Bipolar and Working Online Support Group

Hello everyone! I am new to MDJ and I want to introduce myself. I am 46 years old diagnosed with Bipolar 2 years ago. Having alot of trouble with coping and keeping my head above water right now. I have ruined almost every relationship I have ever had beacuse of my actions, and I can't figure out how to overcome. UG! Ok enough whining... I read some of your posts and I look forward to seeing if I can lend some positive ideas or thoughts. I appreciate input, I do not take offense easily, and I will do whatever I can to help any of you. I am so grateful for this forum- its hard to explain to others who do not have bipolar so they understand. Does that make sense???

Thanks all! Delaney

Hi Delaney,

It's great to have someone on the board who can lend positive ideas and thoughts. You'll be a kick-a** contributor.

Any desire to share what's been going on in your life? You mentioned something about a lot of relationship turmoil. I can relate to the difficulties in getting "civilians" to understand. Our culture tends to over-emphasize being in control. Someone who doesn't hem to that fallacy, and admits that they're not always in control, is a very scary cultural phenomenon for many folks. Oh well, we all get to work on our stuff, whether we signed up for it or not.

Curious, did anyone see the movie "I Am"?

Hi. I've struggled with Bipolar II all of my life (I'm 43) without a good diagnosis. I'm really good at hiding it, so I don't get the support that I need. My husband is great, but doesn't really understand what I'm dealing with when I can't get out of bed. I have 2 terrific kids that are all grown up now, how did that happen so quickly? I'm an accountant for a small private business, and I've done lots of job hopping because I get bored while I'm manic, or because I get overwhelmed when I'm depressed. I get my best love and support from my kitties. I have one cat that was abused as a kitten, and one that has brain damage from a virus. They are great. There is simply no love that compares to animal love.

Hello all, I'm 48 and work full time as a bakery clerk in a small grocery chain. My biggest problem at work is that no one understands...and I'd like them to because I'd be more comfortable around all my coworkers. I've been there 5 years after walking out of an eleven year stretch at a large grocery chain. Impulse control issues are hard for me to control at times, and I'd had it, told my boss off (it was SO satisfying) and walked out. Luckily my job record is a good one and I had my new job in 17 days.

Sometimes, I am amazed I make it through the day. I know you can all relate to that.

hello im 33 and work full time as a licensed diesel mechanic, right now i fix school buses. my main problem at work is i cycle many times a day and by the end of the day im spent and face a one hour commute home trying to stay awake. My boss is pretty understanding and can tell when i cycle, thats when hes there lately hes been running 2 shops spending most of his time at the other shop and leaving me to run my shop. Since this has started i spend most of my shift manic and crash afterwards. I have also started to S.I. again after 3 year of not doing it. things are tuff right now, but i know i will succeed.

Hi all, been looking for something on the internet specifically about people with bipolar and how they deal with work. Hard to find.

I'm from The Netherlands (or Holland if you will), female, 37, single, living alone (well, with my cat, call me crazy cat lady), working full time as a project manager for a design team in a small internet company. We make things like websites, webshops, mobile apps etc. I manage the projects and my team, I operate between my team, my boss, the sales team and my clients.

It's a stressful job. Too stressful I think, but I can't make do with less financially, plus my boss doesn't 'do' part time employees.

Nobody knows about my struggle with bipolar (II) at work. I take Lithium at the moment, but have been enrolled in mental health treatment only for less than a year. Lithium seems to be working ok, except that I have ongoing 'bowel problems' shall we say. So I'll probably have to stop taking it.

I'm unstable a lot, quick to temper or get irritated and impatient, which aren't good things for a team manager. I have 1 colleague in my team who drives me over the edge a lot, because he's a young guy but very slow, erratic, unable to learn and remember and misses every bit of eagerness and creativity a designer needs. My boss is on my page about him, but still we have to keep him and I have to give him simpler tasks, while the things I should be able to trust him with now fall onto me to do, on top of everything else my work entails.

My boss changes his mind and especially his priorities a lot which makes it hard to function -well, for me anyway- between these people and issues.

I often have problems concentrating, focussing and plain thinking at times, so I can't seem to actually finish certain tasks and that makes for a lot of anxiety.

Just getting out of a 12 week depression which left me paralyzed mentally on the job, while trying to act normal, which took all my energy. Imagine all the work I haven't done in that time but have cleverly concealed so far. Still gotta do something with it now though.

Well, a bit long, but there you have it. I have been reading through the threads here and I already saw a lot of stories out there with similar problems. That helps. Thanks.

I can certainly relate to your story. I have had all of the same problems at work including the same lithium side effects. It is not easy to do anything with this rotten disease, but I think it is extremely hard to work with it. Sometimes things just get so overwhelming I can't even function. I have done a bunch of jumping from job to job when things get too hard. That is a BAD plan, it has not worked out well at all. I have no great insights or fabulous advice. The only thing I can really say is that you are not alone. Good luck and feel free to chat anytime you have a need to vent to some one.

Lunasol,

Welcome to the list and I hope you take away something valuable and real from being here.

Under the most ideal circumstances, project management is incredibly stressful. What you relay is anything but. I've worked with similar project manager types in film and architecture, and your description about a volatile temper, irritated and impatient, always struck me as a professional liability. They were pretty much all that way. With the constant deadlines, project slippages, budget slippages, putting out fires, holding clients' hands, it's just one of those careers that tend to burn people out.

But it does seem like you can handle it, and admirably, even if it doesn't always measure up to your personal standards. Not that it's fun spending ones days in a blind, hobbesian rage. It takes it out of you.

I am not sure what is up with your younger, more forgetful colleague, but reading that made me snap that he's got something going on. Has he always been that way or has it worsened? Inability to retain information is a symptom of depression.

I'm unable to advise on lithium or other medications, having been off them so long that I've lost track of the years. (Over ten? Maybe 15?) A few years ago, I found myself in a very trying situation caught between an extremely trying colleague and a flaky, changeable boss. I worked with a job/life coach and it helped. Considerably. Role playing conversation, getting micro tips that helped shift the relationships ever so subtly, and most importantly, sharing what I was going through with someone who got it helped immeasurably. It was much better than all the anodyne platitudes I had gotten up until then.

I have no groovy advice, except to say don't get all wound up in the label. It's just a word. Too often there seems to be an unnecessary and insidious defeatism that goes along with this word, and I often think it's more harmful than the condition it describes.

Ya, can't say that I relate to hyper-achievers all that much myself. What is up with them! Did their mothers read them "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in the womb? I'm all for being positive, but I do think some well-earned skepticism has its place too.

But I hope that their a decent, down-to-earth group all the same and you make friends and end up feeling comfortable with them. Hopefully, they'll be perceptive enough to realize what a good friend you'll be.

Well, I guess I'll introduce myself to the group.

My name is Darius and I'm a full time college student studying biomedical science. I've recently came back home for a little while to get myself together and I'm going back up in the fall back to my university. I'm currently working as a Bank Teller as I am home now and I need some money at least. The job is very stressful but I manage to get through it most of the time.