working with a disability

Hi all,

I wanted to ask your opinions. Who has transitioned from a professional corporate type job into disability. (Or a part time job)

What caused the burn out? Hours? Stress? Commute? Bad managers?

Did you feel your condition handicapped you in regards to performance vs normal co workers.

Has anyone successfully received government disability? Was it hard? Are you happy with the outcome?

I am not asking for personal details just some vague facts and thoughts.

I was service connected when I got out of the military at 30% about 25 years later due to stress, fatigue etc while working on a crisis unit as a counselor which caused my bipolar condition to be more severe. I applied for an increase through the military and for social security disability and received 100% through the military and also was approved for social security disability both in about 4 months.

I used to be able to hold down a successful full time job until I had a major episode about 7 or 8 years ago or so. Since then I’ve had to leave any I’ve started within about a year and a half due to symptoms of bipolar—usually mania. Usually stress brings on the episode. I don’t qualify for disability because I don’t have enough hours in and I don’t qualify for Ssi because my husband makes too much. I am going to try to find another part time job in the next few weeks though.

This is kind of tough for me to discuss, but yes, I was in a full-time management level job at a large company. Over a 3.5 year period, I was in and out of the psych hospital 10 times with Partial Hospitalization Programs and Intensive Outpatient Programs in between. After my first of 10, I was in the PHP/IOP for six months. My therapist there wanted me to quit my career job, but I decided to go back. The length of my attempts varied between the mentioned hospitalizations. I believe I made five attempts to return to work total. I'm not sure of the exact number. During most of the 3.5 year period, I was on short-term or long-term private disability. Most attempts to return to work only reached part-time, except one where I managed to get back to full-time, briefly. It was a hellish period! At the end, it was determined that I should apply for SSDI. I was approved first try.

My bipolar disorder worsened as I aged, unmedicated. The stress of working and the ramifications of my bipolar behavior led to alcohol abuse, too. My episodes were severe, and the kindling effect was applicable. Other stressors exacerbated my situation. My stress tolerance took a nose dive, not that I had been "tolerating" it in a healthy way, anyway. The whole experience was traumatizing to a degree that I had what I refer to as a "psychiatric avalanche". I have not been adequately functional for a long time. My time on disability helps with my wellness, and I try to take steps forward again, but unfortunately, steps forward often become destabilizing for me. I hope that will change in the future.

I can relate with that, every project or assignment is a burn out run to the finish

Yes, well, this is unbelievably triggering for me, but it is a very important series of posts, so I feel I must at least say something. I certainly had childhood-onset bp 1, but was not definitively diagnosed until a massive manic spell July, 2005, which is the last time I worked in the clinic. Zyprexa brought me out of that first bad mania and I continued sorta/kinda trying to work in my other capacity helping develop new devices for a small public medical device company. That work required enormous international travel by me, as I was basically a main face of the organization, which was unwise and exacerbated my illness. I self-medicated during this period, because the mania in'05 was followed by a poorly managed crushing depression that lasted over a year and nearly killed me.

Way too long of a story, but thus began a whole series of hospitalizations over the ensuing roughly 15 years. All told, I have been in-hospital for around 5 1/2 years of that 15--all of this, inpatient. It is not a competition and I am not boasting, but it is part of my story and also part of why both my insurers quickly certified me 100% disabled due to severe/persistent bp 1. It's kind of a no-brainer.

I have not worked in any capacity since this all began. My illness has had a fairly unstable course for the most part and as I have aged, it has moved from depression-dominant to mania and especially lately, psychosis-dominant. I hear voices regularly now, fear that people are going to rappel into my apt. from helicopters. Being followed. People searching my place when I am out. On and on.

So, that's about it. I do the best I can. It has been quite difficult, esp. some of the hospital time. But I manage. And I am still here. I have not given up. And I won't. As my wise father has always said, "Nobody ever said life was fair."

Indeed. Indeed.

I worked i a corporate level job for 5 years. I started having issues as a stay home mom. I did try working full time again and failed. I'm now on disability and work part time for a chiropractor. I'm happy, I use my brain, develop skills, have extra money. I do have less stress than my coworker, she kind of picks up the slack. But I am hardworking.

I did have a lapse and made mistakes at work, normally it would have cost my job, but they are more desperate for low paying workers in the chiropractic field.