I went out on a three month leave of absence from work, approved by both my employer and my psychiatrist. I was dealing with my moods, having experienced a bad manic cycle. And I also had the addition of frequent, 4 to 5 a week, panic attacks. My therapist and psych thought it would be best to take a leave and work on my mental and physical health before returning to work.

I ended up getting full clearance to return to work two weeks ago. Only to find out my employer did not have a job for me to return to. They hired someone to fill my position and stated I was not qualified for any of the other positions they had available. As a result, they terminated my employment on the spot.

Now I find myself without a job for the second time in a year. I have no insurance. And because my psych and therapist are technically in another state, I do not qualify to go there with state benefits.

I am working on finding another job, but I feel lost as to what to do in the mean time. I need to continue seeing my psych and therapist. I do not want to revert back or go off my medicines as a result of this situation.

Mostly I needed to get this off my chest. I feel the weight of it all on my shoulders and my family is just blaming me for the situation. Like I intended for this to happen.

[Cocosurviving]

Randrum,

This is not your fault. None of us chose to have BP. What if you were off work due to a medical condition. People would not be so quick to judge.
I suggest you contact your local Department of Mental Health, NAMI.org and your local Department of Human Services (Medicaid). I hope these resources can be of help to you.

Best wishes

[BipolaRNurse]

Aw, s**t.

I'm in a similar situation and terrified that I'm going to lose everything---job, health insurance, home etc. because of BP and a recent spate of anxiety attacks that earned me a minimum of 10 days' LOA as an alternative to checking in at the psych hospital. Now you've confirmed that it really CAN happen. That's good information to have and I thank you for the warning. I'm just sorry it's happened to you. Best of luck in your job search.

[purpledaisy]

Did you get your leave set up as FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)? If so, they are legally required to have a spot for you.

I went through something similar last summer and took several weeks off, but had it approved as both FMLA and short-term disability, so they held my job and I got a percentage of my salary and kept my benefits going.

It was just a delay tactic for me. I knew I wouldn't be there for the long-term. A couple of weeks after returning to full-time, I was put on probation again with a date to show improvement and be re-evaluated and either kept or get fired. I got fired then.

Meanwhile, with your caregivers in another state, is there anything you can do to get to that state? I was wondering if you might live right by the state line, making it convenient to use products, services, professionals, etc., who are on the other side of the state line. Like it's not a big deal that it's across the state line because it's part of your community.

Can you move in with a friend in that area? (Not often easy, if there are families or mortgages or leases to deal with where you are right now.)

What about finding a position with a temp agency? Sometimes they offer reasonable insurance to their temp workers and that way you might get to go from business to business. To me, that sounds fun these days. Before you have the chance to get bored or for them to realize something isn't quite right with you, you're off to another assignment.

[faerie_moon_x]

That's terrible!

FMLA covers you but only if you've had the job for a year and they have at least 50 employees, I believe. So since you said this is the 2nd job in a year, I'm guessing that's not the case.

I know that some employers want to get away from mentally unwell people ASAP. It's wrong. But I don't know if there's anything you can do about it. I'm sorry you lost your job. I guess all you can do is look for another one.

[emgreen]

I'm sorry you lost your job due to your illness; I can certainly sympathize, as I've had the same experience in the past. Please try to keep your chin up & look ahead to seeking another position. Perhaps you can work out an arrangement with your mental health providers. Good luck.

[squishygoboom]

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your job. This happened to me too back in October when I went to the hospital. Maybe your psychiatrist and therapist would refer you to someone in the area if you tell them your situation? Otherwise, you could call the state insurance and ask them to recommend someone.

If things get too bad, you could go to the hospital. State insurance covered my visit 100% and they put me on the right medication and gave me a prescription for more.

Best of luck to you on the job search