Hello again. Sorry for posting again when I just posted but I have another question. I was just in the hospital for 5 weeks and recently dx with BPD but dx with Bipolar a couple years ago.
How many of you work? I'm on employment insurance right now. Which is basically like short term medical leave. I don't know if I'll ever be able to work full time again. I would like to work part time. But then, how do you make ends meet? Rent here is really expensive. I just don't know how I'd do it.

Just wanting others insight.

Thanks.

[Ruftin]

Hello momof2boys5848. Don't feel sorry for multiple postings. We're all here to help each other, right? Your questions help others who read them.

I have bipolar disorder and work a full time job. I have done pretty well, with only a few episodes of snapping at people during mania season. I just recently started taking half of my anti anxiety med on work days to control my agitation. It seems to have helped. I make sure I take vacation when I feel myself slipping.

I think getting past the fear of not being able to handle a full time job is the hardest part.

[chasms]

im in school, but i had to quit my job due to mental health stuff, after only a month of working. i worked there last year too but things weren't AS bad. I'm a bit worried about the future in regards to work, i don't think i will ever be able to have a full time job

[BlueWhisky]

I am the most sporadic freelancer ever, living with parents at age 31. x It is making me feel so guilty but I need to be well before I can work properly.

[BlueWhisky]

I got sacked from last full-time job two years ago...

[freaka]

i work in a no-mind job, way under my intellectual abilities. it pays relatively well (the pay is well above minimum wage). however, it was obvious 30 years ago that pressure, stress and reponsability are impossible for me to handle, so here i am...

I currently work very part-time, but only because I am a full-time student. Prior to that, I've always worked full-time. I have had four hospitalizations, three of which were covered under FMLA so I pretty much went in, called in to work from the hospital, was discharged, and went right back to work (I'll admit, not the most therapeutic thing). The most recent I took an LOA for. I had a period of time shortly after this last hospitalization, two and a half years ago, where after returning to work I was having a panic attack in the shower nearly every morning. I couldn't eat much, and lost about 30-40 lbs. But I still had to work. I support myself, and don't have a partner or parents to lean on if things get really bad. My mother and I were homeless for a period of time when I was a child, and so I think the fear of not being able to support myself really pushed me on because there were some days when it was a struggle just to get out of bed.

I'm doing okay now and even periods like the last few weeks where I'm feeling a sort of downturn, it's no struggle to work. But that's me, I know not everyone is like that and if I had anyone to lean on I may have done so.