I am on the right meds and working, and love it. I have a very understanding boss so I think that helps. I had to go through a ton of jobs to find something that fit me though - I work with infants.

I feel I am on the right meds, but maybe not - maybe the measure of whether you are on the right meds or not is whether you can work or not.

sometimes i get so sick that all the meds in the world wouldn't make me able to work. i see it like any other disease.

i broke my clavicle years ago. i was on the right meds for the injury, but i still couldn't work.

it's an invisible injury, but no less extreme when it's mental. in my opinion, the comment made was from a place of ignorance.

I agree with MojoPaw

I wish I could work - disability and too much time - not good, but I do agree with Mojo, I"m on meds because sometimes I don't have a choice...

Now on the other side, if I functioned MOST the time - I would give up disability for a work.... I'm waiting for that Combo!!!! ((((BIG HUG))))) I understand being sick and tired, and functioning less and less....

I was on my current med combo and working part time , I was managing pretty well.

Then the store declared bankruptcy, and all hell broke loose
I couldn't take the pressure and quit.

I think if I could find the right kind of work, I might be able to manage working part time again.

Problem, I live in a high unemployment area.

I'm not sure I'd be able to work a full time normal job on or off meds.
I just work a little PT cash job, and that has proven to be difficult.

I work full - time but have to have breaks from time to time & that's even with a good meds. combo.

If there WAS no continuin paper work over 5 pages long
and the job didnt have any REAL life or death responsibility, (someone else could always step in and cover for me), and there was no paralell parking, and it was early morning hours and I didnt have to go over high bridges, and I had an ITT person available to me, and I understood the software program really really well, and I only had to work 4 hours 3 days a week and not in the fall or winter yes I could work.

I am on a good combo, and just had an interview for a part-time job. I just finished my bachelor's, even though it took me a looonnngggg time to get it. I took two classes at a time,max. I feel like part-time is all I can handle now, and maybe ever. The pressure of waiting to hear if I got the job has really got me down. It makes me wonder if I am ready to work, and if I ever will be. Just have to take it day by day, and see how it goes.

Acutally my meds are working good. I have a great P-Doc, love her, and we really have nailed down the meds so I can get the best funtioning from them. Although we tread on the fine line between maniia and functionality it seems to work. I'm like right on the edge of mania but am functioning at a high level. Ihave to have this high level of functionality to support my familY

I've had severe BiPolar for 23 years, and I've worked for all of those 23 years...I just went down to part time 2 years ago....I'm an Accountant. Being on the right medication is key to managing BiPolar and being stable, if you manage your BP you can live a stable and pretty normal life.....it's a lifestyle, you have to make adjustments and learn how to do things certain ways, watch out for triggers and signs of cycling, but once you learn how your BP works, it is possible to work, be married, live just like everyone else.....

take care,

kat

I am on a serious med cocktail but I am working. I actually function at a high level cause I'm usually manic. However when I dip into depression I can not work, I can not think, I can not program. It is the wiredest dynamic to be a genius one day and a dead minded dope the next. It is a constant strugle to work and I'm treading the line to be fired at any moment because of my multiple missed work days and lack of focus on my core job objectives. I tend to wander off into developing shit that my management has no interest in. Granted it is great stuff and really needed but I have a more holistic world view and that just doesn't fly in corporate america. Fuck I hate it.

The key to being able to work and being BiPolar is management and stability. It's very important to get yourself to a point where you not cycling in and out.....if your still cycling in and out and on the verge of getting fired, your not at a stable point with meds that are working good. It's tempting to stop when you find a "cocktail" that works most of the time, and covers most of the symptoms...but to have a job and keep it in the real world, most of the time doesn't cut it. You have to go further and find the cocktail that gives you stability and management all of the time and it is out there....

Kat

I have gone through countless different meds and ultimately they don't work. I am still struggling to get onto SSDI.

Maybe if they invent a new magical med it would work for me.