What to tell staff at work?

My manager had to know but I’ll avoid telling anyone else. I’ve asked my manager not to tell anybody, I hope she sticks to that x

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You might like the show Black Box. It is about a female neuroscientist who has bipolar disorder, and when she becomes manic it is somewhat like a psychosis. I don’t want to give anything away, but she keeps it a secret from her colleagues in the first season, or at least tries to.

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I’ll have to check that show out. I enjoy watching actors playing bipolars on tv.

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There are some valuable advices by Elyn Saks in her book the center cannot hold for people like us who work despite the illness. Never disclose is one of them. Under huge stress and many family issues can solve your riddle as these are normal circumstances. We work in order to retrieve the sense of normality and it would be useless to ruin that by disclosing the illness. Coop with it and fight. You can truimph your paranoia.

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I’ve been taking olanzapene for two weeks ish now but felt like some of my symptoms are coming back but being really depressed as well. The constant chatter in my head and agitation. It’s all very frustrating isn’t it. I just want to get back to normal. Feel like someone is doing it deliberately. I’m going to try and sleep off the depressed feeling. It’s a really, really depressed feeling, almost like impending doom, also stressed over my plant, I’ve had it for 13 years and ive always thought that if it dies then something bad will happen, it looks like it may be dying since I re potted it. Also my memory is becoming very poor. I’ve got an un easy feeling that something is wrong. I can’t really explain it properly. I’m very confused as to why it’s happ again. Also on way to taking my kids to school I’m pretty sure a building wasn’t their before but now it’s appweated. It’s as if people are trying to confuse me. Or I’m in a dream. Don’t really know what to do.

I agree with everyone here.
Luckily, your a nurse-hope you were able to get a good doctor. Your meds may need some tweaking, talk all of this out with your doctor.

While you shouldn’t tell everyone about your mental illness, I believe we should all start talking more and telling more people about our illness. We can help reduce the stigma and discrimination of schizophrenia if we act together by showing how normal we can be despite having this widely feared illness. It is the only way to reduce stigma. The stigma and discrimination will never be reduced left on its own. There are more and more mental health campaigns on various mental illnesses and suicide, I believe we can start one for schizophrenia. Most of my friends and relatives know that I am a schiphrenic and I can tell some of them aren’t too comfortable with the subject. However, that is precisely why I have to share it, to make people comfortable talking about mental health.

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They will be curious as to why you are gone. But you don’t have to tell them your personal secrets just because they are curious as to where you’ve been.“Curiosity” from someone else is not a good enough reason to tell them you have schizophrenia. Just because someone is curious does not give them the right to pry. EVERYBODY is hiding something, and it should stay that way. No matter how many people say they have nothing to hide it is probably not true.

Everybody either has sex problems, or done something underhanded or dishonest, or has lied to someone, or stole something, or treated someone in a way they are ashamed of, or does bizarre things when they are alone, or has weird fantasies, etc,. Everybody has done at least one thing that they might confide in a friend or loved on but they would not tell this thing to EVERYONE. So think of this if you want to justify hiding your illness. Your co-workers are probably hiding some things too and you should respect their privacy too.

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This is good advice. If confronted, my personal response would be, “I had to deal with a personal medical condition.” Using the word “personal” should be a sign to most cognizant people that you don’t want to talk about it.

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My last job I told them that I had a medical condition that I had to take medication for, but I didn’t tell anyone what it was.

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Psychotic episodes can damage the part of your brain that is responsible for memory retrieval. start doing puzzles, like sudoku or crosswords, or whatever keeps your brain active. That will help strengthen your brain back up, just like doing exercises in physical therapy after an injury. The right meds can also help. Even though it’s really scary, everything you’re describing is perfectly normal in the context of a psychotic disorder, so don’t be too afraid. This is why you are in treatment.

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Yes, I’ve heard something like that. I’ve lived 54 years but I constantly run into situations that I misjudge or read wrong and later kick myself because I know afterward that I have the experience to have dealt with it to my advantage.

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I’ve got to see a doctor today again because I can’t really explain it but I feel like impending doom and things are being out there that wasn’t there before. It’s like someone is trying to trick me to send me crazy on purpose and I desp want to get better. When I feel like this it’s as if I’m being controlled to do something bad like kill myself. Also there was a big fire and they shut the road off and I thought that people would think I was responsible for it. I’m feeling like when I’m waiting for my kids to start school all the parents are telling their kids to stay away from me. I’m finding it more difficult to have normal conversations, it’s like the words disappear it’s very frustrating. Sorry if I’m annoying people with going on with myself x

You might not believe this but I imagine that you are a real soft spoken person because I can somehow hear your voice as I am reading your comments, but I don’t necessarily think I am special in this regard, just wondering if you all are able to kind of hear or imagine the other person’s voice to an extent and not actually for real. And I am curious but am too lazy to look and see if you ever mentioned that you are from the Soviet bloc of countries, or the Baltics somewhere, etc…? Just asking is all. It’s really probably none of anyone’s business anyway.

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I have told so many people I have sz and never got a negative reaction. That is, people feel sorry and amazed but I haven’t noticed them bullying me or anything. In work/study environment it even opened up a way to a PhD job for me, but maybe people in academia are more considerate… I feel sorry for the negative experiences you guys had but felt the need to post a more positive story as well. I think I have told about 30 till 40 people now - it is not that I tell them immediately but when it’s people I have known for a while, and it is a sincere explanation to a sincere question I do not hesitate. I firmly believe it is better for people to hear it from me instead of otherwise, for several reasons. First: I can give them much more accurate information about it than the knowledge they have from rumours about it. Second: I am confident people trust first hand experience of someone they know over rumours they might have heard or seen in pictures. Third: if I tell them myself confidently, it shows that i’m comfortable with it and that will not allow them to perceive of me as a victim to prey upon.

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I’m British, my parents are Irish, I’m very quiet yes. My best friend knows and my close family but work is kind of different, I know how some gossip as I see it on a daily basis, I get on better with men than women because I don’t gossip and have a silly sense of humour, probably because I have 4 brothers and my only sister died when I was a child. I’ll have to see how it goes, my manager had to know but she can’t pass it on I think

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So you work for the NHS? Your employer is obligated to keep her mouth shut or she faces losing her job!

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I hope she doesn’t but it’s going to be scary going back I’ve been off since February

Wait until your meds and lifestyle are healthy then go back to work.

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The doctor wanted to put me in hospital today for my symptoms but I declined, what difference does it make if I’m at hospital or home? Still going to be the same.