Hi and welcome, with the exception of Bi-Polar I meet your qualification. I have been visiting this site for years and have gotten a lot of help from others who care and understand. Anxiety I n the workplace is a tough one to tackle. I am retired but when I did work I made it my business to buddy up with others that were feeling the same. I shared everything with them except my mental illness. This worked for me because as they say letting the cat out of the bag is OK but getting it to go back in is another story. I used to find a task at work that would cause me to be lost in thought. This usually turned out to be working oil a spreadsheet but other things can be substituted given you situation. In as much as coping mechanisms I use exercise, reading and listening to Classical music to distract me from my problems or ramp up my defenses when I feel a panic attack coming on. I sometimes anticipated that panic attacks were likely to come in the morning at work and I intentionally avoided co-workers till after lunch. Hope this helps and come back as I have been doing this for years. We are fortunate to have this site and others available to us.

: )

Dear djchurn,

Thank you for responding as promptly as you did. I have a few co-workers I can talk to, but I am new at the job and I am still getting use to new people at work. I find it very helpful to talk to people I am getting to know better. It relieves some of my anxiety. I do have things that I can work on, and I do try to keep my mind occupied so that I am not focusing on the anxiety. What I really crave is support from people who know exactly what I am going through, such as yourself. I would like to receive more replies to my posting, and see what other people would say about their anxiety and solutions they found to work for them.

I am so glad you posted here. If I could add you are at slight advantage than I had...as I didn't realize my issues were treatable until I suffered for so long...so I am so glad you are able to work, and manage. I think that sounds great about realizing your limits and coping...really, in the grand scheme of things...we all have some struggle in this life...so good job! I am intrigued by your screen name...GodlyTeal??? It's beautiful!

Thanks for your response. You found the best place to go for emotional support from your own home. Thinking about how to express ones feelings help to categorize which things require immediate change. The format of typing rather than talking is also therapeutic and many regard this as writing a journal. Over the years I have found posts that indicated that I was not the only one feeling a certain way. There are other places on the net to share mental health issues but this is one of the best. Come here often, be honest and listen--you will grow.