got sudden severe dry eye. I know youre joking, but still...

If young kids are reading this, I just wanna let you know that there IS hope and youre gonna get better! You guys with careers and dreams do not necessarily have to end up working in steam rooms, moving to the tropics, having an ironing service haha. And dont give up.. what has really helped me is only focusing on treatments and the rest of my life, just read this site for the treatments/triumphs. Try to educate yourselves on treatments, treatments, treatments.. flax,antibiotics, IPL restasis, everything and anything.


If you have ocular rosacea.. FIND YOUR TRIGGER!

Good luck!

I agree, settling for deadend jobs is really depressing! But i have tried all of those treatments and had not help or response, ive tried everything and i have given up on hope that my eyes will ever get better!

All the whille, I know i am going to really struggle to work in a decent job- I have concentration issues because of DRY EYE, I cant make eye contact very well, i blink constantly as my left is constrantly dry, and it takes my energy away. So I feel i will have to settle for a deadend job- its extreemely depresing. Even those are hard to get right now anyway with people fighting for the jobs- so why are they going to take someone with this sort of dissability? Take whatever you can get, its better than nothing!

BTW- I am top in my class at university, in the second year- got a 1st for the year but have one more year to go, but the reason for this is that I can do it from home, in comfortable environment and at my own pace. I know im capable of alot more than some crappy job, and it sucks!

Ironing sounds good to me right now.