[gloamingone]

I am in need of a little advice on how to discuss an impending medication change with my boss.

A little background: the tardive dyskenisia I developed while on Abilify took a turn for the worse last week, and my psychiatrist is taking me off Abilify completely. In the meantime, she has me on a double dose of Benztropine/Cogentin to alleviate the TD. The Benztropine is making me terribly confused and foggy, which she said to expect. This will go on for at least a couple weeks.

How do I approach my boss with this? I don't want to tell her many details (she'll spread them all over the office within an hour), but I feel like she needs to know that I'm not going to be myself for a while, and that it may require some a few days off work here and there.

Also, this is a very small organization (7 employees) and a leave of absence is not an option.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

[TicTacGo]

Sorry to hear this. Hope that it gets better.

In any professional environment, your boss should not disclose such information with others.
It is really up to you how much you say. The 'bare minimum' should be enough: you are going through some personal issues and you may need time off some time off here and there. Whatever you are comfortable with.

I assume there is not an HR department? HR is usually where you'd say a little more. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is confidential.
Otherwise hearing that it is a small organisation makes me hope that it is at least somewhat closely knit and you know each other and help each other. (compared to a massive corporation)

I hope that this helps.

[gloamingone]

Originally Posted by TicTacGo

Sorry to hear this. Hope that it gets better.

In any professional environment, your boss should not disclose such information with others.
It is really up to you how much you say. The 'bare minimum' should be enough: you are going through some personal issues and you may need time off some time off here and there. Whatever you are comfortable with.

I assume there is not an HR department? HR is usually where you'd say a little more. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is confidential.
Otherwise hearing that it is a small organisation makes me hope that it is at least somewhat closely knit and you know each other and help each other. (compared to a massive corporation)

I hope that this helps.

Thanks! I wish there was an HR department. That would make my life so much easier! The culture is very toxic. My coworkers are super supportive, but the executive director (my boss) is a nightmare. I told her the bare minimum, and other than a dirty look, she left me alone.

[still_crazy]

so sorry about this. :-(

the TD from Abilify...how bad is it? I take 20mgs/Abilify per day. I tolerate it...no eps, no akathisia...but I've read that it -might- actually cause TD more often than many other 'atypical' options out there. ugh.

if you have very good insurance, there's a new FDA-approved pill to treat/suppress TD. I don't know much about it, except its ridiculously expen$ive, out of pocket.

I hope the switch goes well and the TD remits. :-)