If you're bipoalr are you able to work?

I've had 6 or 7 jobs in the last 10 years. Each lasted less time than the one before because my cycling became more rapid and I always quit when I get depressed. I now refurbish computers at home. This way I don't have to work when I'm depressed, and I can't be fired because I work for myself.

I think it would be possible for me to work a part time normal job now that I'm on proper medication, but I was unable to work for so long that I have no recent work history or references of any kind, so it's impossible for me to get work now.

My fiance also has bipolar disorder and has had a ton of different jobs (probably 6 or 8 in the last 5 years). He quits or gets fired during mood episodes just like I always did. He has a new job now so maybe he'll be able to break the cycle.

Working with bipolar disorder is hard. There's no doubt about that. For me it's always been much harder than any other area of functioning. The working world is just not set up for people who function on different levels depending on the day and mood.

I think I should choose a part time low stress job. But what if
I fail? Do I keep trying in hopes of finding something that works for me? Maybe after some possible med changes I would be able to hold down the next successive job. I do not know.

I have also fallen asleep on the job. Once, driving a vehicle I fell asleep at a stop light, until someone blew their horn. I've been lucky to be with the same overall place for almost 18 years, after being on SSDI for 9 years. Weeks can take a toll from the start to the end. I will begin a week hyper as can be, extremely driven and task oriented. Each passing day my pace picks up, along with irritability, impatience, and paranoia. At times I get feeling like an electric current is surging through my body. By Friday I'm mentally cooked, and weekends allow me to cycle down and regroup. A new psychiatrist this year commented on how unusual it was to be somewhere as long as I have, after having been on SSDI for so long. The structure helps me alot, but interacting with others takes a toll.

I fell asleep at a job bc I underestimated the strenght of a muscle relaxer. I was out cold with my head in front of the keyboard. The worst thing ever is that I drooled hahaha. The next day my coworkers covered my desk in a plastic table cloth.

But, seriously as a person with bipolar I my work history was hella crazy. I actually have a MBA am still contacted by head hunters and have great letters of referral. The caveat being stress makes me manic and when I go manic I become an incompetent employee. I've literally redone the same spreadsheet for days, thought every single company mtg was a plot against me and my welfare, believed I had control over our stock market price - you get the picture. At first I could leave before the mania went full blown, then I was laid off 2x in 3 yrs. My last gig was a Business Analyst at General Electric. There is no way in hell I could ever do that today. Disability also comes with health care. I worked for a company that paid my insurance, and the cheapest quote I could get as a bipolar was $600 a month for catastrophic bs that covered 20% on meds & appointments. It was a state health insurance for people who are denied coverage from every single other provider like blue cross etc. #Go Obamo Care.


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I've worked p/t at the same job for 11 years. It is often difficult to go to work, but when all is said and done my job is therapeutic for me. I use a lot of physical energy on the job, I have safe social connections, and my job helps me feel more secure and stable.

I work full time, and have been for about 9 months. Sometimes it's really hard, especially when I get into an episode, but it's better than being in school (for me) and it keeps me doing something pretty much every day of the week which helps reduce my depressive episodes because I have to get out of bed and go even if I don't want to.

I was diagnosed less than a year ago. I am up to Lamictal 200mg QD, still working up, and Seroquel 200mg QHS for insomnia. I am in school and have been down for a while. I have a 3.66 GPA currently, but have been struggling this term while being down. It's not that I don't understand the material, I just find it dang near impossible to do any readings or assigned work. I know I need to be doing it, but just can't bring myself to do so until the last minute, if at all. I find I'm the worst in classes like math right now as the homework is not collected, but the tests are directly from the assigned homework and I'd be so much better off if I just did it. I'm not able to make myself do it. At least with work when I was depressed I'd HAVE to go in. No choice. So I did. Ughhhh : hate to know I'm doing less than I am capable of. I just can't bring myself to do what I should be doing, and normally do.