Medication is a serious consideration. I know my hardest period of time was the year after I was first diagnosed and taking medication. The side effects, rashes, dulling, sleepiness…all made mornings problematic. Embarassing, but true, I also had problems with lithium and diahrrea, I was late to work a number of times due to stops.

The job coach’s frustration is one that many employers experience with otherwise high performing employees. And the perception of unreliability that some form as a result can be cery destructive for someone who is already struggling.

Even had it not been for all of the other serious side effects and the complete lack of any positive medication effect on my symptoms, the morning grogginess issue would probably been enough on its own to cause me to stop medication. And, these cheery statements that it goes away over time as your body adjusts are largely the stuff of fantasy, at least in my experience.

The point about perfectionism and distractability is also right on.

In my case, I realized I was late in some situations at times when I was feeling most withdrawn or too easily overstimulated by the company of others. It wasn’t anxiety in the classic sense, but I think a very sensible reaction to noticing that I was hypersensitive at that moment. For me, this has been the hardest cause of the behavior to address when it occurs. In fact, I find it is a lot easier to avoid a hypomanic episode if I LISTEN to my reactions and find a quieter environment that day. Fortunately, I can do this as a programmer, as I often work from remote, or if on site, can withdraw to a server room for relative quiet. It isn’t perfect though. the days this happens when there is a mandatory meeting…I’m sunk. It is just painful.

Dugg made some interesting remarks, many of which I think apply to me. One of the positive things about me and my skill set is that I do find solutions to problems others have trouble coming up with, this is why I get paid. The downside of this is that I too have trouble staying in the box, and remaining patient with corporate culture. It generates difficulties from time to time. Often, my employers choose to overlook my bluntness and impatience. I try to help them by not expressing it any more than I can help. But I think if I were less good at what I do, I’d be gone in a heartbeat…and even with that, I’ve pushed the limit on more than one occasion.

So, attitudinally, when it comes to timeliness, one of my efforts is to appreciate that my employers have a very conventional view of a work day that is often unrelated to the actual needs of the work. I do my best to conform, but mostly I remind myself that I do not want to be a prima donna or ‘special’. I’ve worked with those sorts (without any declared diagnosis from the medical establishment) and they are truly not the sort of person I want to be. This works somewhat.

But I’m afraid I will never really be sincere in my acceptance of illogical scheduling guidelines that exist only for form’s sake. Fortunately, this level of sincerity is a perfection, and I remind myself that this form of perfection is not required of me.

It is a lot of work.

Lastly, sleep patterns. I have the same difficulty I think many BP do. Sleep meds and mood stabilizers didn’t help, and I sure wish they would have. I am one of the ones that wants to sleep, desperately. I seem to have missed out on the godlike feelings and lack of a need to sleep. What I learned is that my rythyms just aren’t typical. My solution was to try to make the most of the deficit, so my work is such that I am productive at odd hours and this is good news for people that need things fixed or done while the rest of the business world sleeps! It also helps in the point I was making before, employers are more understanding if you start at 10 or 11, if they know you were up and working while they were comfy in bed.

So finding a schedule or a job that meshes with the deficit or turns it into an advantage is a positive thing.

On an ironic note, the one thing I found that helps most with keeping sleep stable and close to normalish hours…acupuncture. And, it was a side effect! I went originally to address some pain from a damaged nerve in my arm from a fall last year (fixing a roof). The Lyrica offered by my psychiatrist/neurologist was not a good choice for me. It did definitely help the pain, but it made me goofier than a cartoon. The nerve pain wasn’t going to go away short term so I needed somethign that would help that didn’t leave me higher than a kite. I was reluctant to try acupuncture and didn’t have much in the way of expectations from it. As it turns out, it did help the pain a little, but I found a dramatic difference in my sleep pattern afterwards. I don’t know if its a placebo or a fluke. I frankly don’t care at this point. This has been working reasonably well for about 6 months so I plan to stick with it.

And my quality of sleep has improved too, which is really more important for me than WHEN I sleep. I find it easier to tolerate things, calmer, better all around. I have reserves I don’t normally have.

Which in a pecular way, makes it easier for me to be on time? Strange perhaps, but I feel it is so.

To wrap up, if you are coaching, cause and effect have their place; but the most effective strategies may have to do with finding ways to adapt better to a schedule. Something has to bend. A compromise must be reached, but that doesn’t mean it always has to come with the BP person adapting to the norm. Either help the client find ways to make their deficit more acceptable, or places where their deficit is an asset.

My clients have, on occasion, hailed me as a welcome sight at 1 in the afternoon. Of course, that was because they had email in their inbox dated from 4 am telling them their application would be available to them when they came in at 7. They then spent the morning reviewing and testing it. And the afternoon was a good time to talk about impressions and next steps.

I was right on time.

because in my experience, for people who are bipolar, thinking inside the box is the hard part…
literally and figuratively.
for what it’s worth,
d

Another problem solving strategy – a general one that can be a starting point for almost all problems – is getting help from someone. Dana says that her boss helped her identify some of the specific patterns that were getting in the way of getting to work on time. If you are struggling with trying to find a solution to a problem – a good starting point is often – “ask for help.”

Sharing these strategies helps others who are looking for ways to solve their specific problems. While the same strategies won’t work for everyone – they can be a starting point or a springboard for solutions that are more individualized to another person’s needs.

I am a 30 yr old bipolar female, and prior to being diagnosed with bipolar i was an extremely successful executive, the one problem i had was my timing and that seemed to be a recurring issue throughout my career. Just before i was diagnosed, i was very lucky to have a boss who not only took the issue seriously but actually helped me understand my problem. What i discovered, and what you may find is 80% of people who are late to work are actually perfectionists. Perfectionists, naturally create a vision or a goal and it becomes more important to them to achieve that than to adhere to a scheduled work timing. What happens is they get carried away and focus on getting the goal/vision ahcieved and get sidetracked, you may find with ppl having the bipolar disorder that they are more prone to getting sidetracked. Plus the fact that everyone is generally slower when they wake up, so something that would take you 3 mins in the evening, will take you 6 mins in the morning…and so you have to do as much as possible the nigt before, and create a morning routine and talk yourself into dropping all other irrelevant tasks and actually getting to work on time.

Once, i was diagnosed with bipolar i started being late again after having been punctual for a year, it was mainly because of the heavy medication that i was on that literary makes its impossible to wake up and face the world. But like someone earlier said, the earlier you take the medicine the easier it is to wake up, one of the key things i found in helping me recover from a relapse, is routine…getting into a routine is extremely theraputic and helps us get by until we feel normal again.