Medical Leave

My doctor approved a 2 month medical leave for me, starting March 15. It has been a journey with a lot of feelings of guilt and shame along the way. On May 1, I went to meet with my boss to talk about returning to work that week with the necessity of having a written job description (which I had never had). She said she wasn't expecting me back until May 15 and that she couldn't provide a job description for me until May 12.

I had been thinking about leaving my job since January, but this was the final straw for me. I felt so devalued and shamed by her words and decision, even though I know she didn't mean it that way based on our past relationship and communication. So, I sent her an email yesterday giving my reasons and expressing my choice to resign.

I have felt trapped in this job - trapped into accepting the promotion in the first place, trapped in the everyday tasks of the job, trapped into staying in the job, and even trapped in poor mental health because of the job. This is one of the big challenges of navigating poor mental health and work - I tend to become very passive and let things happen to me rather than actively making decisions or choosing what I want/need. And then I get into a destructive cycle.

I chose to work for this company because I thought it was a manageable role, but it didn't work out that way. It makes it hard to feel optimistic about future job options when this carefully chosen job didn't work out. My therapist is telling me things aren't as hopeless as I feel, but it is difficult when I see this history of the past ten years of becoming increasingly less capable of keeping up with work duties and having to continually accept less and less responsibilities in order to cope with life.

I don't know what I am going to do, but there are a lot of minimum wage jobs open right now, so I'll probably do something in the service industry for now. I really don't want to stay in this city, so quitting my job also cuts the major tie that I have to this place. My anxiety has been super high all day and it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest.

#CheckInWithMe #Job #Work #Career #MedicalLeave #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #Trauma #future #movingon

My medical leave from work (mental health reasons) started yesterday. In my office, I have been the second in command, but work side by side with my boss every day. I know that she has also been so stressed about the situations at work that led to my taking leave.
I feel guilty that I am leaving her to deal with everything alone, and that makes me feel like I don't deserve to care for myself during my time off. I have so much shame as well that I wasn't good enough or well enough or strong enough to cope with my job.
I am worried all these negative emotions are going to take over my time off so that I won't have a benefit from it.

#MedicalLeave #Guilt #Shame #Selfcare #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #Trauma #Work #CheckInWithMe

I recently started working with a career counselor and her number one recommendation to me was to take a medical leave from work. I have always been a reliable and committed employee and this has been a difficult concept to wrap my mind around. The problem is, by being reliable and committed to work I have absolutely nothing left over for me and my personal life has become a black hole.

I was so so so anxious about speaking with my doctor about this. I have actually been unofficially boycotting him since last fall (he didn't know that) mainly because I just don't feel heard by him. He also doesn't seem properly equipped to deal with mental health concerns, and in particular completely ignores comments about feeling suicidal.

But I did it. I booked an appointment with him, I said what I had to say, and I even asked follow up questions (not that he was very helpful with those). He didn't argue or push back, but agreed very easily, which was a surprise. I asked for one month, and he wrote a letter asking for two months.

I have to tell my boss now and I am so anxious about it. I know this is going to devastate and crush her, especially with the particular projects going on at work right now, but I can't keep destroying myself in order to not destroy her. (I am second in command in our office, so we work together extremely closely.) The leave starts tomorrow, so I have to go in today and wrap things up.

I have never done anything like this before, but it has been a long, slow decline for the past decade and I have reached a very low point. I don't like the idea of being on a list somewhere as having taken time off for health reasons because I feel like that will be a black mark against me for future employers, even though they are legally not allowed to discriminate against me for this. I feel simultaneously like a failure and like I have been set free. It's going to be a big adjustment.

#CheckInWithMe #MedicalLeave #Work #Employment #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #Trauma #Undiagnosed #change

I've been sick for the past ten days (sinus infection) and took all of last week off work. Now I have to go back tomorrow and my anxiety is quite high. My whole body is aching and sore and I have a headache. It's like my body is saying, "Noooooo!"
I know that everything will be significantly behind and piled up because even before I got sick, my boss was away so I was covering both our positions. I feel so stressed just thinking about it.
I had my first session with my new career counselor today. She very quickly recognized significant symptoms of burn out and her recommendation is to get a doctor's note for a medical leave of at least a month in length. I have already been thinking about quitting my job, so this throws another option into the mix.
Since the beginning of the year, I took one week off for vacation and now two weeks off (the other was in January) for illness. That means I have worked for 5 weeks out of 8 weeks in 2023. And I'm so exhausted! I need to make a plan for leaving this job as soon as possible.

#Anxiety #Depression #Burnout #MentalHealth #Job #Work #Career #Counseling #MedicalLeave #Quit #tired

I'm on the second #MedicalLeave from my job as a public middle school teacher in the past two years. Last year it took me 3 months to recover from my #Dysphoria , now I have been fighting #Depression for the last 4 months and I've been keeping working despite my psychiatrist's advice... Now it has finally been too hard to handle and I feel like a failure. Will this disease never let me work, function, be a useful member of society? #Bipolar #BipolarDisorder #bps

I’m dealing with the loss of my mother after a long and painful illness as well as a lot of family and work stress. I’m burned out and having the worst flare I’ve ever had. I’d love to hear from folks who’ve taken time off to take care of themselves.

Since falling ill I've been place on medical leave and terminated due to my symptoms. I've had many people try to "liven" up the situation by saying "try to treat it as a vacation and enjoy the time home". I wish they only knew... #ChronicIllness #MedicalLeave #Vacation #FND