Heard of some guy at work who went to the docs with a head ache and was given a sick note for a week after being diagnosed with a migraine. Does this sound right? I would have thought that he would have been sent home with the necessary medication and then told to come back after a week self certifying for a sick note if necessary.

Sounds a bit iffy to me… but I’m not a doctor so probably not qualified to guess.

I’m not a Human Remains vampire either so can’t really condemn someone for being lucky enough to pull a sickie for a week 🙂

Perhaps the employee doesn’t wish to go into details about their medical condition and just gives “migraine” as an easy answer to nosey collegaues, and to be honest it’s none of anyone elses’ business is it?

Dunno but last time I self certified I refered to my illnes as a brown laser. My boss was very impressed.

Sheesh if I get a migraine I couldn’t even get to the doctors, I certainly wouldn’t/couldn’t drive a car. Only lasts a day though.

Migraines can come in all shapes and sizes, I’ve seen them take folk out for a few days.

One put my daughter in A/E for 30 hours and took a week to recover. Don’t underestimate the power of them or the time it takes for normal services to resume.
Hatful things

Not doubting the effects of migraines at all. I have suffered in the past. It just seemed strange to be issued with a sick note when one wasn’t needed. More so when added to other contributory factors.

It just seemed strange to be issued with a sick note when one wasn’t needed.

It would seem it was.

I’ve had them last for two days, and the next is a bit weird. Then there’s the downside of not eating and drinking. People vary.

Headaches and migraines are a bit like colds and influenza, there is no comparison.

Try Migraine related dizziness was diagnosed a few months ago along with vertigo. which between them has kept me off the bike for
18 months. so migraines and bad nausea at times will knock you for six not good at times.

Then there’s Hemiplegic Migraines which can effect people for months making even daily tasks a chore never mind work.

He may have been seeing the doc about them beforehand?

One of my colleagues had her sickness interview trigger point upped from 8 days a year to 20 days a year due to persistent migraine problems, based on doctors and OH reports.

She didn’t help her cause by then being overheard discussing what she might do with this extra “time off” with a colleague. 🙄

I worked with a bloke who kept having time off with migraines, though to be fair he did look rough when he use to come in. He ended up being rushed to hospital one night and diagnosed with meningitis.

It just seemed strange to be issued with a sick note when one wasn’t needed.

It would seem it was.

Isn’t it common to self-certify for the first 5 days? I thought a sick note was only needed after the first week.

Isn’t it common to self-certify for the first 5 days? I thought a sick note was only needed after the first week.

Maybe they are sick of colleagues not believing them and bitching so thought they’d go the GP to get a note.

You are confusing two things. It is fine to self certificate for 7 days after which a doctor’s note is required. This is to stop the doctors getting unnecessarily bunged up with appointments. However, if you go to the doctors anyway within that first 7 days (because you are worried about your health) and they don’t think you are well enough to work of course they are able to issue you a note irrespective of if it is in the first 7 days or not. There is no rule to say a doctors note can’t be issued in the first 7 days, just that one it is not needed which is not the same thing.

Maybe they are sick of colleagues not believing them and bitching so thought they’d go the GP to get a note.

Not the case but thanks for the input.

Thanks for the clarification convert. There are other factors involved but I just wanted to know if this was the norm.

I was diagnosed with sporadic hemiplegic migraine last year, I ended up in A+E as it looked like I was having a stroke. Took two weeks to actually feel normal again and still don’t have the balance I had before.

I’d never had a migraine before that day in August last year.

Last migraine I had took me out for a week. It came on at midday on the Monday so I went home, but Monday evening I couldn’t move from a dark room and had taken enough painkillers to floor a small army.

By Tuesday the actual migraine is gone, but I’m now photosensitive with a normal headache and suffering the after effects of massive amounts of painkillers. This means sit in a dark room for a further two day and not be able to eat well.

By Thursday I can just about function again, and it takes till Sunday to actually feel normal.

Utterly hateful things migraines, I’d never wish one on anyone, even the arseholes at work who do the ‘man-up, it’s just a headache’ thing.

Ah! Sorry I see what you were after now. Post-nights makes me grumpy.

Yes as convert says the self certify is to allow some time of your own where you can say I’m not well enough. You can go to a GP earlier if you feel it’s necessary, a GP may chose to not give you a note but they can if they wish.

Thanks!

LeeW – I’d never had one until I was feeling a bit off just before hopping back into the water for my 2nd dive of the day. Thought a bit of raised partial pressure O2 would do me some good (being a typical diver and denying any possibility of decompression illness). A couple of minutes later I was being given CPR by the water’s edge, thank god my buddy was alert and we were at a busy inland site.

My 2nd one was about a year later, when I realised I couldn’t see a client’s face any more so decided to drive home(!) – ended up curled up in a twitching, panting, sweating ball on the floor wondering what the hell was happening. It was only in the aftermath of that that I recognised the similarities with the first one. Nothing since, and that last was 7 years ago now. Fingers crossed.

Ok I’ve not had a proper migraine for quite a while. Today my right arm went distant, my vision started to get lots of geometric shapes then I banged down two antihistamines (Loratadine) and two Ibuphophens. Within 10mins I was totally clear

A colleague of mine was signed off for 6 months with migraines.

You became the Invisible Man?