[usbusi]

For those with a job, what work issues do you have that are from the mental illness?

For me it's memory mostly. I thought some brain fog/cognition also but that isn't as obvious as the memory issue.

I get by on a work at home tech support job though, for three years now. And I just started a retail job part time to increase my income as I need to make divorce support payments with plenty of debt on my shoulders too. I hope I can remember everything at the new job. Working on a computer I can use cheat sheets and no one notices how often I use them.

making it to work...
staying the whole day without cutting too many corners just to get out of there...
anxiety and panic.....
bad attitude....
depression at work.... feeds the depression sometimes...
hypo sometimes getting me into trouble taking on too much....
it just sucks.

[bpinOk]

Stress and frustration as I work with juvenile sex offenders

[faerie_moon_x]

Memory for me is a big one, too. Also concentration and focus... that ability stay on one task for hours just doesn't sit with me. I don't even "just" watch t.v. or "just" play a video game. I switch around constantly with things, even that I like to do, so doing things that are boring is really hard.

A huge one for me is disorganization. I have issues with organizing my thoughts. It may not seem so on the forum, but I can take time and go back and rearrange things (which I do a lot.) But if I'm trying to file papers, or put things in order on my desk, this is a major challenge. That whole "cluttered desk/cluttered mind" is 100% true for me. This causes issues when your boss is a "neat freak" and extremely organized.

Other issues are I get kind of flat affect, not fully. You know, I cycle so it cycles, too. But I get that whole "you need to be cheery even if you're not." Well, I can be cheery and no one notices. Quite often... I have you know "practiced" faces that come out. But, you know, sometimes I don't realize it's happening.

[Dino1985]

Stress, anxiety, depression, just generally in a bad mood. I can't hardly focus anymore and it makes me have absolutely no common sense what so ever. I feel so stupid but I know I'm a smart capable person. I was supposed to be at work now but my boss says I'm a worthless POS now. He didn't say I'm fired but it is pretty clear what is about to happen. Homeless is next

[sugahorse1]

Memory, focus, staying awake, staying interested, getting work done timeously if I'm depressed

[browneyed tx girl]

Memory lapses, disorganization, procrastination, anger, physical illness... becoming a person I am not... unsympathetic, rude, closing myself off from the world. New and worse anxiety and panic attacks. I became obviously uncaring and avoided everything and everyone (including family)outside of home... gosh the list could go on for a long while... The job started feeding my mental illness and made it consume me! So glad to be out of there and dealing with the issues it created. I did have to go there today to fill out some papers... the first time in 5 months and almost totally couldn't do it. The panic/anxiety was so bad! But I talked to my fiance all the way there and talked to myself A LOT! I made it and lived through it. I feel like I cleared the biggest hurdle! I am on the mend! I wish you the best of luck and hope you are able to find a technique that works for you so you will not have the issues I developed.

[manicminer]

Being able to focus on a single task. There are several different tasks I am responsible for daily as well as answering calls, checking in vendors and other warehouse type things. Unless I make a list and work task to task, I start one thing, go to another, then another, then another.... I everything is a jumbled mess.

But with a list, I work on a single task, focusing all my energy on it until it is completed, then move on to the next task. Through this method, I find I can work extremely efficiently and get everything done much quicker than trying to do everything at once

[BlueInanna]

Getting to work. I feel like I can be inconsistent, and I'll keep weird hours compared to the staff. But when I'm on - I'm ON, and get a lot done. So I try to make the most of those times, like right now.

[Bipolar mom]

I feel like my performance is inconsistent. Working in retail can be hard on anyone... Working long hours, dealing with the ungrateful public, inconsistent schedules makes it impossible to have a routine. I have weeks where I work 50+ hours, sometimes 6 days... Sometimes I have only 5 or 6 hours inbetwwen a shift. It most definitely effects my mood, which effects my work performance. Though when I'm hypomanic I am an extremely efficient worker and amazing manager... But when I'm depressed I am unproductive, and barely talk to customers... When I'm mixed I'm an okay worker... It just all depends.

[Trippin2.0]

Feeling trapped - huge trigger, anxious which causes me to be hugely stressed ALOT of the time. Before,it used to be boredom, and I'd just get up from my desk, quit and leave. Now that I have huge financial commitments, thats not an option, which leads to that trapped feeling.When I'm hypo, not being able to concentrate or process info is hard,but its more irritating than a bother and doesn't begin to compare with how bad feeling trapped affects me.I've honestly started to wonder about this working thing.

[usbusi]

I can relate to the trapped feeling Tripped. On my full time job I feel stuck often times in my chair, as I can only take two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute lunch break. Self employed I could / can take as many breaks as I want.

[Trippin2.0]

I have the same break restrictions as of last week my supervisor is trying to accomodate me though, said I could break up my hour how and when I want, it does relieve some of the anxiety I feel at work, but not much... I'm wondering about a vocation that would allow me to make my own schedule, self-employment isn't an option, I dont have the self discipline to right my own paycheck.

[usbusi]

I hear ya Trippin. I have started two "successful" businesses, but dropped the first (which was not that successful, it was just a computer consulting and training self employment) as the 2nd (web / email hosting) was so busy at first. Then the hosting biz got slower over time, losing customers to lower pricing and new webmasters changing hosts. So I'm at about 100 customers down from a high of 400 15 years ago. Plus I have lowered my prices so the revenue is way down which is why I have a full time job and now trying to add a part time job as well.

So although I have had some success on the one hand, on the other I've not been self disciplined enough to know to 1. keep both businesses, and 2. learn and advertise new services to add revenue to the hosting business.

I think you could do it if you had an idea that was in demand. It just needs to be in demand is all, and without an over supply helps. It is easier than working for other people I think.

I blame some of the lack of discpline on tending towards the depression end of things just about all the time, rather than being hypomanic, but I suppose that is an excuse. It's also self discipline as you say. If you have a lot of bills to pay it's hard to start a business unless you can do it on the side.

[bluemountains]

For me, my main problem when my meds are working is that I constantly misspeak words. I am always calling things by the wrong name or I am unable to recall the name of something I am thinking of. This is not always comfortable since I teach, and kids are quick to correct you.
When I have been completely out of control emotionally, it has been awful. I still continued to be a great teacher, but it took every bit of energy I had to hold it together. Every other part of my life suffered even more.
I prefer mixing up words to being mentally unstable, but I wish I didn't have to deal with either one.
Bluemountains

[purpledaisy]

I just got fired AGAIN right after Thanksgiving, but when I am at a job the things I have trouble with are:

• Punctuality (always late in the morning, took over an hour for lunch, often left 10 or 15 minutes early in the evening)
• Bad attitude
• When hypo, I zoom through things and make tons of mistakes
• When depressed, I slop along and just don't care
• Stress from not understanding the duties, and having people explain them to me repeatedly
• Frustration due to not being able to perform the job
  Procrastination
• Being ready to walk out the door many times from the stress and frustration
• Saying inappropriate things (mainly sexual innuendo and sounding like I'm a sex-pot or *****, which is funny since I haven't even had sex since 1997) and getting into trouble for offending people
• Playing on the Internet and checking personal email when I'm supposed to be glued to the computer doing tasks for work
• Feeling like I'm being talked about or looked down on by the other employees because I'm not smart enough (even though I'm above average intelligence) and not pulling my share of the workload