Caffeine can make manic symptoms worse, although I don't think it causes them. I know some people, including myself, tend to drink a lot more coffee during a manic phase, and that doesn't help one bit. If you don't normally drink coffee or other caffeinated beverages, don't start a habit now! Instead, try to negotiate your hours with your supervisors......it's illegal to make a person work over 12 hours without at least an 8 hour break between shifts.

A few words of caution: Overwork and over-stress are also VERY big mania triggers, and you are much more apt to get fired if you lose it at work, than if you let your bosses know that for 'health reasons' you need fewer hours. (You don't have to specify what health reasons---they have no right to know, although they might ask anyway.)

You may also want to keep it in the back of your mind that the Americans with Disabilities Act won't necessarily protect you as much as you might think it does. I was let go early this summer after I had a breakdown due to the stress and anxiety caused by my job---my supervisors decided that they "couldn't" handle the reasonable accommodations requested by my pdoc, and that was it.

I wish you the best of luck. You are going to need it.