[Bipolar1972]

I have bipolar disorder and anxiety. Also some PTSD. Meds are Topamax, Buspar, Viibryd, Zyprexa. I am depressed with some tremendous anxiety right now. I currently received a promotion at work which added some more stress along with move. I'm wondering whether or not to ask for my old position back and whether to tell my boss about my disorders. What will happen. Is it a good idea. Will I lose my job. I'm the only support for my family. Any advice would be great.

[Miswimmy1]

I am only 15 and never had a job so I can't tell u for sure. But I think you should do what is best for you- if the new position isn't working, and there is no financial reason to not switch, then I think switching back would be ok.

[miss_rainy]

I agree with Miswimmy. Try to stick it out for a while like for a couple of weeks to a month. Maybe you're just not use to flow of your new work and need a little adjusting time. If it doesn't get better, then you could go back and explain to your boss. Hopefully everything works and some of that stress should disappear.
Hope that helps

[cocoabeans]

You can beg to be demoted but, you tell your employer why and you won't have a job in 6 months. Sure, they can't fire you because you're mentally ill, instead they'll just find some other reason to rid of you, perhaps they've already trained your replacement, not hacking it with the promotion? Yea, that's a good enough reason.

My advice? Deal with it. Life is stressful.

You really didn't think your promotion would be stressful? Some part of you wants to lose your job maybe?

[Oxidopamine]

If you tell your employer about your mental illnesses and the treatments you're in, there's a good chance you'll be demoted to a position you don't want or fired. The exception is if your employer is incredibly nice. Do keep in mind though, if you ask for a reference, your employer may state you were offered a promotion but declined because you explicitly stated you didn't think you could handle the job. It isn't going to look very good.

I would say to accept the promotion and look at the new position as motivation to improve your abilities to cope with stress.

[Jan1212]

You don't have to tell your boss, because he shouldn't treat you no different. You're completely functional and you got promoted, but if you feel you can't handle the stress, don't accept the promotion. Many people decline promotions (Yes it's true) because of the added days, pay, and most significant: pressure and stress they feel they can't handle, you don't want to be miserable. It is totally understandable, maybe you need to spend more time with your family.

[Bipolar1972]

Thank you for all the responses and yes I knew the job would be stressful. I'm wondering if my current mental state is clouding all of my judgement right now. I hope so. Sometimes the anxiety freezes my thoughts and I can't focus so I am trying different ways of working around it. I go to a new doctor this week hoping he will adjust my medication and I can get to feeling better. I will keep you posted.

[Dontfeellikeme]

Hi B1972, not really much to say but can empathise how you feel as I'm too having similar sounding work issues. Won't go into it. How do you find your managers? What do you do? Cx